My Myths About the Online Environment

September 21, 2009 kwhitcomb

Before I ever took an online course, I thought it would definitely be a lot easier than a traditional face-to-face learning environment. The first course I took online, which was a nutrition course, was extremely easy and low-maintenance. My opinion about online classes quickly changed when I took an E-Management course online. It was, by far, the hardest class I have ever taken in college. We had so many assignments due, and our instructor assigned 20 question quizzes with only 13 minutes to complete them. It was insane! After researching this myth, I found out that there are many reasons that online courses are in no way easier than face-to-face classes. There is much more self-discipline involved in online learning, as well as self-motivation.

I also used to believe that the quality of online courses was much lower than that of the quality of a face-to-face course. The more experience I have gained in online courses, the more I realize that is not the case at all. Through my research this past week, I have really been able to recognize how much more teachers are able to teach in an online environment. Instructors can provide students with so many resources to learn if they are already online. It is much harder for a traditional teacher to integrate those methods of teaching into their lessons, since they are in a classroom environment. I definitely recognize that the quality can be equal, if not better, in an online course, as opposed to the quality of a face-to-face course.