With the introduction of online courses at the college level, I've been interested in what the students' assessments are of these courses and their benefits to students. When online courses were first introduced, I thought that they could not take the place of face-to-face courses. But after taking a few courses online myself, I've realized that although you may lose the one-to-one contact between the instructor and student, that the course objectives can be met, as long as the instructor and student are willing to work in a timely matter throughout the semester on the coursework and meet the necessary deadlines.
I've also realized that by taking these online courses, that you may learn more via online than face-to-face because of the nature that the courses are designed. Many of the online courses that I've taken have required a weekly homework assignment and/or participation in an online group discussion via Elluminate or through other programs (such as Skype). Through these online discussions, we are able to discuss homework assignments or other topics that you may not address in a face-to-face course.
I would feedback on your thoughts of what you've experienced in a face-to-face course versus an online course. Obviously from this blog, I think that there are many benefits from taking an online course versus a face-to-face course. But I think that there are benefits from taking both, but I'm just curious to know what others think.
