Nursing was not my first run at college. Initially, I was an animal science major wanting to become a Veterinarian. All that aside, I have received four undergraduate degrees from four different colleges. My choices of school have ranged from a community college, a small university, and a large university, I have lived on campus, off campus, and as a long distant learner. I have been a student for all my twenties, full time and part time, and came across each course type.
Online
Online classes are those without any in-person lectures, they are held entirely online. The student is given a syllabus like any type of other class with responsibilities and deadlines. The student is responsible for self-motivation in completing an assignment, reading, and projects. Lectures may or may not be part of the course if they are it might be a prerecorded video, a voice-over, and or a PowerPoint presentation.
Pros: A flexible schedule, whether you work or have a family the fact that the class is online and readily available to be worked on and revisited whenever you have the time. The course is open anytime, and any place, tablets, laptops, and cell phones make accessing the class virtually limitless. Forums and email contact can be done anytime, response to a question from a professor will depend on the teacher, if it’s the weekend or weekday, or middle of the night. I have seen a teacher respond to me within an hour when emailing at ten the morning on a Wednesday, or within 24-hours after reaching out at one in the morning.
Cons: Self-motivation and self-discipline are a must to be able to complete the class. If you know that you are not able to keep on top assignments without constant reminders or not a very organized person the money and time put into the class could be a complete waste, not only that but your grade point average will also suffer.
Traditional
The traditional course is your typical classroom, blackboard, and desk. There is a scheduled physical class. You sit there listen to a lecture and take notes. Quizzes, exams, and projects are planned for a specific time and date.
Pros: This type of style allows regular and scheduled face to face with teachers and other students. Any questions or troubles that come across during studying or lecture you have times to ask the teacher and other students as a resource.
Cons: A fixed schedule. This makes life events and a job to be scheduled around classes. Classes that cannot be rescheduled. Quizzes and exams are also at a time and place and unless in dire need will more than likely not be rescheduled.
Hybrid
The hybrid class is a combination of traditional and online class. These are a little trickier, to sum up into a category really. I have taken science courses where the lecture portion was online, and the lab part was in person. There have also been other courses throughout the semester scheduled in-class lectures occasionally. There is not one type of hybrid class. Before signing up for this class make sure you investigates what components are online and what’s in person. This would make a huge difference in whether it fits your schedule.
Pros and cons of the hybrid are both the pros and cons found under the traditional and online.
During my time in college, I have had all these types of classes, and they all had a time and place with worked best for me at the time. My working life and family life considered which classes I decided at that time. Earlier in my college life, I had all traditional courses, for my BSN I finished with a distant learning program, all my classes were online except for two clinical portions that I scheduled myself.