Anyone here Take Online Courses?

I've been wanting to go back to school but the hours of my job make almost impossible to go to school. With my love of history I was thinking of looking into taking some online courses regarding ancient history- specifically Greek and Roman. I guess I should call and talk to a counselor before jumping into anything.

Ohio State appears to have a pretty good history department. UC doesn't offer as many courses. Has anyone here taken online courses?

*oops, I butchered my thread title.

I did about 10 yrs ago ... then it was a bit harder than now... JUST remember you need to multiple the "hours" of the class by 2-3 for homework and see if you HAVE the time ...

I've taken a couple. You have to be discliplined enough to do the lessons and the homework, which I'm not normally. But I did pretty good and never got too far behind. It was way more convenient than driving to campus after work and getting home at 10:00 PM.

I try to take at least 1 online class per semester because my work schedule can be kind of difficult to work around (if I want sleep anyway) and I like to do my classes in the middle of the night. Right now I am taking a management class, a pathophysiology class online, and a practicum that is sort of online. One is self paced and the other 2 have scheduled things that we have to do. I prefer self paced, but I like those because I can choose to do everything at once or spread it out and I don't have to work on it every week. You have to have self discipline for any online classes, they cost a little bit more, and as someone else said, you have to remember to put some time aside for them. I will admit I do not put enough time aside for them, but it seems to work for me.

How do they work? Are you just given a syllabus of when/what assignments are due? Do you actually watch the class online?

Most use a syllubus with basics.. if it is a prof that wants stuff done by a date it will be there ... others just say when you have to take tests//

Bryan, PM white cat lover, she has been taking almost exclusive online classes for a couple semesters, she should be able to answer most of your questions

I'm taking a Veterinary Technician course at Penn Foster Online College.

I'm taking 4 courses online this semster:

Science & lab
Accounting II
Comp II
Speech

It's.....interesting. You HAVE to be able to FORCE yourself to keep up. However, it's easier than sitting through a boring lecture I'd fall asleep at.

I much prefer online to on campus. Any specifics, ask them here or PM me. This is my 2nd semester of exclusively online, I've taken some semesters 2 on campus/2 online.

I've taken super easy online courses and super hard online courses. It all depends on the teacher, the subject and you.

the one thing I don't like about online courses is the fact that its just YOU. The fun part about lectures (for me at least) is listening to other ideas that your peers bring to the class.

Some teachers try and suppliment this by offering a discussion board (usually for extra points) however its not the same...well its kind of like posting here.

In my experience, online courses tend to be a bit more work than on-campus courses. For example, I took one American Lit course online, and since we did not have the opportunity for in-class discussion, we had to write an essay each week about the assigned readings, post it online, then post analysis of other students' essays. (This was in addition to the usual lit papers and tests.) I didn't mind it because I like to write, but for some students it was kind of overwhelming.

I've never taken a course that incorporated scheduled chats, but friends who have say those chats are much less conducive to useful conversation than are the message board discussions.

I agree with the others who said you have to be self-motivated to keep up with online courses. It's VERY easy to let yourself slack off when you don't have to go to class. But for a lot of people, myself included, online courses can give you the flexibility you need to get your coursework done and still meet your other obligations.

I will say though that sometimes taking on-campus courses can have some benefits too. I went back to school as an adult with 3 young children. I had a professor my first semester who I formed a great relationship with, and she instilled tremendous confidence in me to keep going and finish my degree. That's the kind of thing you really can't get through online courses.

Good luck!

I study externally through a university in Australia. I don't know how it works in the US, but in Australia, the classes are run concurrently with the on campus students, WITH the on campus students. So we get the same material, have assignments due at the same time, and use the same online message boards. The only difference is that the external students get lecture material with notes via powerpoint presentations.

I've done 2 subjects as well as working full time and it was pretty full on. I don't think I'm particularly disciplined, but I managed to force myself to study in the evenings and on weekends because I only had limited time, and got through fine.

Thanks for all of the replies to this!

I've been doing some more thinking on this. There a few smaller universities/colleges in the area. I'm going to look into the history departments to see what they have to offer. I want to major in ancient history, namely Roman and Greek, but I have to see if any of these schools offer this. I want to go back to school, even if I have to change my work schedule so I can attend late afternoon and/or evening classes (hopefully they have the latter). I'm going to start slow with two courses. It's been a good 14 years since I tried to juggle a full time job and going to school. I don't want to take on more until I find a way to balance things out.

This is one of the universities I'm going to look at.
http://www.nku.edu/academics.php

I took a couple when I was in college. I liked them, because you could (sort of) do them on your own time. But self-discipline is very important. Also, think about what kind of learner you are. Some people just can't do as well without a classroom, face-to-face time with an instructor, hands-on learning, etc. I did all right in them, but not as well as I did in my on-campus classes. They're a great option if you're willing to invest time in them and it's a subject that can be, at least to some degree, self-taught.

I just finished a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Library Science from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and enjoyed it very much.

Instead of takng online courses I'm thinking that I actually want to attend the classes. Once I get disciplined with doing my work then I may consider taking an online course along with the classes I attend. I don't want to take on too much too just starting out.