Online Community College Classes, Expectations??

[homeschoolally]

Hello,

 

We're considering giving some online CC classes a try with our middle schooler.

 

For those of you who have done these types of classes, have you found the expectations to be in-line with typical on-site classes?

 

Were tests typically open book? I realize this will vary, but just hoping to get a general idea of whether we are jumping in over our heads.

 

Thanks!

[MOCA]

The one in our area uses the same texts, proctored testing and long term assignments. Students are graded partially on their participation in the class forum and the level of their contributions to discussion, in my experience. HTH's.

[Jenn in CA]

We have found the expectations to be the same as in-person classes.

 

Some had online finals, others had on-campus finals. Some had mandatory in-person orientations. Make sure you find all this out at the beginning!

 

They were all transfer-level, which gives you a certain level of "quality control."

 

Most had very good teacher response-time (ie. to questions), one did not. The best classes had required discussion board participation to get the benefit of class discussions, and peer reviews (for English and an Art class).

 

I think its a great way to go, esp. for your student's first experience w/college classes, because I have easy access to all class materials. No quizzing my son when he gets home: "Do you have a test coming up? What did you cover today?"

[Photo Ninja]

The classes my ds took had open book tests, but the quizzes and tests were timed and had to be completed in one sitting. The classes required posting on the class discussion board weekly to answer a question or two about the reading. One teacher was completely unresponsive to questions and did not explain assignments well so students had no idea what she was looking for in their essays. Another responded quickly and thoroughly to questions. Another teacher was somewhere in between the first two. None had in person tests or classes.

[G5052]

I'm a state community collee professor and teach both online and in the classroom; this summer I'll teach a hybrid of those.

 

Here professors are required to do at least one proctored exam or there's a procedure to go through if you don't have a proctored exam. I've taken two online courses where the was a take-home exam for the final that required a great deal of writing, so don't think that take-home means easier. My college tells people that online courses take more time and are harder for most people than in-person classes.

 

You don't say how old the student is, but keep in mind that most CC's have age requirements. Mine says 14 or 15 with the professor's approval, but frankly I stopped approving kids that young several years ago after consistently failing kids that age. Maybe other professors have done better with younger kids, but I have not. I tell my students to expect 10-12 hours or more of homework a week.

[K-FL]

 

My college tells people that online courses take more time and are harder for most people than in-person classes.

 

 

 

Dd#1 found that to be true. (She took Macroecon.)

 

I'd be very hesitant to enroll a middle-schooler unless they're extremely advanced.

[homeschoolally]

Thanks very much for the replies. Think we're going to give a 1 credit 'Study Skills' class a try to feel it out. I appreciate the feedback!

[Pamela H in Texas]

It's a mixed bag.

 

When I did some online courses through our comm. college a few years ago, I found the online courses MUCH harder than the classroom ones. For example, if you took philosophy in the classroom, you did only Western Philosophy, but doing it online, you did both in the same amount of time. And the tests seemed more detailed from what I could tell also.

 

For my daughter's classes, it was really just problematic because of the organizational skills of the professor. Sadly, she got two in a row that way. She much preferred her classroom classes as a teenager.

 

We both use an online college for our bachelor's degree programs (mine: education; her's: IT; both: WGU). There are pros and cons. Going our own pace is REALLY nice especially since the price per term is the same whether we do 12 credits (min) or 52 credits (we haven't done that many, btw). The bad part is not always being able to "read" exactly what graders want. Another tougher part is that you have to learn much more information for one class for the same amount of credit. This changing somewhat, but for example, when *I* took US Hist and Gov't, it was not three 3 credit classes, but two classes which together came to 3 credits! I wondered if they did that so that they would be taken seriously or what. I don't know, but it did make some of the liberal arts classes tougher. They have MAJORLY changed things though so now, though there is still some of that, it's not as hard as it used to be.

 

Oh, and since it seems like your student may be younger. What we found helpful in the preteen years was to make friends with various professors, have a mentor, etc. Then we basically audited classes rather than taking it for credit. This may be an option if your community college doesn't allow young students take classes for credit or in the case of a instructor being unsure about accepting a young student. The college we did this at refused to even consider a student before 16 (this was not the same college she did dual enrollment at, btw). A LOT of times, universities seem to be more friendly about the 9 - 15yr old students or you can work around the system a little.

 

YMMV, of course,