The last online class I took was an elective as a means to finish my two-year degree. I admit I couldn’t have cared less if I learned anything. I just wanted the unnecessary course over and done with.
I thought how much of a joke these online classes really were. The assignments called for me to read each chapter of the textbook, and then take the quizzes, which were followed by a mid-term and a final exam.
That was fine. What I found to be a joke was the fact I could take these exams as many times as I wanted to the point, I’d get every answer correct which in turn, would allow me to make an easy A in the course. The system would tell me what the answer is on the quiz/exam questions was if I got them wrong, or it would point where in the textbook I could find the answer. Moreover, if the questions were true/false and I guessed true as the wrong answer, it didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out the correct answer next time would be false!
I am aware college instructors aren’t idiots. The online system, after all, allows instructors to look to at each student’s attempts and take note how many times he/she or it took those quizzes/exams to make 100 percent.
Still, were it not for online classes, it would be hard for me to attend classes in person given my work schedule. No wonder colleges offer students the chance to take languages, algebra, and science courses online as opposed to driving to campus and attend classes in person.
If my degree required that I needed a language and the four-year university offered online classes in Spanish, I’d register for the online courses in a heartbeat.
I don’t want to sit in class for an hour or more two to three times a week and converse with other students to learn the language.
The same goes for online science classes. If an online biology class offers a computer printout of a frog’s insides, I’d embrace an online diagram or picture of one. The only reason I would even be enrolled in the course to begin with is because my degree plan requires me to have one science credit.
Granted, there is a downside to online classes, which is you don’t get any interaction with other students or the instructor.
The only online classes and I stress the word, “only” classes I do take seriously are those courses in my major or for a certification.
Students can fool the instructor all they want mastering the exams and come out smelling like a rose but sooner or later, karma is going to come back for you.
When the day comes and you get that job where you must apply the material you learned, or not, the truth will finally be known. Did you skid by or learn the material?
To quote President Abraham Lincoln, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
©7/1/08
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