Career Path > Training, Tests & Education
Online Calculus and Cacl based Physics
nadinno:
I did okay. Got a B.
I wasn't as thrilled with this class as I would have liked. I really missed the interaction you get with other students in a classroom setting. I also was really frustrated with the lab portion of the class. The lab write ups were ridiculously long. The amount of time spent on them didn't justify the amount of learning involved. The labs felt very much like busy work. There were some communication issues with the instructor too. Mainly because all communication was through webct email. Sometimes you just need to be able to sit and talk face to face, which really wasn't an option with this class.
I did like the video lectures. There should be a link in the syllabus posted. They were high quality and you could watch them as many times as you wanted.
The question and answer bank could have been larger. This was mainly an issue with the instructor though because there are plenty of online aftermarket physics Q&A sites.
The weekly tests were fairly easy. Most of the questions were theoretical. With 2-3 questions requiring a calculator. We rarely/never used calculus for the calculator problems.
We really had to pay attention to the syllabus and online classroom guidelines (which were very long). It was really easy to loose points for not following instructions.
The online discussion was hit or miss. Some students knew what they were doing and added to the class. Others had no clue.
If I had no other choice I would take this class online again but would rather take it in a classroom setting. This sort of course would really benefit from a hybrid format. Online lectures, quizzes, and discussion. But then have one day per week when the students could come in and meet with an instructor to ask questions.
Trinian23:
And if you are just looking to brush up, there are plenty of great lessons here.
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
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