During my senior year in high school I participated in a program referred to as “dual enrollment,” in which I took a college-level course online during one of my class periods. This period would be spent sitting at a computer in the school library and would fit into my schedule just as any other class would have. The course, “Physical Fitness for Life,” was offered through UNC-Greensboro and consisted mostly of forum discussions and basic activities that were completed through the course’s Blackboard site. It operated on a 10-point scale and allowed me to set my own schedule when it came to completing assignments-I only had to make sure everything in the unit got down by a certain date.
Throughout the semester I came to find several things I enjoyed about taking an online course, as well as a few things that I didn’t like.
Advantages:
Set my own schedule: typically, we received one or two assignments that would be due by the end of the week. These assignments consisted of forum posts, blogs, quizzes, activities, etc. I was free to pace out the work as I saw fit, and was able to devote the period to other work if I had already completed assignments or had time to spare.
Learning at my own pace: if I was having trouble understanding a concept, it was simple for me to rewind the lecture or read over a paragraph again to clarify. This is in stark contrast to the classroom setting, where professors work from a set curriculum and are hesitant to spend too much time on a single topic, regardless of whether or not students are fully understanding.
Disadvantages:
Self-discipline: several times I found myself getting distracted and spending time surfing the Internet when I should have been doing work. The lack of a classroom setting also proved to be a disadvantage because, personally, I am much more focused and attentive when I’m being taught (as opposed to teaching myself).
Transfer of credits: while the program was advertised as offering high school students the opportunity to earn college credit, I was unable to receive credit hours for the class. This is an issue with several eLearning providers when students attempt to transfer hours to a traditional university. Curriculums and standards are different everywhere and it can be difficult to get a university to award credit for classes taken at another institution.
I think programs like this are really beneficial. Throughout high school, I had to take electives just to fill up my schedule senior year. I felt like I was wasting my time and wasn't really learning anything. I would have loved to of been able to take college courses online and getting a head start on college and utilizing my time wisely. This could've definately of been good for taking all those prerequiste classes that we have to. Maybe there will be a standard set of rules to help credits transfer to all Universities no matter what. I mean, you did the time and learned, you best be getting the credit for it! Did you have to be considering UNC Greensboro to be eligible to take that course?
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