elduderino
Been Around the Block
Due to my current work schedule I do not have the ability to finish my degree at a traditional brick and mortar facility, so in order to keep moving forward with my degree I have been taking courses online at AMU (American Military University). Obviously this is not my first choice of schooling, but I figured if I could knock out some classes it would benefit me. Here is what I have found:
1.) You will learn, but you will teach yourself. I say this because there is minimal contact with your instructor. Be prepared to read copious amounts of material, as well as write numerous essays for every class you take. You will also have to do weekly discussion boards, which can sometime be an issue. An example of this is that you are required to post one topic, as well as respond to three other classmates topics. Well.....if they don't post initial topics until Friday or Saturday, that only leaves you 1-2 days to respond and hopefully your schedule allows you to do so.
2.) It's not cheap. Recently at AMU they added a "technology fee" of $50, bumping up the tuition rate to $800 per class. I have found these schools are all about the money more than anything else. Recently AMU changed their registration process where you can no longer select your class based on the instructor; I think this is a huge scam and I will explain why. When I contacted AMU and asked why this was, I was told "It was just a university decision to evenly distribute students in our general studies courses." I was also told by the person I was talking to that she had never been able to select her professor the whole time she was in University in Kansas. I don't know how this is, because when I was in school in New York I was always able to select my Professor, as have all my friends who went to school in Georgia and Texas. There are numerous blogs and books on how to choose the right professor for you. So back to the point of why I think this is a scam. I feel that instructors with bad reputations never had students sign up for their class, while good instructors had full classes. I feel if you are spending $800 on anything you should be able to do your research, read reviews, and choose the best product for you time. Me personally I would select a "hard" instructor that teaches me over a "easy" instructor that is disorganized. By doing this I have managed to always have decent/good instructors; now I am going to loose that ability. Here is one example of someone I would avoid: http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1587459 Not saying they are bad, but if 50% of the reviews are saying similar complaints, then I have to believe there is some truth to them.
3.) Course lengths are different at every university. AMU offers 16 week courses and 8 week courses. With the 8 week course I feel that one class at a time is a good number. However, other universities, like University of Phoenix offer 5 week courses. I don't possibly see how you can learn any subject in 5 weeks.
Overall if you want to knock out some classes it's a viable option. Am I impressed with online school.....absolutely not. It's more work, more reading, more papers, and you don't take exams. I think if you only do online school you will miss out with in class discussion which are far more important than most of the stuff you actually read. Some people hate exams, but I feel in order to truly earn a degree you should have to show some competence. Getting 50% of your grade for participation and then 25% for assignments/essays, and 25% for a final assignment/essay is unsatisfactory for me. I would be curious to see statistics on how many people actually fail these classes. I would also be very hesitant to say a 100% online degree is equal to that of a brick and mortar school.
Rant done lol please share your experiences.
1.) You will learn, but you will teach yourself. I say this because there is minimal contact with your instructor. Be prepared to read copious amounts of material, as well as write numerous essays for every class you take. You will also have to do weekly discussion boards, which can sometime be an issue. An example of this is that you are required to post one topic, as well as respond to three other classmates topics. Well.....if they don't post initial topics until Friday or Saturday, that only leaves you 1-2 days to respond and hopefully your schedule allows you to do so.
2.) It's not cheap. Recently at AMU they added a "technology fee" of $50, bumping up the tuition rate to $800 per class. I have found these schools are all about the money more than anything else. Recently AMU changed their registration process where you can no longer select your class based on the instructor; I think this is a huge scam and I will explain why. When I contacted AMU and asked why this was, I was told "It was just a university decision to evenly distribute students in our general studies courses." I was also told by the person I was talking to that she had never been able to select her professor the whole time she was in University in Kansas. I don't know how this is, because when I was in school in New York I was always able to select my Professor, as have all my friends who went to school in Georgia and Texas. There are numerous blogs and books on how to choose the right professor for you. So back to the point of why I think this is a scam. I feel that instructors with bad reputations never had students sign up for their class, while good instructors had full classes. I feel if you are spending $800 on anything you should be able to do your research, read reviews, and choose the best product for you time. Me personally I would select a "hard" instructor that teaches me over a "easy" instructor that is disorganized. By doing this I have managed to always have decent/good instructors; now I am going to loose that ability. Here is one example of someone I would avoid: http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1587459 Not saying they are bad, but if 50% of the reviews are saying similar complaints, then I have to believe there is some truth to them.
3.) Course lengths are different at every university. AMU offers 16 week courses and 8 week courses. With the 8 week course I feel that one class at a time is a good number. However, other universities, like University of Phoenix offer 5 week courses. I don't possibly see how you can learn any subject in 5 weeks.
Overall if you want to knock out some classes it's a viable option. Am I impressed with online school.....absolutely not. It's more work, more reading, more papers, and you don't take exams. I think if you only do online school you will miss out with in class discussion which are far more important than most of the stuff you actually read. Some people hate exams, but I feel in order to truly earn a degree you should have to show some competence. Getting 50% of your grade for participation and then 25% for assignments/essays, and 25% for a final assignment/essay is unsatisfactory for me. I would be curious to see statistics on how many people actually fail these classes. I would also be very hesitant to say a 100% online degree is equal to that of a brick and mortar school.
Rant done lol please share your experiences.
