TESC Online Course or Guided Study?

[bsbastudent]

Hello,

The representative I spoke with at Thomas Edison said he usually recommends online courses instead of guided study courses as a chunk of the former's grade comes from discussion group participation. Apparently, the points for discussion participation are awarded as long as you participate. Forum posts are not usually graded based on content so long as they contain some substance. So, a portion of an online course's grade is fairly easy to earn.

Based on this, online courses sound preferable to guided study courses. Are there any disadvantages I should be aware of? Which course type option do you prefer?

Thank you,
Ben

[mrs.b]

It is personal preference. The representative was correct to a degree, but it also depends strongly upon the mentor for the course. Some mentors give full marks so long as you post something, relevant, coherent, or otherwise.

On the other hand, I've had mentors that take points if you do not hit every substance point they were looking for, when the questions do not specify the full extent they might want. In those cases, your only way to earn full points is to write extensive essays that hit all possible points, which is easily more work than the guided study assignment that would go in its place. Then comes the obligation to respond to classmates (you must post your own response, then respond to at least two classmates' posts). Everyone is posting on the same material, so quite often, the initial posts are the same information with only variations in phrasing. It becomes tedious trying to think up different ways to sound like you're not copying and pasting comments. By the 9th or 10th week of an online course, I'm calculating how much wiggle room I have in my grade to stop posting without dropping a letter grade.

In short, my personal opinion (again, it's personal preference, so this is just what I take from an online course), a discussion board assignment is as much work as your typical written assignment in the courses, and usually worth less points. Since they typically only hit one aspect of that module's material, they are not as instructive as a broader, written assignment. I'll take online courses, but I prefer other forms, with guided study as my first choice, followed by e-pack, then CLEP/DSST/TECEP.

[bsbastudent]

Thanks for this feedback, @mrs.b. The specific course I'm planning on taking is business policy (BUS-421). Is there a way to find out how the professors for that course evaluate forum participation?

Thanks,
Ben