For those of you that don’t know, soon after we closed LAN’s Edge I began taking online college courses. I really didn’t know what to expect. When I was in the Navy, a “remote course” as they were called then, meant buying what books you could at the local book store and buying the rest online. Then, you had to take the course via mail. If there was a quiz, you had to have a “certified” monitor watch you take it. I wasn’t really looking forward to all the bs, but I knew I wanted to get my degree.
So I got signed up for classes from Axia Online. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Phoenix University. Turns out, all my books are in .pdf format and I use “old school” news groups to participate in class and turn in assignments. I can call my instructors at their 1-800 number, and all my quizzes are done through a website. All-in-all pretty nifty.
You take your classes in 2 course “blocks”. Each block lasts 9 weeks. The downside is, there is no break between blocks. Not even for summer. But because you only take 2 courses at a time, the work load is not too much and I can easily schedule it into working with Candy. Also, they try to match your courses up so that they go together. A good example is my last course block which I’ll mention in a second. Truth be told, if I had known it was like this, I would have started my courses while I was working at LAN’s Edge. As “They” say,”Hindsight is 20/20.”
Well, I just finished my first course block two weeks ago. I took COM110 (Persuasive Writing) and IT101 (Intro to Online Research). Together I spent an average of about 10 hours a week on the two classes. Today I got my combined grade: 4.0!!!
Not bad for being out of the education pipeline for 13 years. I know the first two courses are supposed to be easy, but I was really just happy to get through it all. In the beginning I had about 30 people in both classes. At the end…only 10 of us were left standing.
Now here I am 2 weeks into my next course block. I can already tell its getting harder. I have a 2500 word persuasive essay due in 7 more weeks. Its a good thing that my writing course is tied to a course in “Critical Thinking” this time around. The two really go well together.
So far, I’ve had a great experience in my online course. I’d recommend it to anyone with a little extra time available that wants to get their degree. Or maybe work on getting a higher one.
BTW: I’m going for my degree in Business Marketing. I figured I had the work experience, I should have the paper to back it up.
Congrats, again! 4.0 – now I’ll never hear the end of how you are beating my 3.9 GPA :p
You go Tom! I took my last course at ACC on-line. It was very user-friendly, but I learned that self-motivation is not my forte. So, now I’m back in the classroom with the youngsters!
That is awesome! Keep up the good work. I have the Marketing degree, but not the work experience
Keep up the good work. I’ve never taken an on-line course. I’m prob. like Amy and lack self motivation.
Well, yea for you, Tom!!