Taking classes online can certainly help you get ahead when it comes to your education. You will learn things from people that you may not have a chance to interact with in the normal class setting. When you take courses online, you are able to hear professors and experts from all over the world. The best news is that there are a lot of free online courses that you can take. What else should you know about these classes?
Pro: Free Online Classes Don’t Cost You Anything
You certainly can’t argue with the price of a free course. When money is taken out of the picture, you have no reason to not take the class. You will learn something, possibly pad your resume and learn something that you never knew before. If the class is transferable for credit at your current school, that’s an additional excellent reason for taking a free online course.
Considering that many colleges charge as much as $500 per credit hour, you have nothing to risk when you sign up for a free class. Education shouldn’t be about how much money you have to spend. It should be about who has the desire to expand their minds. If you don’t have to pay anything for the course, you don’t have to worry about student loans and going into debt for school.
This might be the most compelling part when it comes to taking a free online course. You may be able to get college credit without spending a dime to do so. If you have no debt, you don’t have to worry about not getting a job right away. No one should have to live in fear of debt collectors because of a poor job market.
Con: What If The Class Doesn’t Give Me Any College Credit?
Each school will decide what classes from other institutions will transfer. Therefore, you have to be careful not to assume that any online class that you take is going to transfer to your school. Even if it does transfer, it may not get you anything other than three credits that you can use toward the total that you need to graduate.
However, in some cases, you might want the knowledge regardless of whether the course credit will transfer to other schools. That’s up to you. The class doesn’t cost you anything other than your time. If you are really interested in higher learning, you will gladly accept the knowledge that was passed to you by whoever taught the course.
Pro: The Classes Can Be Completed On Your Own Schedule
In a traditional classroom setting, you cannot pause the lecturer when someone calls. However, you can respond to someone calling you while watching a video online. If your child is sick, you can take your child to the doctor without feeling bad about interrupting whoever is talking. You simply get up and take care of your business.
Videos can also be started at any point that you wish. If there is a statement that you don’t understand, you can watch the video again from that point. Having the ability to rewind a video is great if you have trouble taking notes or find yourself nodding off during the lecture. You literally control how long the lecture takes and how fast the professor speaks.
Con: Course Offerings May Be Limited
While you can take a lot of great classes from top schools, you may not be able to take a specific course that you need for free. Therefore, you shouldn’t anticipate being able to complete your college education for free. Your expectation should be to augment your current course load with the free courses that you find online.
Limited listings for classes may also impact when you can take them. If a course doesn’t become available for a period of months, that could delay your anticipated graduation date. While you may be able to graduate with your class, you won’t be able to get your diploma when others do.
Ask your guidance counselor if there are any alternate courses that you could take if the classes you need aren’t available. Even if you go to school exclusively online, you will most likely have a guidance counselor who will give you advice regarding course selections. This person should be able to help you come up with a plan to help you finish school as soon as possible through free course offerings.
Going to school online is a great way to finish your education in a quick and affordable way. Taking free classes can reduce the amount of student loan debt that you will have when you graduate. Free classes taken online also give you the chance to listen to the ideas of experts in the field in which you wish to work after graduation. You can never listen to too many experts in your field.