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Post by CaptainSeery on Mar 2, 2016 10:18:36 GMT 9
Has anyone ever taken any online courses?
I'm considering it for a couple of reasons.
First, I want to go to grad school. I want to study linguistics but I don't have an undergraduate linguistics degree. Basically, it seems that the school I want to attend would give me two options. One, enroll in the Japanese studies program and do a linguistics focus, but still get the degree in Japanese studies. Two, enroll in the linguistics program but do a few prereqs before being able to actually start the program. Option one would certainly be easier but... I don't know. I kind of want to branch out some.
Second, I want to get back into the groove of studying a bit before I go back to school. I'm very much out of the habit. And although I've taken several linguistics courses I know I have forgotten a lot so I don't really think I'm qualified to start a program right now anyway.
Problem is when I try to do research I find information on online degrees, but not just single courses. Does anyone know a good place to find information? Any recommendations for schools? Etc?
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Post by snell_mouse on Mar 2, 2016 10:33:55 GMT 9
Hmm I've never taken any online courses where you actually pay money/get a degree or certification or something. There was a period two years ago where I was going to take some MOOCs and signed up for a bunch but subsequently abandoned them because I was trying to do too much (that was right when I started Korean classes/interpreting classes/yosakoi/AJET). I'm not sure if they would help you with grad school requirements but they might be a good way to refresh your knowledge? I think sometimes they have past courses available so you can study them whenever. I think マイJake - 島人ぬ宝 might know something? And I'm pretty sure Sparkles' Fellow CIR took classes/got a degree? while on JET but he may have done that in person instead of online.
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Post by マイJake - 島人ぬ宝 on Mar 2, 2016 10:44:10 GMT 9
I have read up a bit on this stuff, but my background is pretty far from Linguistics so I can't offer too much advice on that.
Most schools that offer online programs offer them in the same way as regular classes though, so you should still be able to enroll as a part time student to take classes. If you are pretty self motivated it makes sense to me, but when I was in college I could never motivate myself to study for my online class even though it was only one credit hour.
When are you thinking of going to graduate school? If you still have another year or so, and think you can swing the money and the time, then I would recommend enrolling in it. If you are planning to go this fall, then I am not sure you would even be able to make it in time.
How about signing up for an MOOC (just the free course) and seeing if you can motivate yourself to study. Then if it goes well, apply for the actual course. You will benefit yourself by not throwing money at a course if you realize you can't study for it, or by getting knowledge in advance that you can apply to making better grades in the course you take.
As far as finding courses goes, you just need to contact the registrar at schools with programs you like and ask them if it is possible to take courses for credit without becoming a full time student in the program. (The school you want to go for grad school would be your best choice, and taking courses from them would likely increase your chances of getting in)
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Post by Sparkles on Mar 2, 2016 10:56:44 GMT 9
And I'm pretty sure Sparkles ' Fellow CIR took classes/got a degree? while on JET but he may have done that in person instead of online. Yes, he did all his courses in person. I did a semester online during university (because of the American school year and the Japanese school year not lining up). My experience in those courses and the experience students in online courses at my mom's school are very different. Mine were all essentially correspondence courses -- do the reading, turn in the paper; rinse and repeat, ALL at your own pace, with no interaction with the other students and occasional feedback from the instructor. (I had to attend my final exams in person, but that was it; I arranged the date/time online and the exam was given by a proctor rather than the course instructor. Many courses have exams completely online.) There were a couple rough guidelines ("you should be halfway done with the course by X date, you must take the final exam by Y time"), but that was it. The online courses at my mom's school require weekly discussions/writing/some form of participation and are generally much more structured, and there's a lot of interaction among students taking the course. If it's your first time taking online classes, I'd probably recommend the more structured/hands-on approach. I struggled a lot doing the correspondence style because of various factors at the time, but I think now I'd do better with it. Still, it's easier to actually complete the course when you have to do something, even if it's small, every week. So before you sign up for a course, I'd recommend asking the admissions people or the instructors or students at the institution about what kind of format the program/classes are in if you can. If you don't mind saying so, what school are you looking at for linguistics?
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Post by CaptainSeery on Mar 2, 2016 11:07:12 GMT 9
Good advice as always, Jake, thank you.
I am a bit worried about motivation. I'd like to think that paying for a course would be enough motivation, but I definitely also think that I would be much less motivated than when taking classes in person. It's a good idea to sign up for a free MOOC first to give it a shot.
The school I want to go to offers a few MOOCs, one of them in linguistics. But it's an intro class, so that would be more just review than actually learning anything new... And I can't find anything about non-free courses. The intro class starts in late March which is both good timing because it's soon and bad timing because I'm going to be quite busy for at least the first three weeks of the course...
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Post by CaptainSeery on Mar 2, 2016 11:16:32 GMT 9
If you don't mind saying so, what school are you looking at for linguistics? Yeah, like I said I'm worried about motivation in a MOOC. I'd like to take a smaller, more hands-on class if possible, but that would probably be more expensive... The school I'm looking at is Leiden University. To be honest less because of linguistics (although I do think it's a strong program) and more because of its location...
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Post by マイJake - 島人ぬ宝 on Mar 2, 2016 11:30:24 GMT 9
Good advice as always, Jake, thank you. I am a bit worried about motivation. I'd like to think that paying for a course would be enough motivation, but I definitely also think that I would be much less motivated than when taking classes in person. It's a good idea to sign up for a free MOOC first to give it a shot. The school I want to go to offers a few MOOCs, one of them in linguistics. But it's an intro class, so that would be more just review than actually learning anything new... And I can't find anything about non-free courses. The intro class starts in late March which is both good timing because it's soon and bad timing because I'm going to be quite busy for at least the first three weeks of the course... I am guessing you have tried looking at sites like Udemy, Udacity and Coursera already? Sometimes its not signing up for it so much as just simply going to the course site, and going through the videos and homework material at your own pace. Also if the most famous MOOC sites don't offer anything, most of them got their ideas from places like MIT and Standfords online course info, which you could also just go through and use to learn similar to an MOOC. I am a die hard fan of online learning and teaching yourself stuff, so no matter what I completely support you studying in advance!
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Post by snell_mouse on Mar 2, 2016 11:33:18 GMT 9
Jake, I knew you were the right person to point to this thread, haha. :3
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Post by マイJake - 島人ぬ宝 on Mar 2, 2016 13:16:59 GMT 9
Jake, I knew you were the right person to point to this thread, haha. :3 Always happy to help! haha
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Post by CaptainSeery on Mar 2, 2016 13:59:07 GMT 9
Thanks again, Jake!
I'll do more research and report back with what I decide. I did look at Coursera but I'm unfamiliar with Udemy and Udacity so I'll check them out.
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Post by マイJake - 島人ぬ宝 on Mar 2, 2016 14:07:50 GMT 9
Sure thing! Actually, I have been trying to prepare for some job roles before the end of my term and have been using a lot of online resources lately, so glad I could share. I have mostly been focusing on programming and web development, but I love the idea that you can become an expert in your field just by using the resources you have at hand.
Honestly I can't stand the idea of paying so much much for education, so I hope that education heads in this direction for all courses of study.
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Post by no yark shark on Mar 2, 2016 14:38:28 GMT 9
Oh, thank you for this! I'm looking to go into Sociology or maybe Anthropology but I don't have a lot of social science background, so my professor encouraged me to study up on quantitative research methods on my own.
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