Procrastination an ugly side effect of online classes

Kate Manasco

The availability of online classes has changed the way some students continue their education.Online classes have grown in popularity over the past 10 years and now make up a sizeable portion of available college courses.

However, taking courses online can help or hinder the education process.

Mark Gooding, a member of the Mesa Community College English faculty, teaches three online sections of English 102.

“I have been teaching online classes for about 8 years,” Gooding said, “but I have been a teacher at MCC for 12 years. They didn’t offer online classes when I started.”

Gooding teaches both online and lecture courses at MCC, and said neither one is easier to teach.

“It is very difficult teaching online classes instead of lecture classes,” Gooding said, “because I have to set up the class according to how often I will be seeing the students.”

Gooding said some courses are easier to take online and some require more face-to-face interaction to enhance the class experience.

“It would be very hard to teach my American Literature class online,” Gooding said, “because the class is based a lot on discussion of the books.”

“Heavy content classes like Psych 101,” Gooding said, “would probably easier to take online because they involve terms and theories and that wouldn’t be very hard to learn outside of the classroom. I think science and math classes could go either way though depending on the student.”

Kimberly Slotter, 21, is a student at MCC and is enrolled in two online courses, “Computer Skills” and “Introduction to Business Analysis.”

“I love taking classes online,” Slotter said, “because it really makes my life so much easier with working 40 hours a week.”

Slotter said that the best part about taking classes online is she doesn’t need to worry about fitting class time into her schedule.

“I have always had problems being on time,” Slotter said, “but luckily I never have to worry about rushing to class from work or rushing to work from class.”

Slotter has taken online classes for three semesters and said she hopes to continue to take the least amount of lecture courses as possible to finish getting her associate’s degree.

“I have tried to have both online and lecture classes for the past few years,” Slotter said, “but even having a couple days that I don’t have to come to campus makes school easier.”

“The only problem that I have with online classes,” Slotter said, “is that sometimes I forget when things are due or end up waiting until the last minute because no one is pressuring me to do it.”

Linda Zygmond, advisor for the College of Letters and Sciences at Arizona State University Polytechnic campus, believes that procrastination is the biggest problem with online classes.

“When I taught online classes,” Zygmond said, “I would get about 90 percent of the assignments turned in within an hour of the time it was due.”

Zygmond said most of the classes offered at the ASU Polytechnic campus are online, but she believes online classes have benefits and setbacks.

“People tend to lean toward online classes because of the convenience factor,” Zygmond said, “and also because there is less structure. I think that less structure can also be a large setback to the learning process simply because it is hard for some students to keep up with the work.”

Zygmond said that online classes can be more difficult because the students are responsible for reading and understanding the material on their own and do not get the benefits of having an in-class discussion on the material.

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

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