Is an online course for you?

Read ALL of the following and decide.

Online courses are not for everyone. Often students with no distance-learning experience think that the online course will be easier than the on-campus course; it will not be easier and it may require more time.

I have taught online math courses for several years now and although I have never taken a survey of my students, I think the majority of them fall into one of two categories: the on-campus course does not fit their work/family/school schedule or they have math anxiety. (Of course, there are students who fit both categories!)

If you have a busy schedule…

Having the convenience of being able to take the course without having to travel to the course location is great but the convenience has to do with fitting your schedule, not reducing the time you will spend. You are still required to spend about the same amount of time on coursework as an on-campus course. You might even end up taking more time to learn the same material.

If you have math anxiety…

An online course can be a great experience for those prone to math anxiety. The lectures for the course are online. You can pause, rewind, and play the lectures as many times as you need. You don’t have to rush to copy what the teacher is writing on the board while trying to follow the lecture. The course site used offers a lot of resources to help you learn. So what is the drawback? It is too easy to ignore the class, to avoid the class, to avoid the work, especially if you run into a topic that you don’t understand. I know that when I don’t want to do something, I find a million other things that I need to do instead. You must be kind to yourself when you find you are struggling (don’t start calling yourself names), have the courage to ask your instructor, classmates, and tutors for help (which is usually the last thing you want to do), and the determination to learn math.

If you are a procrastinator…

The most important thing to understand about taking an Internet-based course is that you won’t have the built-in structure that coming to campus several days a week gives students in a more traditional class. You must have the discipline to do course work on your own, and the interest and patience to go online for answers.

Qualities of a Successful Online Student

The more of the qualities listed below that describe you, the more likely you are to be successful in an online course. If only a few of these characteristics apply to you, you would be better served by taking an on-campus.

• You are highly motivated to learn math. If this class is not a priority to you, you won’t spend the time necessary to succeed in it.
• You have good time-management skills.Math is like a foreign language and you can't learn to speak it unless you use it every day; that means you set aside some time each day to do coursework (homework, studying, posting in forums, etc…). If you can’t set aside some time each day to work on math, then you are probably too busy with your other obligations (courses, family, work) to be able to do succeed in this course.
• You do not procrastinate.You will find that if you say “I will get to it later” that “later” comes too late. It is far easier to keep up than to catch up and I do not accept late work! Also, waiting to do a lot of coursework in one or two days will make it difficult for you to retain the information you are learning.
• You are a good reader.Did you just skip the paragraphs above? You are not surfing the web but rather learning! The ability to read well and to read carefully is important since all of the communication between students and the instructor is print-based as is a lot of the learning that takes place. You can't just skim over print-based content and be able to have a clear understanding of what is expected of you.
• You enjoy working independently and without supervision.The teacher won’t remind you to do your homework, to submit your online homework/tests, to study for the next exam, and you won’t have the ability to ask a question and get an answer immediately. Although you will receive explicit instructions about the course, you will need to take most of the responsibility for your learning.
• You are willing to ask for help. There are several free resources at your disposal: your instructor, classmates, tutors at the MLC and ILC and tutoring services through EOPS, DSPS, & other Cabrillo programs. These resources are only good if you reach out and make use of them! Patient since you may not receive feedback immediately as you would in a classroom setting.
• You check your work. If you don’t take the time to check your homework answers, the mistakes you make on exams or on the reworks of the exams you will not learn the proper way of doing math. Since math topics build on themselves, having a gap in understanding in one topic will usually make other topics more difficult.
• You are comfortable with a computer and working online.Do you know how to install plug-ins? Do you know how to disable a pop-up blocker? Are you comfortable reading from the monitor? If not, do you have a printer?

Tips:

• Contact your instructor immediately if you have personal problems that will keep you from completing your work or completing it on time.
• Read directions thoroughly so you understand what your instructor requires; contact your instructor if you’re not sure what’s expected.
• Take notes as you are viewing the online videos or online textbook just as you would take notes during lectures in a face-to-face class.
• Keep a calendar of due dates and exams and review it often.
• Login regularly to the course site—at least 4 times per week.

The course id number for the Summer 2008 Math 154 online course is rodriguez82601.