For the past month or so, I have been enrolled in an online class at my local community college. Like most college students, I decided to take such a class because I wanted to get a general education class out of the way. The general education subject that I took was a literature class and it was pretty basic stuff. The course required us to read the various short stories, dramas and poems from the required textbook, discuss the readings with our fellow classmates and occasionally write essays and exams along the way. I know these aspects of an online class seem pretty obvious, but this is my way of conveying my personal pros and cons for an online class. This is my opinion and if you disagree with me, that is great!

One aspect of taking an online class that caught me off guard (although it really shouldn't have) was that so much material was crammed into a short period of time. I did not realize that since this specific course was only a month long, every week was filled with at least three stories to read and many things to write about. A normal semester of college is condensed into around four weeks. And being online and not in person was another hard thing to get used to. When you are in a physical classroom, you can see how the professor reacts to certain things and you can interact with a lot of people, making it feel like you are actually learning something. Being online the whole time takes away any sort of learning experience. I cannot see if the professor is disappointed in me, so why should I care? I realize that I am getting credits toward my degree, but I should at least see what my education means to someone in person.

After saying all of that, there are plenty of good things about taking an online class. For starters, you don't have to wait an entire week to finish all of your work. Online classes give you the week’s assignments and it's up to you to finish it all by the end of the week. As long as you have good discipline, you're all set. Another thing that I loved is that it is an online class. You have the entire internet to help you. Now let me be clear, this statement is not promoting plagiarism. You should never steal other people’s work. What I am saying is that you have a lot more resources on your hand than you would in a regular, restrictive classroom. You essentially have more freedom. My only other positive for online classes is the fact that you end up learning more about how you, as a student, learn. Like I said before, you need great discipline in order to be successful in any class, online or not. Personally, after taking my first online course, I learned that the type of system online classes use is not for me. I am thankful that this course allowed me to understand my limits as a student.

This was not meant to “explode” your mind. This was just a relatively new college student offering his perspective on the idea of the online class. Would I recommend taking one or two? Sure. If you’re willing to work, anything is possible.