New Post

[Sherleen Thibodeaux it465]

If we have everything figured out here is discussion 2 I guess??? the
we will have one more to post.

Now that I think we have this group thing figured out... These summer
online classes are killing me they are so confusing. To my
understanding the four of us must 1) post at least 3 discussion
questions and respond to them.2) upload a file to the group 3) and
create a page that contains hyperlinks and all this must be submitted
by the 4th.
Ladies please don't think I am trying to take over I just discovered
this must be done by the 4th and I need a good grade. :)

Here is the first discussion:

What are your thought about taking online classes?

I personally enjoy them, I can work at my own leisure and try to stay
ahead. I am working on my teaching degree and all will be done online.
I have 7 classes next semester. I am a bit afraid of 7 but if I can
make it through these I can do IT. I have this IT class and an English
class this summer which the 2 are running together big time. Although,
I do find that I have to navigate through blackboard differently for
each teacher because assignment are in different places for each.
Other than that I like online learning.

[Kelley Pounders]

I see the benefits and drawbacks to online courses. You know USM was
in a bit of a tizzy about them for a while, don't really know if
that's died down or not--something about keeping their accreditation
and having a lot of online courses. Here are my issues:

1. Eliminates traditional "assessments"--all tests are open book
unless you do the whole on-site testing thing, which some of my
courses did in 2009, which was super inconvenient for me. I'm in Gulf
Shores (I was in Mobile, then) and it was a major pain to find
someplace to take a test.

2. Hard to determine who is doing the work--I might not *really* be
Kelley Pounders. I might be John Smith, who she hired to do her IT 465
work...essentially allows you to pay for a degree should you so
choose. Not that I have the money. Or that I would do that if I did.
Well. Probably not :)

3. Technical issues--good grief. We spend 50% of the time in some of
my classes dealing with Blackboard issues. I know this is something
that will smooth out over time and I personally don't have too many
problems, but it is annoying and a time suck. Oh, but "technical
issues" are such handy excuses for late work and missing class chat,
aren't they? And no one can really verify whether you have them or
not. It's just an open invitation to be dishonest.

Those are the big-scale issues I see. On a personal level, the single
biggest problem I have is staying on top of everything in every class.
I just found out this week one of my classes has a weekly Power Point
presentation. The professor had hidden it under some link on the
syllabus I had managed to overlook. It's hard when some of my
professors don't use the calendar function. Especially during the
summer (and I'm taking 12 400-level courses online), I have a
tremendous volume of work due each week, and without a "check in" in
class, it's hard to remember all of it. I don't need someone to hold
my hand, I have a planner that has every single thing pencilled in,
but it's really easy to overlook things, especially standing
assignments. Like, my discussion grade for this class is really bad,
and it's not because I don't have anything to say--it's because I
flippin' forget to reply to people's posts every week. I have written
it all over my planner and somehow still manage not to do it.

HOWEVER. I finished my English degree online. I would not have gotten
through school without the ability to take my last year online. My
husband (ex-husband now) had gotten a job in Mobile and we had to go
but I had only a year left in school. I transferred to USA for a year,
but about 1/2 of my credits didn't transfer and it was going to take
me about three years to get everything I needed--was like starting
over. When I finally decided to see if there were enough online
courses for me to finish up at USM, I was thrilled. I took about 30
hours of that degree online. Right now, also, I can't move back to
Hattiesburg until January, and I like that I can get some classes out
of the way while I'm still out of state.

So overall, online education has been vital to my success as a
student, but I think it has a some major drawbacks. For me, the
biggest thing is staying organized, which is tough when you take a lot
of classes online (plus working 50 hours a week and raising a 3 year
old and all that stuff!)

[Branda Stewart]

I personally like the online classes. I do believe some people cannot
do online classes because it does take some discipline. The thing
that is best for me is I have a family, with one child having a
disablitlity, spina bifida, and working, it gives me the time to do
what I have to do with them and be able to go back to school. I do
not believe I could have gone back to school if I had to be in class
all the time. Especially with the campuses being so far away, I
probably would have had to choose a different college than USM. I am
very thankful for the online classes.

On Jul 3, 6:38 am, Sherleen Thibodeaux it465 <dimp...@yahoo.com>
wrote:

[Lisa Parker]

I really dislike online classes. I think they are hard and I have to
try to figure everything out as to what is expected of me and what I
am supposed to be doing (this is not directed at this project or any
of our group members, just online classes from my experience:-) ).
They are SO time consuming, especially when I work full time and have
other classes. I feel like I am trying to teach myself which is
difficult because I am the type of student that needs a teacher in
front of me teaching me.

On Jul 3, 6:38 am, Sherleen Thibodeaux it465 <dimp...@yahoo.com>
wrote: