thinking about taking online classes

[backbreaker]

my wife had a brilliant idea today. when I say I love history I LOVE history. not very far behind my fav subject horse racing. I can sit down and watch history documenteries all day long or read just about antyhing history related. I love it i love it.

I suppose she's tired of me hogging the TV all the time or whatever, but she said why don't you find a course online or something to take. i was like.. you know.. that's not a horrible idea. in fact it's a pretty good idea. i don't need a degree or antyhing, just doing it for pure fun of it. it would be hard to fit it in my schedule, but that's all down the road stuff.. tuesdays and fridays i work pretty late in the night with the horse racing.

anyway, what i want to know is can i take an online history course without like, actually not going to college? I don't want to go to school l ol, i just want to go back to history class.

 

[Falcon]

If you are not doing it for credit or to attain some kind of degree/certification... why not just do it on your own? There are so many books and material out there. Do you even need to take a class if you are doing it for fun? It's just more money out of your pocket and you dont even get the perks of a real class (networking, etc.).

 

[Mike32ct]

Some schools will admit you as "non-degree" where you can take a few courses without getting a degree. You also may be able to "audit" the class. So you can watch the lectures and not have to do exams.

But, if you take it for academic credit, find out how they handle exams. A lot of legitimate colleges that offer online courses require that your exams be taken in front of a proctor such as a licensed teacher, librarian, etc.

Or, if you simply just want to watch lectures on history at your leisure, how about this:

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/CoursesByCategory.aspx?ps=918

You can order DVD recordings of actual college course lectures. (I'm in no way affliated with that company.)

 

[Falcon]

Here's a site that you might find interesting... completely free too: http://www.khanacademy.org/

Also, a lot of times I like to go to college bookstores to see what books are being used for certain courses (like in economics and stuff). Just write down the books for the history class you want to take and do it on your own. Chances are you can be more thorough and detail-oriented than a class that is stuck to a certain time schedule. Of course, it takes a lot more discipline on your part but you have a lot more freedom.

A subject like history... I don't find it similar to courses like calculus, when if you are stuck, you really do need an instructor or someone to help guide you through some of the material. All you really need is good reading comprehension and an appetite/interest in the subject which you seem to already have.

 

[backbreaker]

Some schools will admit you as "non-degree" where you can take a few courses without getting a degree. You also may be able to "audit" the class. So you can watch the lectures and not have to do exams.

But, if you take it for academic credit, find out how they handle exams. A lot of legitimate colleges that offer online courses require that your exams be taken in front of a proctor such as a licensed teacher, librarian, etc.

Or, if you simply just want to watch lectures on history at your leisure, how about this:

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/CoursesByCategory.aspx?ps=918

You can order DVD recordings of actual college course lectures. (I'm in no way affliated with that company.)

rotfl my wife is going to kill you.