There is a certain degree of horror in making the perfect schedule for next semester, just to have it ruined by administrative decisions that are, to put it lightly, vexing. This happened to me recently. I had the most perfect of schedules; each class was part of my major requirement and was genuinely interesting. I had actual excitement for the semester. Then, two of my classes were changed to be online. There was no notice to those enrolled, and the classes had previously been scheduled as on-campus. I’m an on-campus student. I pay on-campus tuition, and I pay residence fees. Is it fair to say that my classes should not be online?
This is an honest question because it’s entirely plausible that I’m overreacting. My understanding is that online classes and online degrees tend to be cheaper than an on-campus university experience. So, this is my problem: if I’m paying for the on-campus experience, why am I receiving what feels like a sub-par class in return? Is my concept of online education wrong or biased? Am I taking this too seriously? I don’t know.
Perhaps a better question is why do online classes have worse reputations than on-campus classes? I wonder if the quality of learning actually goes down. I have no real way of knowing, but it would be an interesting study to undertake. My personal preference is to be able to see my professor, speak to him/her and actually be able to question them when needed. But, to be honest, I can’t say from experience whether an online class would prove to be less beneficial to me than a typical class.
Well then, why am I still upset? I know now my initial reaction to online classes as being sub-par isn’t valid or at least isn’t based on anything concrete. So, perhaps, my general negative feeling isn’t generated from the fact that my classes are online, but rather, stems from the suddenness of the change. Indeed, the more I consider how little I actually know about the quality of online versus on-campus experience, the more I understand that my frustration must be rooted in experiencing a lack of control. There was an administrative decision that threw off my perfect schedule, and I had no power to affect the decision or counteract the change.
I’m not upset that my classes are now online; I simply don’t like to be reminded of my own lack of day-to-day control. Is it possible that this is just a smaller manifestation of a bigger problem in myself and in my generation? That is to say, my frustration about changes in my schedule reflects how I have been raised with the illusion of control and don’t like being forced out of it. Maybe illusory structures that feign to grant some kind of power to individuals are inherently destructive. But, then again, maybe I’m still just being overly-dramatic about a couple of online classes.
