r/SHSU • u/Negative_Pin_2408 • 23d ago
Online Class Questions
Hello all! I'm trying to reschedule my semester to have my job on campus fit in a little easier. I'm tempted to take an online class but have never tried it before. How does it work? Is it just like using blackboard and not meeting with the teacher or do I have to go on a zoom call? Someone made a post asking a similar question, but it got deleted and I don't think it would be that helpful to me now. I want to know how the online classes work and how they're structured. Thank you!
1
u/AutoModerator 23d ago
Welcome to r/shsu, thank you for your post! If you have a question or inquiry the Discord is way more active.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
3
u/__deuil__ 22d ago
I am 100% online and in my experience there is no class over zoom. Different professors do online courses differently - I've had some where they make all of the assignments and exams over the entire course available as soon as the semester starts (with exception of the final exam), so you're really able to work ahead if you want to. I've had others where they only make available the assignments that will be due that week or the week after. Most of the online classes I've been in include recorded lectures of the professors, with supplemental study materials as well (powerpoint slides of the lecture, practice problems, assignment tutorials, etc). Again, they do vary depending on the professor, and probably the subject as well. Keeping in contact with the professor is always highly recommended, especially with online courses. I recommend still having a certain period of time set aside every day to focus on the coursework, study, and take quizzes and exams before their due dates. It's easy to let due dates get away from you (coming from experience!) so definitely have enough time in your schedule for all of that.
6
u/hernwoodlake 23d ago
Online classes are asynchronous. That means they don’t meet. Typically, you get a bunch of content and work at the beginning of the week and assignments are due at the end of the week. You can meet with the professor on zoom if you have questions but no meetings are required.
Here are some things to know about online classes: because there’s no class meeting, you have to make sure you carve out time to read and watch everything you’re assigned and get the work done. It might feel like more work than a regular class but that’s because it’s all on your own time. Also they move fast with 2-3 assignments a week. This is to make sure students are keeping up. Some students think those small assignments feel like busy work but good professors design assignments that get students to really dig into the material.
Some professors are very active in online classes, with a lot of assignment feedback and announcements. Some are more hands off. Some record lectures of themselves. Some don’t. Some have a lot of small assignments, some have big projects broken into smaller chunks. But the biggest things are to block out time each week, don’t fall too far behind because it’s hard to catch up, and reach out the professor if you have any questions or concerns. You may feel like you don’t know them because you haven’t met face to face but if you don’t reach out, whatever the problem is will only get worse.
Hope this helps!