Can anyone tell me the disadvantages of Distance learning?

[Maniac Craniac]

Heh. What can I say, I only pay attention to the post above me

I only look at people's avatars.

[rmroberts]

1. You will have too much free time on your hands that a B&M class would normally fill for you.

2. You will miss out of the flattery of the creepy student becoming obsessed with you and following you home every day.

3. Your car will be disappointed at how much you are neglecting its use.

4. You will actually be awake at the same time the rest of your family is... *shudders*

5. The money you save will take a very, very long time to count and it may even make carrying your wallet around a whole lot more difficult. Don't even bother checking your bank statements. You never learned how to count that high.

:iagree: hilarious Still waiting on #5 . . .

[PonyGirl93]

I only look at people's avatars.

Shhhh, you weren't supposed to tell anyone about that one!

[MomOfMany]

The main thing is that you are mostly on your own. Yes, you can e-mail, bulletin board, and IM with your instructor and other students, but it's not the same as a live classroom setting. I imagine most of us on this forum prefer it that way, but if you really need to find a disadvantage to distance learning, I think that would be it.

-Gary-

WHS

Also, if it is a subject/course that you are very interested in and would like to discuss and debate and bounce ideas with others, that can be missing entirely or difficult to manage. There's other ways to go about getting that environment, but you'll have to make a strong effort outside of class to make it happen.

[MomOfMany]

I only look at people's avatars.

hilarious obviously this is me too as I just went back to see what everyone else was saying.hilarious

[ZsaZsa]

This may be an old thread- but some of us are old people! The major attraction of some online classes is that you can take up to a year to finish them... the major drawback of the that format is the same...it becomes very easy to put things off until a better time. Unfortunately there is no "better" time, only the same 24 hours a day that we're all given.

[dark_dan]

I think the biggest disadvantage is missing out on all the insights and knowledge that the teacher brings to class lectures.

[operalady]

I think the biggest disadvantage is missing out on all the insights and knowledge that the teacher brings to class lectures.

But, with more and more lectures on iTunes you can find a prof to your liking.

[MISin08]

I think the biggest disadvantage is missing out on all the insights and knowledge that the teacher brings to class lectures.

I agree that can be a disadvantage. I got to meet Geoffrey Ashe at a friend's house because he would come to teach at our local urban university. Trading emails with such a man would not have anywhere near the impact of meeting him. Having taken computer programming via distance, if I wanted to learn it well enough for work, I would choose a traditional class. The email cycle is just too slow when you run into problems.

However, learning to find your own insights is engaging in a way that classroom dialog is not. Distance learning doesn't stop you from interviewing an important figure or reading powerful and affecting books or articles. You can always enroll in F2F classes to have more contact, and having the freedom to choose when and when not to avail yourself of this is invaluable.

Phillip

[bkahuna]

you know that even after you complete your distance learning degree, you can always go back to any B&M and audit a class for no credit.

Usually that means you can show up and do the work and not get credit at the end, but who cares? You got your degree already! And auditing the class is a FRACTION of the cost.

So what are you missing out on by distance learning? Yeah campus stuff, free tickets to the football and basketball games IF the school has those sports. With all your savings buy season tickets instead, they're better seats anyway, and you can sell the games you dont want!!

Want access to the gym? Get a gym membership!