Online Colleges: Bad Idea?

[GoldiGlockz]

Im thinking about taking an online Game Dev. course. Is this a bad idea? Will I not learn as much or be at a dissadvantage compared to someone who actually attended a school or university? Any Pros, cons?

[Thumper_34]

It depends on how much you are going to put into it,
I think online degrees are great, but you will not receive the same guidence as sitting in a class with a teacher over your shoulder.

I learned alot of my 3d animation and such from online tutorials and I also bought alot of dvd's. but I still went to college to fill in the holes in my work flows.
Check them both out and talk to others but in the end it is completly up to you to figure out the positive's and negative's and decide

[Torenn]

I would agree that what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. Though the same could probably be said for physically attending a college. I went through some of the University of Phoenix courses online, and I felt that they were worth it. I'm about to start an online Game Development program, so I'm kind of excited to get the ball rolling with that.

[fullmetal84]

It really depends on your learning style. Most likely, the online courses would be more focused on self-learning, where a university course has the constant professor-student communication during lectures and whatnot. If you do better individually learning things, the online courses probably would be very well suited for you, and vice versa. No matter what, though, any experience and knowledge with the subject matter will help you down the line.

[Torenn]

Originally Posted by fullmetal84

It really depends on your learning style. Most likely, the online courses would be more focused on self-learning, where a university course has the constant professor-student communication during lectures and whatnot. If you do better individually learning things, the online courses probably would be very well suited for you, and vice versa. No matter what, though, any experience and knowledge with the subject matter will help you down the line.

That's true. One thing about online courses is that they require you to be disciplined with your time management. It's very easy to maybe put off an assignment until the last minute simply because you don't really have anyone telling you, "don't forget about the assignment that is due by the end of the week!" Though most online degrees begin with classes that discuss that very topic in detail, and try to get you to come up with ways to better manage your time.

Also, you won't be alone while you're working your way through online courses. You'll usually have abundant opportunities to speak with your instructor and fellow students if you need help. And there will be times when you are required to group with fellow students for a particular project; granted, that isn't always easy with distance learning due to varying schedules. That said, it definitely helps if you can learn to pick concepts up on your own. It may take you a bit more practice to "get it," but it'll be worth it. I remember taking one of my mathematics courses through University of Phoenix, and no matter how many times/ways the instructor tried to explain a concept, some students just couldn't grasp it by reading it off their screen. Had they had a live instructor there to show them how to do it step-by-step, they probably could have gotten it. Though most instructors do give you their telephone number so you can actually talk to them, as well.