Comparing Online vs. Brick & Mortar

Hello, I will be attending an online school because of the cost and convenience factor, as I work full-time. I have read that online schools are just as good as brick and mortar but perhaps more rigorous.

I definitely want to learn, but I do not want to be overloaded by school work either. If you have attended grad level courses in both environments, which do you think really requires more time committment?

My assumption would be brick and mortar since you are involved in lecture, drive time, etc. But I've read that online can be more time consuming, because they try to make up for the fact that you are not typically gaining knowledge from lecture, so you have are reading and researching more to make up for the lost class time.

 

You are exactly correct on all fronts. You will spend more time studying and no time driving, parking, attending class, Ect. Online classes usually assign more reading and more work, but that is a fair trade-off. I think you will be happy with your decision depending which school you have decided to attend. What school is it?

Info: http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/35100-new-users-ask-where-did-my-posts-go.html

 

Comparing Online vs. Brick & Mortar = Don't! Because they're different.

One is not the other. Some people prefer one and not the other, some like both, and many could not handle either one of them.

 

I am not sure - I have Masters from B&M and On-line; I agree with the post that you spend time driving or reading - balances out. I wquld rather drive than read. With either, most students will get from the degree what they put into the degree.

 

Concur....

 

I have attended grad level courses in both environments. Not exactly a time issue, but I would encourage you if at all possible to make a 3D visit to the online school you plan to attend, and meet some of the professors. I believe it may help to make you a real person in the eyes of the faculty rather than just a name on a screen.

My reasoning, and personal experience, is that if a professor is inclined to ignore a student or worse, he/she is more inclined to do it in an online environment. It's much easier to hit the delete button (for emails, etc.) than slam a door in someone's face. It's sort of like some of the internet posts one reads; you know (at least hope) they wouldn't be so rude to your face. I still believe unethical professors are the exception, but they do exist.

As for quality, as was said earlier, you get out of it what you put into it.

This is my opinion. No one has to agree.

 

There is a wide variation in quality among brick & mortar courses, programs and faculty and among online courses, programs and faculty. Eight decades of research into face-to-face versus instruction delivered via various technologies has demonstrated that, overall, learning achievement is about the same. Some learn better "live," some learn better face-to-face. There is no consistent body of research that establishes that those who learn online do worse than those who learn in face-to-face classes. So, those who argue that online is inferior do so only on the authority of their own opinion.

 

Thanks all for your helpful thoughts on the matter. Surf doctor, I applied to Amberton University on the advice of some forum posters. Many folks here suggested going regional vs. DETC (another online school I was considering). I'm still a little undecided but I guess I can take at least one class and see how it goes.

This forum has been tremendously helpful.

 

I've taken both online (asynchronous) and face-to-face classes. I prefer face-to-face classes over online classes that are asynchronous (not delivered live using remote conferencing tool). If I have to select between asynchronous and synchronous, I would opt for synchronous distance learning because it closely replicates real live lectures - the reason why many "high end” B & M schools use it, and why many engineering programs/courses delivered online utilize this method.

For me, face-to-face classes are preferable because I retain more from live lectures, where the professor is seen and his/her voice is actually heard. If you must know; I still remember specific lectures in my undergraduate project management class that was taken in 2003, but nothing uniquely could be recalled in an online class that was just concluded 2 weeks ago......

My issue with asynchronous learning is that as a student, you are in basically paying a school money for them to tell you what you should learn by yourself, period. In essence, they are selling you their school name in the form of the degree, and whether you actually acquired new knowledge or not is up to you and none of their business, it seems. Sadly, majority of asynchronous online classes are so passive that there are nothing more than correspondence courses (that are very expensive). Even with discussion forums, where students post nonsense just to satisfy the number of posting requirements, I feel my MS from an online-only school was a rip-off and sub-standard.

Did you know that some online professors don't even have degrees in the field that they teach? Also, are you aware that some of them don't even have jobs related to what they teach (no practical experience and not academically qualified to teach a class that you pay for in hopes of tapping into their knowledge and experience - the reason of attending a school rather than read the textbooks or freely available internet information). These were some of the issues that I found about my program as it was winding down. If you must attend an online program, you get the most value for your tuition money if the classes are cheap, and the school is one with a physical campus, where your online class professor is also teaching in a "real" class (you get up-to-date knowledge), everyday.

 

Can't the same be said for B&M schools? I would assume that the same accreditation rule apply to B&M, online, or hybrid programs. While online programs may be drawbacks, please pick some that are unique to online programs.

 

My personal experience, I graduated from a B&M school (St. John's University) which I truly enjoyed. I am now in taking course at Sullivan University, PhD program, which I am also truly enjoying. For me, I really don't see that much of a different between B&M and a “good” online school. I have to comment, on where one of the previous post said that online teachers can just delete the email, I would assume they can. However, that would not give much credit to the university. To date, and do not foresee that being a problem for me at Sullivan. I work extremely hard in all my classes; the course work is very difficult.
When I was looking at online learning or low residency learning, the price was not much cheaper or cheaper at all from a B&M. Again in regards "Also, are you aware that some of them don't even have jobs related to what they teach (no practical experience and not academically qualified to teach a class that you pay for in hopes of tapping into their knowledge and experience ", both of my professors for this semester have a doctorate degree and work in the field that they teach in. Next semester, my two professor's hold doctorate degrees as well. So I’m not really sure, if "they" are discussing an accredited school?

 

That is just another example of blankets statements without fact. Perhaps Cyber can tell us what classes he/she took and what school and the instructors name?

 

I think this discussion shows that there are online schools that are better (meaning in this case more interactive, more experienced profs etc...) than others. It is hard to say in the abstract whether online is always better or more/less time consuming than B&M without knowing the particular schools and programs.

In my particular case, I have 3 degrees from B&M universities. Even though I enjoyed the subject matters in all my B&M degrees, I found most lectures to be boring and I couldn't remember much from them. Though granted all my profs for all my B&M degrees were well qualified and experienced in the field.

Now I am doing an MPA online at University of Colorado Denver and I love it. I find I learn much better on my own. The format of classes encourages me to read, re-read and do supplemental research until I "get it". Sitting in a classroom in front of a prof that talked for 3 hours non-stop just didn't have that effect on me. I am also super impressed with the quality of my profs, including the degrees they hold and their practical experience. I find all my profs to be very responsive to students and I think that my experience so far is much more than just being enrolled in some correspondence school. However, I do find I spend a lot more time with my online classes than I did with my B&M classes. Honestly, I can't imagine ever going back to a F2F style of instruction. (and no UC-D isn't paying me to say any of that