The Current

Issue date: 8/27/07 Section: Opinions

I came to college expecting lectures, late night cram sessions and running late for mid terms. I wanted to cheer for the sports teams and in some way become an important part of the campus.

The most important thing I wanted out of my college experience was an actual college classroom experience.

Maybe the movies I saw during my adolescence about college life warped my opinion about what college was really like. It made parties, basketball games and boring lectures seem like daily activities.

During my college career I have graduated with an associate's degree, stayed up all night the day before a test and almost joined a fraternity. Now that I have reached my senior year, I want to make sure that I experience every aspect that college life has to offer.

This semester, 75 percent of my classes are online and 100 percent of that is not by choice. There are classes which are only offered online and if I want my degree, I have to take these classes.

I did not come to UMSL to stay at home and take classes. I came to this university to be part of a university.

If I wanted to complete my studies online I would have enrolled at University of Phoenix. Internet courses are great for people who are unable to get to campus, but I think they should be an option, not the only choice.

On the first day of classes, like many students, I sat in front of my computer and was ready to see what my first assignments were, and to my surprise, My Gateway was down.

Any students who tried to log last week probably ran into the same problem I did. So here's a question: what do you do for an internet class when the website does not work?

We still have to buy books for internet courses and form groups, but the one thing that we do not have is the classroom experience. That is why I am in college, for the experience.

Even though I am not in favor of online courses, they seem to be a growing part of the educational process.

Professors can save a lot of time, and not to mention trees, just by putting their syllabus online instead of handing out paper copies in each class.

I am sure that Captain Planet and the Planeteers would be proud of us.

I am not alone in embracing the idea that college classes should be held in classrooms and not on a website. I have spoken with students on campus and there are some who agree while there are some students who love the fact they can stay home while taking classes. The bright side to not having a class in an actual classroom is not worrying about being late to class.

I see my internet classes as a personal challenge. I have to change my opinion of what my college experience should be. I have done a lot of things while being here at UMSL just for the experience. And now internet courses will be my next chapter. I guess all that I can do now is sit back and wait for My Gateway to start working again.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools