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RainSong
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30 Mar 2008, 5:30 pm

Has anybody had experience with online courses? If so, how were they?

I'm hopefully (it's not all ironed out yet, but I'm confident that it will be) graduating this summer, which means I'd be skipping senior year of high school. I've got all of the classes that I need to graduate done (with the exception of one, which is why it's over the summer).

Besides the fact that I generally just hate high school and I don't need it at this point, I'm graduating this year because I'd like to qualify for the HOPE scholarship down in Georgia. However, the school I go to here is much better, so it would be more benefical for me to graduate up here.

However, over next year, I won't be going to college, as I'd still be qualifying for the HOPE scholarship. At that point, I'd be working and taking online courses. Which is where my question comes in.

The online courses aren't necessary for me; like I said, I've taken everything I need to graduate and to enroll in college all ready. However, I'd like to take a few more classes in a few subjects without still needing to attend high school. Those especially include math and science, which I only have three and a half and three credits for, respectively (naturally, this year they've decided that the ones I took in middle school (I'm advanced) now count for credits, but only for incoming freshmen). It's enough to be admitted, but not enough to be safe with, so those are two classes I would definitely take.

So, online courses - yay or nay? If anyone has had experience with taking them and then going to college, how did the college handle those courses (ie, was the acceptance process any harder)? Is it worth it?


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Mikomi
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30 Mar 2008, 6:06 pm

When I moved out of the state I was going to school in (college), I still had five classes to go to finish my degree. Problem was, even if I wanted to drive over an hour each way, I still had to pay nearly double the tuition because I was now out of state. The college offers some courses via their distance education program, and I decided to give it a try. I was surprised how much I truly enjoyed it, and I graduated with my degree this past December. I would highly recommend it to anyone who does well with independent learning.


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Orwell
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30 Mar 2008, 7:38 pm

I've taken a couple AP courses over the internet, the main problem I ran into was a tendency to procrastinate with a self-paced schedule. Aside form that, the classes were very good, and I probably learned the material better than I would have in a classroom.


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Space
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30 Mar 2008, 8:16 pm

I have, and am currently doing an online course for university credit. The first two I took were awesome... I loved them. The one I am taking now sucks, but it's because the instructor is a moron.



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30 Mar 2008, 8:48 pm

I [attempted] an online course in photography.
It barely lasted a week. I hated it.


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wolphin
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31 Mar 2008, 3:08 am

I had the same problem. I had taken lots of advanced math in middle school so by the time I got to high school basically all I had left was calculus, and they didn't accept any of those classes for credits meaning I was way behind. It didn't matter eventually anyway since I left HS without graduating (I'm in college now)

I did take two online classes during high school, one in english and one in math. It was actually much better (to me) than taking regular classes, because you can just whiz by the stuff you already know and can spend all your time actually learning the stuff you don't. You need to be pretty self-disciplined to get the assignments done and also be able to learn by yourself though.

So, if you're good at learning on your own, by all means yay. Would these be high school courses or college courses online? Seeing as you don't need them for high school credit, it seems like it would be much better to take college-level versions of it and get college credit at the same time. Plus at this point college classes might be more interesting to you anyways.

But also you have to be careful cause a lot of colleges, as soon as you take college courses outside of high school, consider you as a transfer student instead of a freshmen applicant and it can be harder to get in or get scholarships. So you should double-check with every college you intend on applying to, to see if there's any issues.



sld123
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31 Mar 2008, 11:47 am

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GA_CountyVPS/

http://www.connectionsacademy.com/curri ... ourses.asp

my son 'attends' pa cyber charter school and courses are tailored to his iep.



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Social_Fantom
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31 Mar 2008, 1:53 pm

I'm taking my first online course this semester. I like it fairly well but I overheard a conversation between two instructors Thursday that we are getting a new system for online classes. That means we'll have to learn how to do online classes all over again.


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LaRoza
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01 Apr 2008, 9:05 pm

They can be good, but beware of the lack of "real" people.

I am going to finish my degree on an online setting, but I do have a lot of real classroom and real world experience. The biggest factor in getting a job is a social network, and by definition, that means people.

If possible, supplement online courses with something more personal.

As difficult as it can be, people are essential to know and interact with.



RainSong
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01 Apr 2008, 11:14 pm

LaRoza wrote:
They can be good, but beware of the lack of "real" people.

I am going to finish my degree on an online setting, but I do have a lot of real classroom and real world experience. The biggest factor in getting a job is a social network, and by definition, that means people.

If possible, supplement online courses with something more personal.

As difficult as it can be, people are essential to know and interact with.


To be honest, I'll be glad to be temporarily rid of "real" people. I go to high school now, and I'll be going to a college after a year with the online courses; I'll still have interaction, as unfortunate as that may be for me.

The career I'm interested is largely a loner type job; there may be two people working, and on occasions three, but no more than that. I can handle that many people. The people in high school... hopefully, I'll never see them again. I highly doubt I will.

Thanks for the responses; I appreciate such.


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abstrusemortal
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02 Apr 2008, 10:21 am

I took online courses. They were fun for me. These were technical science and math classes.


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SqrachMasda
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02 Apr 2008, 1:14 pm

they seem cool.
i'm doing one this summer
i personally don't learn for professors at all so class has always been useless. i like the idea of doing things more independently which is what i do anyway

the one i'm going to take (I Think) it's online but i'll have to go in for test
my friend however, took a class at a school in another state so everything was online.
i think it's the greatest option
it would be better if they just said, this is what you have to do the first day, so that if you chose to you could finish in a few days
but i don't think they do that