Pros and Cons of Online Classes

I write this post as I am struggling to get by in one of my online classes. I'm down to the final weeks in the semester, and wishing I had taken this class more seriously than I did in the beginning. This was the first online class I had taken at my college. I took a few over the summer from my local community college that were all super easy, so I was assuming this one at my university would be no different. Well, it turns out I was wrong.

I have made a list to help those of you who are deciding whether or not you can handle an online class, as well as some tips to help you survive!

Pros of Online Classes
1. You can do them from the comfort of your own home bed. Those days where you don't want to get up and go to class? Have no fear, online classes are here! Wake up when you want and you don't even have to get out of bed to do your work.
2. They won't interfere with your work schedule. You won't have to be stuck on night shift anymore due to having class all day. Hello morning work shifts!
3.You can do your class work whenever you want! (As long as you don't miss the deadlines!)

Cons of Online Classes
1. You still have to pay a shit-ton for textbooks, and maybe even more. Unfortunately, even textbooks for online classes are still expensive. For two of my classes this past summer, I not only had to buy the textbook, but I also had to buy access codes in order to do my homework online. So annoying.
2. Deadlines can sneak up on you. My online professor this semester has everything due at 5 p.m. on Fridays, when he doesn't even post assignments until Monday of the week. That only leaves me four nights to get things done.
3. Cost. Even though you are not physically in online classes, you are still required to pay pretty close to the same amount as regular tuition to take them.

Tips on How to Survive your First Online Class
1. Stay ahead of the game. Put all of your due dates in a planner and make it your goal to have everything done by then. Even better, have it done the day before it is due in case you need to fix something.
2. Set aside time to work only on your online class. I only have one class on Tuesday/Thursday that is over at 12:15 so I set aside time during the afternoon to get all of my online stuff done.
3. Don't get behind. Focus in the beginning and finish before the semester is over. This is where I fucked up. I thought it was going to be fine if I got a bad score on one or two quizzes. Nope. The professor failed to mention that anything below 50% (even though it's a points based class) will not count. Cool.
4. Don't take more than you can handle. I took three three credit online classes over the summer while I was working 40 hours a week, and I would not have wanted to take more than that at a time.

Find what works best for you in the online class world and stick with it! Good luck!

xo, K