The difference between online and campus classes

Last year I took all in-class courses, this year I have one in-class and three online courses and I was very surprised by the differences. I wanted to compare the two types of classes side by side for anyone who is thinking about an online course.

Pros to an in-class courses:

1. You get to meet people in your class
2. It's easier to form study groups
3. You can take notes as the teacher talks about it
4. The notes are in addition to the book and go over the main topics of the class
5. You can get to know your teacher better
6. It's easier to ask questions when you are confused

Cons to an in-class course:

1. It's easy to blow off reading since you feel like you learned it in class
2. If you don't take good notes on the lecture you could miss important topics
3. If you don't live on campus it can be a long commute to class
4. There are specific times you have to be in class
5. There is often pop-quizzes, attendance grades or clicker points

Pros to an online class:

1. You have the freedom to work on the class whenever works for you
2. No attendance is taken, meaning it's okay to miss a day
3. All the assignments are announced earlier than in a regular class, giving you time to plan and no more pop-quizzes
4. You can teach yourself at your pace
5. Taking tests online means you can use your notes, Google or a friend to help you pass
6. Online classes can be done almost anywhere at any time

Cons to an online class:

1. You need to be very organized since you won't get reminders about when things are due
2. There is a lot more reading necessary to pass because you won't be attending lectures
3. There will be more essays or paper assignments to do since there are no in-class grades or assignments
4. It's hard to make study groups since you haven't actually met the others in your class
5. If something goes wrong with your computer you could miss assignments or tests

I personally love my online classes, I'm glad that I am taking one in-class course just to meet people but the online classes allow me to work during the day and do classes at night, I can use my super OCD-ness to organize myself and stay ahead of assignments, and I enjoy teaching myself how to do the work. Online classes are not for everyone but if you are considering taking online courses I suggest going half-and-half until you decide what works best for you. Hopefully the list helped you decide what the best choice will be for you, I'm sure I'll be writing more about online classes in the future.