Online Learning

In 2007 I decided to go back to school. Having been in the workplace for over ten years out of high school and finding it overwhelmingly unsatisfying, I decided I may as well give it a try. The problem was not me being unwilling, the problem was figuring out how to go back to school and get a good education and still work around 50 hours a week. Scheduling was an obvious conflict. Then the more my wife and I researched, the more I began to realize that I could take quite a few classes online through COTC.

This is my second fall quarter as a student in the DMD curriculum at Central Ohio Technical College. I have earned only 22 credits in my three quarts completed thus far, but I have done that with only having attended two face to face classes total, and still working 45-50 hours a week. This is not so much a testimonial to me as it is to the amount of online classes made available to me. On a side note I'd like to say that having taken classes last year, without the Angel site, and comparing to this year with it, I have to say that Angel has made my experience much more organized, and much less stressful as a whole. This has proven to be very important since I'm taking three courses online this quarter, a personal high so far.

I have taken Salesmanship, Psychology, Algebra and Composition all online. This quarter I'm enrolled in Marketing, Intro to e-Life and Digital Software Fundamentals. All have been very unique learning experiences. Some of the instructors seemed very bothered by the whole online class thing, as if the online class was a hassle for them. Some flourished in the process, really getting involved and making the most of the medium. Some seemed to be confused about how to run an online class at all. Each class presented it's own set of challenges and opportunities.

Composition was very straight forward. I don't think my experience would have been much different if it had been a face to face. The assignments were fairly self explanatory and most of the class was a refresher course.

Salesmanship was, and Marketing so far has been, what I expected. The material is not overly difficult, but sometimes rather uninteresting. Marketing has proven to be a bit more of a struggle than I expected due to the group assignments. I'm having trouble finding the time to be able to collaborate with a group of people who are on a completely different schedule than myself.

Psychology and Algebra were classes that could have been easier for me in a face to face setting. Algebra was another refresher course, but it would have been faster for me to pick it back up if I had someone showing me on a blackboard. Psychology was difficult for me because some of the material was just difficult. I think I would have been able to catch on better in a classroom environment.

I have to admit that my favorite classes so far have been DigiFun and Intro to E-life. DigiFun has just been a fun class. I've really enjoyed learning to use Adobe Illustrator, and the Photoshop stuff is always fun. The irony of taking Intro to E-Life: The Evolving Web online seems too obvious to even bring up. Bill's lectures and material have been by far the most involved and entertaining.

All in all, I've really enjoyed my online learning experiences. The instructors have all been helpful and always willing to respond to e-mails and answer my questions, no matter how trivial. My college experience would not have been possible just a few years ago. I have the "miracle" of the Internet and the World Wide Web to thank for making it possible. Well, those things and all the hard work that so many dedicated people put into making all this possible through. I'm very thankful for this opportunity and even though it may be just a marketing term, Web 2.0 is changing the world.