I want to take some math and a organic chemistry course. Can anyone suggest a college or colleges that are not very expensive(like a junior college)that I can take some courses by distance learning. It does not matter if it is by the internet, print or video.
For math courses, three schools you might look at are: Chemeketa Community College in Oregon http://bbs.chemeketa.edu/public/default.htm Cochise Community College in Arizona http://xwing.cochise.cc.az.us/online-campus/ Rio Salado College in Arizona http://www.rio.maricopa.edu/ ------------------ Bill Gossett
You could try browsing Excelsior College's DistanceLearn database by subject or searching by keyword. A quick search for "chemistry" turned up several -- environmental chemistry at the U of Mississippi, Athabasca, and Oregon State; Applied Chemistry for Nonmajors at Univ of Massachusetts Lowell; Elementary College Chemistry at BYU and more. See http://distancelearn.about.com/cs/courseguides/index.htm for links to this and other online course guides. ------------------ Kristin Evenson Hirst DistanceLearn.About.com
For math, check http://www.brevard.cc.fl.us/online/campus/courses.html from time to time for current courses. If you are a Florida resident, they are very inexpensive ($60./credit). For non-FL resident, they're $189./credit. Organic chemistry may be hard to find at a CC or junior college.
Organic chemistry usually also requires a laboratory component, which probably will be hard to find in a distance education course.
Check the University of Southern Colorado at http://coned.uscolo.edu/ I got more than a few laughs at work when I mentioned a chemistry course that.. yes.. has an "at-home" lab component. I'm sure the school's legal department went into convulsions when they browsed through the "new offerings" section.
That's interesting. This DL chem lab seems to be for one of those 'chemistry for general education' courses, rather than for a serious chemistry course for science and engineering majors. In that case I can understand what they are doing. It's kind of like those old chemistry sets they used to sell kids. (Do those even exist any more?) Lots of (relatively) safe experiments that demonstrate basic principles. But a real honest to God organic chemistry lab is going to use some dangerous reagents and require stuff like laboratory glassware, fume hoods and precision laboratory balances. Most importantly it's going to teach good laboratory technique, which requires hands-on supervision. I just can't imagine a serious chem lab for majors occurring by distance education. (Except perhaps at a remote site with the necessary facilities.) However... getting back to the subject of this thread, it seems that University of Southern Colorado does offer a DL organic chemistry course using videotapes, at lower division level and minus lab. http://coned.uscolo.edu/is/ This may or may not meet realbamapride's needs. I doubt if it would satisfy the curriculum requirements for a chemistry major or for most biology majors. It may work for a prospective secondary-school biology teacher though or something like that. I'd suggest studying your curriculum requirements very closely, to make sure that this kind of lower division course sans lab really meets your needs.
The final exam includes a sworn affadavit from the local fire chief that states you didn't blow-up your house. Seriously, some DL schools do require a laboratory science, so it's good to see this niche filled. Bruce
Oh, they still exist. We call them "clandestine labs" where I'm from. Finding one usually results in lots of headaches and a visit by white-suited technicians getting paid big $$ in overtime to remove them. <G> I don't have any delusions about the USColorado course being particularly "high speed," but to paraphrase Bruce.. if it fills a niche, good for 'em. A few years back, I desperately needed a lab science-- ANY lab science-- for my Associate's degree. This would've done nicely. Now, a "Nuclear Fission at Home" lab might be worth worrying over..