BellaOnline Forums Education Distance Learning Please Share Your Experience with Online Courses

I would LOVE to hear about your experiences with taking

a) online courses or

b) online programs (certificates, diplomas, degrees, etc.)

Was your experience fulfilling or did it leave a lot to be desired?

My own education has been done primarily on campus but I did have the luxury of taking two Masters level courses in Education Technology online. I loved it! BUT I also love attending classes as well,...in person.

How about you? <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

My son is taking high school courses online- from keystonehighschool.com and missouri university. I think it teaches him valuable skills that will be needed to survive in college- he has to do a lot of reading.

Thanks for sharing this site - it looks very professional and well-done. Does your son engage in a lot of interaction with other students, or is the work more self-paced and solitary.

I agree - he is developing very important employability skills that will benefit him a great deal in the future. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Sorry for such along wait for a reply. My son goes to www.wpccs.com they use those above courses I mentioned. This fall he will be taking virtual online courses, using a blackboard system. He will have classmates, a teacher, assignments. I think this will be better, then him just reading and doing things himself. He will not take all of his courses this way just some. He is learning discipline which will take him far. I like homeschooling him, it gives us more options. I just started big yellow box and he wants to help me. With this program he ca. Also, they record each class so he can go back and listen to the lecture again.

Laurie
www.bigyellowbox.com

No problem, Laurie!

Thanks for your reply.

Wow, I just took a peek at the Wester Pen site - what a wonderful resource and organization!!!

I will definitely need to do a feature on this program on the Distance Learning site.

I commend you on the way you and your son are approaching his learning. He is already developing seriously important employability skills, not to mention the habits of life-long learners. It is so important to teach our children to take control of their learning. All too often the system indoctrinates them into blind regurgitation instead of active learning.

It sounds like you are both doing a great job! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I completed my entire bachelor's degree in Business Management online with University of Phoenix. I absolutely LOVED the online environment. It requires a lot of self-discipline, but it allows you a great deal of freedom as well. I was able to take 3 vacations (2 by car and one by plane) and still attend school with my laptop. It takes a lot of group work and individual work, but it was very rewarding. It isn't easy, but it's more flexible than live classes.

One of the most unique things about online is that everyone is 'invisible'...there is no ethnic or racial lines, because you only know people by name and don't see them. You can get a unique perspective that way...it was a tremendous learning experience! I LOVED it!

Wow,

Thanks for sharing your experience - it sounds like this degree was a very enriching endeavor for you!

I personally am finishing up my PhD, with a focus on how to cultivate a culture for technology and nursing informatics in nursing education. I also teach several online courses.

I'm a distant learning student who's also enrolled in traditional learning classes.

I don't want to sound biased but my perspective on how I learn totally changed once I discovered distance learning online.

I ended up registering for most of my classes that had an elearning option available in preference of this mode of learning compared to traditional learning.

My perception of DL was I found it very rich in content, learning tools and lots of interaction that I otherwise didn't have in traditional learning.

One strategy for success in DL lies in how the learning is delivered - make it resourceful, add students and teachers interaction, multimedia presentations and a good format and you are a winner in DL.

Incidentally, DL concept inspired me so much that I even changed my specialization major - from IT to eLearning Support systems. I'm learning about all the technology and tools that bring about eLearning.

All in all, I�m very excited and would wish to see more people especially adult learners embrace eLearning.

Dear Sirs,

What do you think about online certification?

I�d like to get certificate on PHP programming. And I doubt in choosing company, www.Zend.com looks good.

Maybe you have a thought to share?

You may want to look around and see if there are other people who've gotten credible jobs after pursuing online certification from zend.com.

Do your homework first before you commmit.

I am on my last block of classes at Western International University. February, I will receive my AAS in accounting. I love it! It gives me the freedom to do my school work in between my busy schedule and not have to leave my home. I went to a walk-in college. I think by far online courses are harder because it challenges the students one on one with their acedemics.

Stacy

I am currently taking online classes through DeVry University. I have almost completed my 1st 8-week block of classes. I love it. It is a challenge. There was some adjustment, since it has been quite a while since I have been in an acedemic environment. It takes a lot of effort on my part, but you can't beat the convenience.

I took a travel writing course on line and it worked out great. If you aren't doing the courses for credit you kind of have to force yourself to do all the assignments and make sure you enter into discussions to get the most out of it.

My daughter is taking 2 of her classes in college online this semester, which is saving her lots of time. the instructors do require a lot tho, just so students know that an online class isn't going to be super easy.

Good job, keep on posting. I've learned a lot through online courses and want to share a few with you.education online,link exchange and education link exchange.

I have just finished a bachelors degree in liberal studies on line at the accredited Thomas Edison State College . I absolutely loved it. The college is totally geared toward adult learners. There is a lot of leeway and rarely do you run across an anal instructor. If I could do it over, I would have done it the same way. Ciao!

I am looking into this also.I want to earn a couple of degrees at home.Since I homeschool my children and I would like to further my education also.I want to get a degree for a paralegal and a veternarian tech.But whats stopping me or making me leary is are these online schools certificates/degrees going to be able to work as far as.When I tell an employer I have a degree from so and so online college.He's not gonna look at me and say that's not worth the paper its wrote on.Does anyone else have this concern??I looked into Thomas Edison State college BTW.

My son is taking high school courses online- from keystonehighschool.com and missouri university. I think it teaches him valuable skills that will be needed to survive in college- he has to do a lot of reading.

I received a certificate in medical transcription from Everett Community College in Washington. I took the courses completely online. They use the Career Step course materials. I chose to go through Everett instead of directly through Career Step (online also) because Everett is accredited and I could apply for a Pell Grant.

I was very happy with the education I received and had a job working at home before I graduated. Before I attended Everett, I took some classes at a local community college but knew that I wasn't learning what I needed to in order to work at home, so I changed schools.

I'm still considering taking more online courses, possibly from Baker College online or another. I'm interested in programming and/or web design, but I want to do more research as to what employers think of online degrees in these fields.

Congrats on your Certificate, Trish.

Certificate programs are a great way to take advantage of online and distance learning. I started working toward a Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning from CSU East Bay. Once I received my certificate, I decided to go on to work toward their MS Ed. in Online Teaching and Learning, which I just finished a few weeks ago.

Gregory

Hello Gregory,

Congratulations on your MS. That's wonderful. I agree with you about the certificates. They are a good way to add to your skill set and distance learning makes it so much easier to achieve this for many people.

I am finishing up my BS in Technical Management at DeVry University and I take about 80% of my courses online. I absolutely love it because I don't have the time to commute to classes everyday and I can work at my own pace on my own time. I tend to work a lot faster than most of fellow classmates which can make it more than difficult to sit through a class. Online can be just as challenging but I can work it around my time. I have been happy with it. I am dreading next Spring when I start courses at Argosy Univesity to work toward my Masters in Clinical Psychology. There is no online option for classes. I am hoping that my love for the subject matter will help me push through. Anybody know of any colleges that offer an online clinical psychology Masters degree?

Does anyone know about NCU's Bachelor Degree Completion program

I'm curious about how many people have gotten good jobs with their on-line degree.

I have taken some grad courses on-line and I liked them, and it was HARDER than traditional school to me, but I got a lot of flack from others who finally convinced me that if I finished my degree would be worthless.

Do you think some degrees on-line are better and more useful than others?

I was in a family counseling program, but I got afraid it would not be accepted and dropped out. I could not get straight answers from anyone including those in charge of such things in my state who would only refer me to their "rules" which told me nothing really.

I am in the process of studying to get a better score on my GRE so that I can get into Auburn's on-line grad school, which I think will be more acceptable even if it's not better. I think on-line schools should be VERY accepted because I think they're actually harder and how did school begin? It used to be by correspondence we did not have easy modes of travel in the "old" days.

Any way what do you think?

I received my Masters in Information Systems online but to be truthful I can't tell you if it would help get a better job. I was employed when I received the degree, was later laid off and decided to work for myself.

I found getting my degree online was great because it was flexible compared to having to go to classes. It was still challenging and in some ways more difficult as it entailed a lot of self-discipline.

The school I attended online is also a "brick-and-mortar" school so that any potential employers actually would have no idea that I received my degree online - only if I tell them.

Allison,

I suspect since your school is also a land based traditional school it will be very accepted. I have also found another on-line land based school besides Auburn. The University of North Alabama offers an on-line masters program as well as Troy University.

I honestly think right now that is the route to take until it's more common to get an on-line degree.

I just finished an online graduate course through the University of the Incarnate Word (www.uiw.edu)--its a traditional brick and mortar institution. I hadn't taken an online course in several years; and frankly took this one for the heck of it. Not as much work, on the one hand, as a traditional graduate class; but, on the other hand, it required a lot of action on my part.

I am a high school graduate (1978) and only took some college courses here and there over the years. Can I get a degree online? Anyone recommend something?

I need to fall back on something since my kids get SSI and I am a home health care worker. There are autism classes that give credits and I would like to take some, but can I stock pile the credits?

I am also interested in the courses that Dr. Stanley Greenspan will be doing

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Actually my almost 13 year old does the California Virtual Academy with K12.com and some call it distance learning, others a charter school and others say it is homeschooling.

I remember a website where you can input your work experience and find out how many credits or something along those lines? I will try a google search but wanted to ask here too.