Managing Editor
Speaking as a college student with self-diagnosed “senioritis,” getting out of bed is highly exasperating, to say the least. Waking up to go to class is comparable to taking out the trash: nobody wants to do it. Luckily, online education is extremely convenient.
You can complete assignments from the comfort of your own bedroom and continue to stay there because guess what? No assigned meeting times! Who wouldn’t refuse that offer?After taking two online classes within the past two terms, me.
But with convenience also comes laziness, a lack of urgency and, ultimately, procrastination. Case in point: last term I turned in my last two Writing for the Web projects late. As in last-day-of-finals-week late (Sorry, Dr. Lewis.)
If you know me, turning in homework is one of my biggest phobias. It gives me anxiety and makes me feel like I did when I watched Black Swan: extremely uncomfortable. That being said, the reason why I am not fond of online classes is because I turn in my homework late. If I didn’t make it clear before, I’d like to point out that it is very out-of-character for me to submit past due assignments.
Very.
Last school year I was enrolled in Marketing and the Internet. It was a hybrid class meaning we completed the coursework on our own time and only met for exams.
Although I totally bought into the idea of not having to attend class (again, who wouldn’t be?), all of the coursework started building up.
Instead of having a regular lecture, we’d have readings, videos, audio lectures and case studies to complete, in addition to responding to each other on Moodle. I am 100 percent sure I did more reading for that class alone than the entire “Harry Potter” series. I know this because I’ve read the entire series.
Thrice.
What I’m trying to say is that I don’t think I’ve ever put that much effort into a
“normal” class. Although the readings weren’t difficult, there were just so many details that I was unsure of which ones would be important on the exams. There was no real interactive communication between us and our professor. We responded to prompts just because we were supposed to, not because we truly wanted to share our standpoint(s). Half of the responses were just students regurgitating what other students, who had actually done the readings, had an opinion about.
Additionally, I sucked at submitting assignments on time. No need to sugar coat it.
When I had an assignment or project due on Wednesday, I waited until Wednesday morning to begin, thinking I could wake up at nine and finish said assignment before two.
There’s just something about physically attending class that gives me incentive to complete work on time.
Which brings us to this: online coursework should be supplementary to in-class discussion, assignments, etc.
For example, the majority of the homework assigned for Math 111 was online.
Although the problems took forever (or really like three and a half hours) to complete, I was able to get them done… eventually.
It is an understatement to say that I am terrible at math. So, the online portion of the class was not to blame for my poor overall performance. It actually saved my grade.
However, the online assignments made it easier for our professors to assign homework without having to grade it. I also liked that our textbook was offered online because I can’t stand lugging around textbooks for every class. Plus, I don’t know what I would have done without the “View an Example” feature on Pearson MyLab.
Therefore, in the future, I’d like to refrain from taking an online-based class due to my tendency toward procrastination and laziness that develops whenever I do so.
In spite of that, I do think professors should utilize online homework if it complements the coursework and the professor’s instruction. Based on my experiences, I believe that online education should be used as one of many mediums to teach and, not relied on as the sole vehicle for teaching and learning.
There’s just something about face-to-face, in-class interaction that is not well-replicated via online courses. However, the struggle for waking up to go to class will always remain.
