More advice from the blogosphere brain trust, if you please?

[serene]

I'm going to try to finish my B.A. in English, if I can find a school that offers it completely online. Then, I will try to get an advanced degree in something that makes sense for my job: counseling, maybe? But first, to find a good school that offers a program I like. National University has a 100%-online English program. Any others that you know of? Any success stories or caveats?

Comments

[j00j]

I don't know about specific programs, but I do have some advice about shopping for an online degree program, based on my experience of taking a few online classes and providing technical support for others for my graduate assistantship.

Take a look at how they conduct the classes and see what works for your needs (in terms of learning style and time and such).
- Some schools offer entirely asynchronous classes-- meaning you listen to a recorded lecture and make forum postings/turn in assignments all on your own time. Other classes have some synchronous components, meaning you must virtually attend a lecture at a specific time and can chat with the instructor and/or your classmates to discuss the material. So it's good to consider how much interaction you want.
- Some programs require you to travel somewhere to meet with your classes and instructors in person-- this can be a valuable opportunity for intensive learning and getting to know your classmates and professors, but it can also be physically/mentally exhausting and expensive. I'm not sure if this is as common for undergraduate programs as it is for graduate programs (my library school program required it, as does a friend's psychology doctoral program)
- I've also heard of some "hybrid" classes-- the professor is lecturing to a classroom of students, but the lecture is also broadcast for online students. My graduate school tried this model and stopped using it, as they found the online students tended to get neglected in a variety of ways (someone has to remember to look for their questions, students physically in the classroom do not remember to pass a microphone if the entire room isn't mic-ed, etc).
- Have they been doing online education for awhile? This may increase the likelihood that the instructors are comfortable with the online environment and interested in working in it. New instructors can absolutely take to teaching online (even ones who aren't very tech-savvy), but the school has to have established some kind of support for these instructors so they can learn good online teaching techniques. Lecturing to a group of students who aren't present is a different experience, probably even more so if you aren't seeing realtime chat responses.

So that's my two cents. Take a look at what's offered and see what kind of experience you'd prefer.

[serene]

Thank you; very helpful!