There are several positive aspects to online courses in college. The obvious aspect is that there is usually no set schedule, and you can work at your own pace. I found this helpful when I had many other in-person classes that required lots of work outside of class. You can make your schedule and fit in your virtual work whenever you please. I have also found that online classes usually don’t require the purchase of expensive textbooks. I have had two fully online classes in college so far, World Regions and Cultures and Introduction to Design and Culture, and neither required a textbook. Both professors provided us with the reading and the other outside materials, and I feel this made the content much easier to grasp, and it overall made the class easier.
Magna Publications
Despite the positive aspects, there are also many downsides to online classes. Although it seems counterintuitive, online classes are more expensive than in-person ones. Most in-person classes are around a $7 fee, whereas online classes are a $75 fee. Teachers and professors can also be much harder to reach. For instance, virtual teachers will not post or just do not have office hours, and it is always a gamble whether they will reply to emails promptly. For example, my professor for Introduction to Design does not have posted office hours, and he takes about a week to reply to emails. You also lose the connections you would make while working with other students or one-on-one with the teacher. I never met any other students in either of my virtual classes, and I never met either of the teachers. I wish I had these connections for future reference.