The course from hell

Every once in a while, you'll end up with the course from hell. Normally, you'd just drop this course. But it so often happens that this course from hell is a mandatory course for your degree or diploma. So you're stuck.

There a number of things you can do to deal with the course from hell.

Suck Up

You can simply suck up to your teacher or instructor, do whatever pleases him or her (in terms of class work) not necessarily because you agree with or understand what you're saying, but simply because it pleases him/her. Ask lots of questions, to the point where you have a somewhat of an idea of what he/she is looking for. Then do it.

At least you'll get a decent grade.

Quit

You can always drop the course and hope to take it now or later, with another (hopefully) better instructor. But if you're going to do this, do it within the first two weeks so you don't fall behind in assignments. After two weeks, don't choose this option unless your instructor and this course are from the bottom pits of hell and you feel doomed to failure in the course. In that case, bail out whenever you can and take it later. Otherwise, you'll end up wasting time and money, all for absolutely zilch.

Complain

If you're not the only one who feels the course is from hell and a good portion of your class feels the same way, especially when others in the same course but with different instructors don't, then complain - en masse. Go straight to the top. Pass a petition expressing displeasure and/or crowd the department head's office and tell him that the class average is on its way to being a C-. Then make sure the entire class makes its point when the instructor evaluations are handed out, mid-term. Get students who are normally known as achievers on your side. It'll give you more clout.

Instructors have been let go in the past due to student complaints.

Threaten

Tell your department head that XX% of the class is ready to drop the course because the class is a total waste of time and money and the instructor has no clue what he/she is supposed to be teaching.

Again, make sure you have the support of achievers and others in your class who have a good rapport with the department.

Nowadays, more often than not, universities and colleges are run like businesses and you, the student, are the client. Demand customer satisfaction. Usually, anything that will give the department a bad rap or make it lose money will be solved - quickly. Also, make a passing comment about ratemyprofessor.com and spreading unflattering word of mouth through blogs if the situation isn't resolved.


If none of this works, then get as many classmates as you can get and carry out the threat - drop the course. If anything, it will send a message to the department that you guys were serious.

On the other hand, if no one is complaining and is willing to drop out with you, then take a hard look in the mirror and blame yourself, because in that case, you're the one with the problem. Straighten up, pay attention in class, and do the readings. You'll get away with a half-decent mark, at the very least.

Good writing skills

Many of us may be good talkers, but unfortunately for us, essays and finals usually aren't done verbally (unless you're a journalism student and your final is making a documentary).

Good writing skills are even more crucial in online and distance education courses where writing can sometimes be your only means of communication.

It's amazing how many college and university students just do not know how to write. They'll chat away among themselves and might even give public addresses, but when it comes to writing a term paper or a final essay, their grammar, spelling, punctuation and style are worthy of comparison with the work of a grade four student.

What has caused this literary decay?

I don't have any statistics to back this up, but based on personal experience, I believe it has a lot to do with embracing technology and the teaching of language in schools.

I've noticed my spelling deteriorate since we got a computer in our home back in 1996. It's especially evident when I'm away from my computer and am forced to write anything by hand. My handwriting has gotten worse too.

Of course, whenever I'm typing, be it in Microsoft Word, Hotmail, here, or on a message board, there's always a spell check option. Sure, I usually catch mistakes the spell checker makes, but I don't worry about my spelling since I know the computer will go over it anyway. Therefore, I don't bother to remember the spelling of complex or confusing words I would otherwise have to remember.

Now, when I'm writing an exam without a dictionary, I'm stuck.

I also strongly believe that good writing skills come (at least partially) from reading. As the amount of time spent with a book goes down, it's only natural for writing skills to go down as well. Sure, we may be reading a lot online, etc., but I don't think most of it is quality reading that actually improves writing. In fact, it might make it worse.

It is from reading different, quality materials that we pick up different writing styles, not to mention grammar and spelling.

Lastly, I don't feel I was taught enough grammar in school. In fact, there was no mention of grammar in elementary school. When I was sent off to boarding school in grade seven, I was met by a very senior teacher who all of a sudden threw all this grammar at me. Of course, I had no idea about what was going on but I somehow got through by being creative, among other things.

It was by learning Arabic grammar that I was able to see the similarities with English grammar and that's when I finally found my way around the English language, properly.

But of course, there's always room for improvement.

So if you want to improve your writing skills which are crucial in college and university, start reading a lot of quality material such as novels, news/financial magazines and quality newspapers. It'll prove invaluable in the work world as well.

Distance / online education puts you at a disadvantage in the work world?

As I mentioned earlier, I took distance education courses and just loved it! I tried convincing a friend to take correspondence courses as well and I had him converted, except his dad kept suggesting to him that correspondence education (and by extension, I'd say it'd include online education) is second-class.

What hogwash!

If anything, being successful in distance / online education proves that you are a self-starter, disciplined and independent, things that not many employers would see as negatives.

Fearing that some old school department head might see my distance education as a negative, that's the spin I put on my university application and I (gratefully) sailed through. And my correspondence education didn't set me back in the work market either, as I landed my first job at a major newspaper after a year at university.

My views are backed up by the following:

The stereotypes of distance learning is changing. Before online education, distance learning meant mail order degrees. Now prestigious universities like Boston University and Cornell are getting into this newly emerging form of teaching. Employers are more concerned with what you learned, and what your grades were, than the name of an institution. It's rare that an employer will hire you if you got Cs in all your class, but you graduated from a top tier school. They would rather see someone have As from an accredited college, with classes that apply in the world environment.

If you have an online degree this is what an employer sees:

• You are independent, and can work with less instruction.
• You have technical skills, and you can communicate via other channels other then face to face interaction.
• You are dedicated to self-improvement, and you are motivated.

Source

So the next time someone tries to put you down for studying online or taking distance education courses, tell them to get real - wake up and smell the coffee!

Do the readings before class!

We've all been through it. We were supposed to read Chapter X of whatever book but we forgot or didn't give it any importance and the next thing you know, you find yourself sitting in class skimming through the pages.

You might as well stop.

Even if you have relatively bad memory like I do, reading through the stuff properly helps. Read and it understand it. Even if it doesn't stick, it'll come back when it comes up in a class discussion. But if you haven't read it at all or have merely skimmed, there won't be anything to come back.

So if you're gonna do it, you might as well do it right the first time.

Know what is going on in your class!

Often, I find students who are just LOST. They have no clue what's going on in the class, what they are supposed to be reading for next class, and when things are due. As you can expect, these are the ones who often end up failing or who barely pass. I've noticed this especially in online courses.

You see, you are part of a class. The other students are all your competitors. You've got to be well aware of what's going on in the class. Keep one step ahead of the competition if possible. Build contacts with and be friendly with the instructor and with other smart students in the class. It'll pay off in the long run, especially if you happen to miss a day for some reason.

Be someone who people go to for help instead of being the one who seeks out others to find out what's going on.

Handing in the incorrect assignment or not knowing what in the world you were supposed to do does not do much good to your instructor/professor's perception of you, which is not good for your success.

So remember, always keep up or even stay ahead of the rest.

Key to success for online education or the classroom

It is not uncommon to hear students agonizing over their college or university studies. "Oh, it's so hard!" "It's very tough!" some will pre-warn new students.

From my experience, either online or in the classroom, discipline is 50% of success. Many students are horribly undisciplined. If you look around the classroom, you'll know immediately who they are. They'll be missing class, coming in late, handing in late assignments, not doing their assigned readings, waiting until the last minute to start working on assignments, chatting on MSN on their laptops during lectures, and the list goes on and on. Some of them will also be suffering from hangovers.

For online courses, they are the ones who forget about assignments, continue to chat with friends while watching/listening to online lectures, and leave the readings for the last minute. You just can't absorb chapters upon chapters of information or intensive lectures in a couple of hours.

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that doing all of the above affects one's grade and success. That is why I say discipline is half of success. Be disciplined and do everything you're supposed to, and the other 50% (or most of it anyway) will come by itself.

To be fair though, I will say that there are times when one just does not understand the subject matter, and that problem could be magnified if it's an online course and the instructor is not readily available. Yes, it does happen but it's the exception rather than the rule.

Never underestimate the influence your being attentive and punctual can have on your instructor. Professors are humans, after all, and they are influenced by factors otherthan the quality of one's paper or exam answers.

Those who think they're smart and try to outwit the system dupe themselves, especially when they're paying for the very stuff they're not paying attention to.

Heck, if they can't even figure that out...it's no wonder they think the study material is so hard!

Distance Education vs. Classroom Education: Which is better? Are students better off with real professors?

The simple answer is that it depends. I've experienced all three forms of education, distance, online and "real." My best experience was with distance education.

I needed to complete high school and actually attending a public high school was not an option. So I signed with Ontario's Independent Learning Centre. My first course was Grade 11 Math. Imagine my surprise when I ended up with a 92% final mark! That was the highest mark I had received so far. And imagine the greater surprise when I got a 94% in Grade 11 English! (My Grade 9 English/Math mark was 84/82 respectively).

The secret: The structure of the correspondence courses. Each course was divided into four units, each unit into five lessons. At the end of each lesson, there would be a set of "key questions" that I would have to complete and send in once the unit was completed. Only those answers would be marked. There would be no exams in the middle of the course. Once I had completed, mailed in, and then received marks for all four units, a final exam would be arranged in town and I'd go write it in the presence of a supervisor.

My final mark would be the average of the four units plus my final exam mark. So basically, I could get help and answer the key questions in the four units and get good marks and I only had to study for the final.

My strategy: get 90-100 in each of the four units, and then get anything over 50 to pass the final. I'd end up with an 85 final! The higher the exam mark, the higher the final!

So the correspondence courses worked out pretty well.

My online course experience in university was similar albeit not as great, but that was due in part to the incorrect structure of the course's marking guide.

Pros: You work at your own pace, set your own timings, save a possible commute, and learn from the comfort of your home with no one to pressure you.

Cons: You must be disciplined since no one is going to force you and you must be able to put aside distractions at home to concentrate on your studies. Also, online/correspondence degrees can be costly.

If you're a disciplined, a self-starter, and a quick study who doesn't want to go through the hassle of getting up in the morning, using public transit, and listen to boring lectures, etc., correspondence/online courses are for you.

If you're someone who needs to be in a classroom to learn, who likes to interact with teachers and classmates, and needs to see others to get motivation to learn, you're probably better off in a study environment such as a physical school or university with a real professor/teacher.

Personally, I'd take all my courses online if I could. It gives me the freedom to study as quickly as I want, when I want, without the hassle of commuting and dressing up, etc. I must admit though that at least some interaction with classmates and instructors is invaluable, as that is how one networks and builds contacts. The best is to split between online/correspondence and "real" classes.

Here is a self assessment quiz.

The overall trend of lifelong learning is very big, and online learning (or "e-learning") is really an extension of that. While it's still a relatively new phenomenon, it's really taking off. The largest private university, the University of Phoenix, now has more students online than on campus - a whopping 89,000.

In a recent survey, 63 percent of Internet users said they had a high interest in taking a course online. Those between the ages of 25 and 44 and those with children in their homes are also more likely to express interest, and I think that speaks to that age group's comfort with the medium and the need for -- and value of -- flexibility.

CBS News

Whatever you decide, do it with the your educational success as your priority. Don't do it to save $80 on a monthly bus pass or to get more time on the Internet. Do what you think will help your educational success and choose what you will excel at.

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