The University of Phoenix is the largest for-profit University in the United States. Based in, Phoenix, AZ, it has campuses nationally in almost every major city as well as offering classes online. Since 2006, I have been enrolled in a dual Bachelors program with the ultimate goal of completing my degree. Due to personal and professional reasons, I chose to join the online program after taking a few courses in the traditional “ground” class environment. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.
Ground Advantage The largest advantage that the ground class has is the PowerPoint due each week for your learning team. Each week, you gain the opportunity to stand in front of your peers with your team and give a presentation to the class. This is an excellent chance to practice in a non-business, non-threatening environment. All too many people have never had exposure to public speaking or taking part in a corporate presentation. This is the occasion of a lifetime where your business’, or department’s, next big deal is not made or broken on your ability, or inability, to speak coherently in front of a group of people.
Online Advantage The largest advantage that the online class has is its flexibility. The only time constraint that exists is that 11:59 PM PST is the end of the day. Any paper that is due on Monday, for example, must be completed by 11:59 PM PST and the online timestamp must be prior to that. Above and beyond that requirement, the online class has very little time constraints. Posting at 2 AM is just as effective as 2 PM. While one must remain active nearly every day of the week, it is possible to be successful with a time dedication of under thirty minutes per day. This allows even the most time-constrained person to have a chance at their own success.
Ground Disadvantage
The ground classes are structured and rigid. They start at 6 PM and go until 10 PM on the assigned day. If work requires that you stay late on that day, you miss the class. If you are sick, you miss the class. If your child has a concert, you miss the class (or the concert). Missing one class will usually result in a grade dock and missing two classes means you’ve either failed or withdrawn from the class. It is a very restrictive requirement for those that may need to be able to have some level of flexibility.
Online Disadvantage Discipline is key. If you are undisciplined or let your interaction slide, you will be severely impacted. Unlike the ground classroom environment which allows you to pay attention to school only when doing homework, meeting with your learning team or in the class, you must be willing to dedicate no less than thirty minutes per day four days a week not counting homework. In addition to this dedication, there are generally two additional homework requirements for the online class that do not exist in the ground classes – your comments on the Discussion Questions. This is similar to the ground class’ in class discussions, but in a text environment. Missing these or the participation will have a significant grade deduction – usually approximately 20% of your grade is based on taking part and showing that you understand the concepts.
Learning Teams In both ground and online classes, one has to take part in the “learning team”. This is a group of three to five people who are given a single project to complete together. In some classes, this is as simple as brainstorming a list and writing a paragraph around that. In others, it expands into a full length paper and a PowerPoint presentation that must be given. The major difficulty in learning teams depend on the environment you’re in – ground and online each have their own idiosyncrasies.
The standard ground environment offers a classroom environment once a week for a four hour block in which lively discussions, lectures, and presentations are held. In between these, you much meet with your learning team to co-ordinate that week’s paper.
The more contemporary online environment is a collaborative work of discussions held in which you must participate four times a week with at least two substantive posts that contribute to the debate being held. The learning team co-ordination is done throughout the week as individuals check in, make a comment or two, and then resume their day to day activities.
In both cases, the major drawback to having the learning team environment is that you are very dependant on the others in your team. If you do not know them (which, in an online environment is normal, but in a ground environment, you may be able to forge a relationship with a strong team), you have no idea what their work ethic, quality, or attitude is. They may be the most dedicated and hardworking person you’ve ever met – or they may not be. If they are not, their inability to work has a direct impact on your personal grade unless you pick up their slack.
Summary
All in all, my overall perspective is that, for me, the online flexibility wins out over the ground classes, but if my personal situation were different, I would stick with the ground class. There is one other major advantage to the ground classes – the opportunity to network, face to face, with current managers and future CEOs of many different companies in your area rather than all over the nation.
