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Reviews
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| Reviews by students of their online course at
Suffolk County Community College with Prof. Gerry
O'Connor |
| PLEASE read
them and the cautions which are given to the
prospective online student. |
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Consider
the remarks carefully!! |
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Online Course Reviews
What follows are suggestions and
opinions from former on-line students.
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| This is what I asked at the
completion of the semester:
"Now, I have a big time
favor to ask. In my attempt to give as much
information to students as possible, I need your
input.
So that future students might
have some idea what it's like to take an online
course, could you please send me your observations,
experiences and/ or disappointments. I would like to
post them to a webpage so that future students could
check out your experiences before committing to an
on-line course. Feel free to talk about the course,
where you started, what you learned or didn't learn.
Additionally, feel free to add suggestions either for
future students or me for improving the course or
online courses in general.
Thanks for your time and for
sharing with me what you have learned." |
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 | This is my second on line
course with you and I have to say the story of
writing was more difficult but alot more
interesting than EG11. The hardest part with
these online courses is getting started. The
workshop is highly recommended. Last semester I
attended a workshop and you and Prof Russo both
helped me by walking me through the process of
connecting to the college server step by step. I
love these online courses and I wish more
classes could be done this way. |
| They are a great experience but
you must be dedicated in order to get the work
done. If you are not, you will fall behind and
the work load gets harder and there is more
pressure to get caught up.
You have to take these on-line
classes just as seriously as any other classes
with the exception that you can go to this class
in your pj's.
The workshop is very important
for new on-line students.
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| Before I start, I just wanted
to thank you for everything you have done for us
this semester. Writting is not my best subject,
but you tought me that if I stick with it, I can
do very well. You can pass the following on to
your future students: I found that the hardest
part was keeping up with the work. If you stay
ontop of the work, then you will do extremely
well. Don't let yourself fall behin or else you
will be extremely sorry! |
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| Future students;
I just finished my first online course. I had
erroneously assumed online meant easier. I was
very wrong. This course was at the beginning
very hard, and in the end one of the greatest
sources of accomplishments I've had in a long
time. Online means working alone. Discipline is
needed to keep working every week so as not to
fall behind.Researching the internet was at
times very frustrating because it was all new to
me. I would have liked more feed back. The feed
back comes from fellow online students, my
course was not big in this area. Online study
became very self-centered in that you (at least
in this case) were able to discern what was wanted
and put it into your own format. This is
actually very liberating and certainly puts you
outside the normal class expectation of work
required .You have to grow up and make decisions
and are not able to ask all those sometimes
annoying questions like; do you want it double
spaced, typed, name upper front page? Online
also meant being home to keep children in line,
check homework, throw a load of laundry on in
between computer breaks. Try it, you just
might like it, I know I did. |
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| An online course is not as easy
as it sounds. I went it to it thinking it would
be a breeze, I was sadly mistaken. The material
was not difficult and I learned a lot about our
writing history. It made me think about where
our future was going and how people hundreds of
years ago probably wondered the same thing.
Although it was very hard to get the hang of the
webpage, it made me feel a real sense of
accomplishment by the end of the course. I've
been helping my friends with webpages now. I
really enjoy it.
Another huge problem that I had that may not
affect anyone else, there is barely any feedback
about your papers. Yuo can ask a question and it
can be a few days before you get a response. The
communication is pretty poor between students.
The communication is good between student and
teacher.
Overall, it was a good course to take. You have
to keep up on the papers, because if you wait
until the end it's going to be really hard. |
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| Being a very busy person, I had
decided that an online course would be a real
time saver for me. Not having to drive to
campus, find parking, etc. I also figured that
the course was pretty much about writing an
essay aweek and e-mailing it to the Proffesor.
Thinking back, Prof. O'Connor was very specific
about the work involved in the course, but I
think I ignored his warning. When the semester
first started, I thouoght it would be pretty
easy to keep up. Then I got so frustraded in
trying to get a web page up andrunning that I
started to fall behind. Once that happens it is
very difficult to catch up. After a few weeks,
and reading the web design text a few times, I
caught up and started to enjoy a little. The vicious
cycle repeats, however. Those deadlines
come up quick and it is hard to keep up. I found
myself falling behind at least a few more times.
The course can bury you if you don't keep up. In
conclusion, this course is not an "easy
A" or a quick way to get a few credits. If
you come prepared to work, however, and you want
to learn alot about web page design and online
writing, this course will not disappoint. Oh,
and the assignment about visiting the
Metropolitan Museum of Art was a nice touch. I
had a terrific time and probably would have
never gone there if it wasn't a required part of
this course. Thanks again... |
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| Now, for my reflections of the
course. It was definitely more work than I had
anticipated. Researching things on the web is
amazingly inefficient in terms of time. I would
like to suggest assigning two or three less
essays, but in truth, I would have probably have
just procrastinated doing them and felt just as
pressured at the end. What I think would help is
to give some feedback along the way. Rather than
just say "your prose needs polishing"
at the end of the course (an assessment I agree
with, I always wanted to go back and give
everything one more revision, but ran out of
time), it might be better to give reviews after
the first 4 or 5 essays. I mean specific stuff
like writing style, content, footnoting, etc.
Also, the collaborative effort is hard without
being assigned a group. I felt strange sending
someone a review unsolicited. I knew my essays
were not perfect either.
All in all it was quite
interesting, and I learned all kinds of things
(many that did not fit into any of the essays).
I also read some of the magazines regularly now
(Salon, Feedmag). Thats all I can think of now.
Have a good summer.
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| I thought that this class was
real good. You have to keep up with the work and
keep on top of yourself to stay in tuned. The
only thing if the subject for the essay could
vary. Its hard to just write about computers for
4long essays. But this class teachs you how to
set up a web page and to intact students on
line. I think is one of the best classes I took
at SCC. Because you can bang out a requirment
for a degree with out going to class which helps
if you have kids.
Again I think this was a GREAT
class. It was nice working (annoying) you. Thank
you for all your help it was great. enjoy the
rest of the hot sweaty summer.
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| I found the course challenging
at first and I was to be honest quite
frustrated. Taking the time out of every day to
sit down and do the work is the best advice I
could give. And also to the incoming students, I
would most definitely reccommend going to
Professor O'Connors workshops in the very
beginning! Learning how to set up your webpage
may seem completely difficult and frustrating,
but after Professor O'Connor sits down and shows
you how to do it, it is very easy. This is a
challenging course, but it teaches you writing
and computer skills at the same time. For
students just entering into college, it is a
wonderful skill to know how to set up a webpage.
Many college classes are asking for this whether
it be an internet based class or not.
This was the most informative
class I have taken, and I am glad I learned how
to improve my writing and computer skills before
college. It was a great experience.
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| I found this class to be much
harder than I anticipated. I am so use to the
typical classroom setting - meaning there is
someone physically in front of you to answer
your questions immediately. This class forces
the student to learn, research and troubleshoot
with the guidance of a mentor - the teacher.
Technical problems become so
bothersome and send you hunting for information.
I suffered with various technical issues, and
not from a lack of experience but found a lack
of software! (Thank you again - Gerry)
On the other hand, the flexibility of working at
any time of day can be beneficial to those of us
with crazy schedules and dependents. And it
places a greater importance on planning - in
order to accomplish the course outline in such a
short time period.
My regrets - I wish the class was longer in
duration. I wish I had more time to devote to
updating, revising, editing and adding to my
Webpage. The more I learned the more I find I
didn't know and wanted to learn - such is the
endless cycle of the life long student.
I'm truly happy that I've completed this class
and have been encouraged to seek more Internet
classes. With eyes wide open -
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| Take a journey into the world
of bits, bytes, jpegs, gifs, servers, domains,
isps and so much more with Professor O'Connor's
Electronic Writing. Expect no less than 2 to 4
hours a week of reflective reading and creative
writing. Be an independent learner, take the
texts and the directions and run with it. If you
know nothing of computers - be warned this is
hardly the course to begin with. |
IMHO Rose Truglio , July 28,
2000
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| I took the EG-41 Electronic
Writing Course in the summer of 2000. Since it
was a shortened course (8 weeks), I felt it was
difficult to get everything accomplished that I
wanted to out of the course. The following are
observations that I felt might help the next
student decide whether this course is worth
taking.
I wish that there had been more direction
telling us what to read and when. I wrote some
essays and then after they were completed found
much needed information in the next chapter or
two of the book. It would have been nice to have
been told to read this chapter for information
before you do this essay, or read the entire
book or two before you start your essays. I felt
that I would have liked more leeway with the
topics. I would have enjoyed more diversity in
the topics and I would have enjoyed a few
assignments on something you feel strongly
about. Since all the topics were inter-related,
I felt I could have used more imagination if we
had more subjects to choose from, especially
since I really did not have any knowledge on the
subjects given.
I felt I was so wrapped up with graphics, etc.,
which I hoped would make the papers more
visually exciting, that it took away from my
writing. I felt that I did much better in other
English courses because it was the only focus.
This course took me in so many directions, I
felt my writing suffered. So if you really want
to improve your writing ability, this might not
be the course to do that.
I also felt that because of the topics and
really my lack of knowledge and time, I did not
have enough time to do a good job on my web page
because I was worried so much about the
assignments.
I would have liked more feedback from the
teacher on how I was doing. In a course that you
take at the college, you are usually getting
some kind of continual feedback on how you are
doing, whether on homework assignments, class
participation, etc. Due to the fact that this is
an online course, that feedback does not come
very often.
As a course requirement, you have to attend two
museums in New York City. I thought it was
costly to do this. You have to pay $10.00 for
one museum and $8.50 for the other. I went with
my husband and it ended up costing me
approximately $100.00 for the day for both of
us, with trains, subways, and lunch. Make sure
you have money with you, be prepared. You really
need an entire day at the Metropolitan, and the
Met takes a few hours, so plan accordingly - you
need an entire day to get everything done. Also
how would you accomplish this task if you were a
long distance student? I also would have liked
more direction in what to look at in the
museums. There was so much to absorb at the Met,
that I probably did not see what I should have
been looking for and wasn't even sure what that
was.
Reading two books was difficult in eight weeks
between homework assignments and real life,
especially during the summer accelerated course.
You need to build in time for this reading.
I didn't feel I had enough time to explore the
web development with all of the other work
required. I hope to be able to take another Web
course where I can really concentrate on Web
development so I can do a better job creating
the pages, graphics, links, etc. If you are
interested in just Web development, another
course might be more appropriate.
One of the best parts of the course was reading
other student's essays and seeing what they were
able to accomplish. So many students did such a
wonderful job, that I felt lacking in many
areas. If you have no web experience, it will
take you many, many hours of work to truly
accomplish this task well. The students in my
group were especially talented!
I did enjoy being able to work from home,
because I had another course I had to take at
the college. I never would have been able to
take two courses this summer any other way, and
I am graduating after this course! I also
appreciated everyone's honesty in doing the peer
reviews, every one tried to be helpful.
I did love working with graphics which I never
had done before, and it was interesting to find
out the differences between them. If you are
creative, you can do so many interesting things!
Even though it was a difficult eight weeks, I am
glad I took the course. But please be prepared
for long hours for web page development,
reading, researching for hyperlinks, etc. You
are mostly on your own and if you need constant
hand holding to get something done, this is not
the course for you! |
Barbara Cox - Summer 2000
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The online course was
challenging and enjoyable. The substantial amount
of technological information to be absorbed makes
for much more work for those not already "in
tune" to the new medium, of which I was one.
For those who are already web-savvy the
assignments provide opportunity to look at the
medium from a more critical,and different view
point. Though I spent many more hours at the
computer than I expected to for this course, the
amount of knowledge gained in the end made it all
worth while. The course opened up many new avenues
of exploration for me and as soon as I get more
time I look forward to venturing further into this
new meduim. The great thing about this medium is
that you can save your work as you progress until
the finishe product is ready. Though the finished
product takes much time, it can be accomplished
large or small chunks.
The best thing about this course is that it was
more about what lies ahead, than what exists
today. There was lots of learning and thought
provoking concepts in a very short amount of time.
I love concentrated efforts, but I think this
would have been even more enjoyable over a full
semester. Thanks for a wonderfully refreshing
educational experience.
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