My Daughter Hates Online University.

I'm not sure that "hate" is the correct word...it's not strong enough! It's funny because I have always loved online university from the very first class I have taken. My daughter, however, enrolled in SUNY and began classes this fall and has been almost in tears because she hates it so much.

It's not the school. SUNY is a quality, state university system and her online classes were just fine, although they were not organized as well as some schools I have seen. Part of the problem is that they are using the Angel platform which leaves a fair amount of the course design to the instructor, in this case. Angel can be hardwired or it can be affected by instructor preferences. Her courses were fine, maybe not organized as well as some, but still fine. Professors are not always good online course designers.

She is dropping the program now that she has finished this semester. She has a good cumulative GPA of 3.6 and earned a 4.0 this semester at SUNY. She is applying to a bunch of UC schools for next year. UCI, UCSB, UCLA...

Just goes to show you that DL is not for everyone.

 

You're right; "DL is not for everyone." That is why it is very important that DL programs are setup to engage students. In my opinion, the best online programs are those with synchronous activities (can be optional), otherwise, the overly passive nature of asynchronous programs (set-it-and-forget-it-programs), which in many cases are nothing more that glorified correspondence programs (set-it-and-leave-it-to-run-programs), will continue to have students like your daughter abandon them for lack of engagement, in the long run. A face-to-face program will be a better fit for her, I'm sure.

 

Perhaps but they do not work for people with irregular schedules. Besides, do you really think listening to someone that may have never really done anything in the real world add value? I can read my own theories, I do not need someone to tell them to me.

 

Might be also a social issue, e.g. no virtual room mates, friends going to "regular" Universities, etc.

 

My thoughts exactly.....when I was 18, I probably wouldn't have been interested in online education if it existed; I wanted to get drunk and meet girls, which of course resulted in my first foray into higher education ending very badly.

 

I think it would be very hard for somebody at 18 years to do online. Kids are highly social at that age and the group dynamics are very important for them. It is no mistake that most online students are much older, have kids, mortgages, and are trying to get ahead.
Responsibilities are a great motivator.

 

LOL, I had a similar problem when I first attended college.

I do agree it takes a certain level of maturity to succeed in online/DL courses, and many 18 year olds are lacking that.

 

i don't think online is ideal for a young person. University experience includes social interaction, professional networking, sports, friends, parties, etc. My best friends were made at the University. My class mates at online schools had little social interaction with me other than group projects.

A young person should go to a traditional face to face program.

Online education should be mainly for adults looking to further their education but not by youngsters.

 

In general, I agree with you, but there are exceptions.

For example, members of the armed forces who are college age can greatly benefit from online education, and in my experience are generally (there are exceptions) mature enough to take advantage of it.

 

I agree. An unencumbered young person greatly misses the social aspect. In my daughter's case, she has a very active social life, but she misses interaction with professors and listening to the lectures.

 

It is understandable how a kid fresh out of high school can not get into the online DL modality. Going to college at that age has so much to offer that I would discourage anyone from defaulting to the DL route if at all possible.

However; I also see a lot of people completely write-off online courses because of a bad experience with a class/school/courseware platform. It is definitely not for everyone, but it may also take a couple of tries to find the right fit.

 

Yes, I agree. I encouraged her to try SUNY online because it is so much cheaper than the traditional route. She has a college fund and an online bachelor's would leave her with a nice sized nest egg left over after her degree. It would have been a good idea, but if she just can't stand it, I'm not going to try to make her.

 

If your daughter lives in California she could take lower division courses through local CCs. I took several though Coastline at a very low per unit price ($22 as I recall). I do not know what program Coastline used but it was really easy to use.

Incidentally my two step-sons attended a local CC ((in seat) for two years then had no problem getting into good degree programs; one into UCSB and one into USC.

 

Thanks, but she actually has just finished her AA at OCC and the SUNY was upper division stuff. Congratulations to your sons on getting into good UC schools. We are anxiously awaiting word from several UC schools as we speak. We probably will not hear anything until January or a bit later, I expect.

 

I'll second this heartily.

I've said on this board before that I think the Platonic teaching model is a bit overrated. More accurately-- while that model made a fantastic foundation for the last several centuries of education, we're looking at a lot of factors going forward that will make having other DL paradigms necessary. I think it's unfortunate that some posters on this board insist on direct teacher-student interaction (or worse, one-way video lectures) as a qualification for having attained mastery of a given subject area.

 

You can't deny that those kind of things can offer a substantial benefit for certain individuals. However, they should not be, as you said, "a qualification for having attained mastery of a given subject area." There are other ways that work very well for a large number of students. I personally can't stand listening to a professor go on and on, off the point and then back on again, and then have to listen to other students make their less than erudite comments. It's a waste of my time. Give me the material and I'll master it; don't waste my time. DL, in my opinion, is the most efficient way to learn because it does just what I require and no more.

My daughter, however, has a much different opinion.

 

That's seems strange because in traditional college interaction of teacher with the students helps a lot. Through this students become aware of many ideas shared by others & give them an idea on how & what others think so that they can judge themselves.

 

I think it may be the difference in the student age and circumstances. People, in mid life or older, have developed view points and abilities to test ideas through life experience and networks. The amount of time available to a person who has family and work commitments on top of studies is also an issue. You don't want to waste it.

Work discipline requires that you resolve the knowledge deficit quickly, this gets transferred to the learning environment. In younger people, this may be less developed.

Horses for courses. I must admit, I would rather read than sit and listen. I can do the latter at a time I choose and where I choose as well. I can then bounce it off others in my workplace or other groups who may actually, in some cases, be more qualified than the lecturer. Learning goes on everywhere. Sometimes structured, sometimes unstructured.

 

That's a matter of opinion; some people might benefit from the interaction and others will not. It depends on what kind of learner an individual is and how talented the professor is.