So, I haven’t updated this blog all summer. You might have noticed. 
It’s not that I didn’t want to, I just… couldn’t quite find the time. It turns out that taking Managerial Economics online in the summer means cramming 17 weeks of class into 8 weeks. Which was… fun.
Instead of updating my blog with how the class was going, I updated my Facebook. Looking back, it gives a pretty good summary of how the summer went (which means that I could probably do similar status-style updates here, even if I don’t think I have time for a “real” post):
Posted: 6/08/13 8:09 am
I am a really big dork. If anyone ever needed conformation of that, take as evidence the fact that I am getting excited about my economics class as I flip through my text book and see all of the equations and realize I understand from managerial accounting and can’t wait to learn what the mean for managerial economics.
The summer semester started on June 10th. I’m a dork not only because I was getting excited about the material, but also because I was flipping through my textbook early.
The funny thing is that I could easily repost something along these lines (changing out the subject of the class, of course) before every semester of school I ever start, ever. I was flipping through my Tax Planning for Managers textbook this morning on the bus and thinking how cool the class is going to be.
Ever the optimist, that’s me.
Posted: 7/30/13 9:51 pm
If I had it to do all over again, I would not take this class (or any other, for that matter) online. Fortunately, I just have three days left until the summer semester is over. Unfortunately, I still have three days left until the summer semester is over. *sighs*
July 30th was the day before the third (and final) exam window. As you can see, by the end of the class, I was rather over the online class format. The material that we learned was still interesting, so my initial enthusiasm wasn’t completely unwarranted, but… I’m not a fan of the online class format.
(For clarification, the exams for this online class were available over a three-day window. Once you started the exam, you had 2-2.5 hours to finish it, but you could start it any time within that window.)
Posted: 8/2/13 8:55 pm
You know what I’m doing right now? Drinking a beer for the first time in 3 weeks.
You know why? Because, for better or for worse, I am DONE with this summer semester.
Finished my exam, submitted it, and washed my hands of the whole ordeal. I hope I passed, of course, but honestly… at this moment I’m glad I’m done.
I was really, really over it by this point. 
Posted: 8/6/13 8:50 am
I passed my class! *dances* I didn’t do very well on the final exam (68%, lame!), which gave me a 76.6% for the whole class. By any traditional grading scale, that’s a solid C, but (fortunately for me, since a C is not a passing grade in grad school) the instructor’s grading scale puts 76.6% in the B-range.
*deep sigh of relief*
I was really worried I was going to have spent all that money and time (and frustration) for nothing.
So yeah, the moral of this story: online classes are completely over-rated. I love the idea of online classes, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
My biggest complaint and the thing that hindered me the most was not ever getting my tests back. The tests were done online (of course) and had three parts: 1) multiple choice, 2) true/false, 3) short answer/problem solving. When we finished the test, but multiple choice and true/false sections were graded immediately, but the short answer/problem solving sections had to be graded by the teacher. After a few days, the teacher would update the online course management site (eCollege, in our case) with our final grade.
I didn’t really know this until taking this class, but one of the primary ways I learn is by reviewing the answers that I gave for tests (and homework, to a lesser extent) and seeing where I went wrong. We (human beings) learn from our mistakes. If we can see where we made mistakes, how can they possibly expect us to learn from them?
Since I didn’t get my tests back for this class, I never improved my understanding of the concepts that were tested. And since the later material built on the material that came before, not understanding the concepts on which we were tested was a big problem.
Even now that the class is over and I know that I passed, I would still like to have my tests back so I can see why I got a 75.9% on the first test, a 83.6% on the second test, and a 68.2% on the third one. And the kicker is that I’m pretty sure my low scores on the third test came because I made the same mathematical error on both the second and third tests, but I have no way of knowing for sure.
Needless to say, I am very frustrated and will not be taking another online course at CU Denver (or anywhere else, if I can help it) for the duration of my Masters Program.
Online courses: great idea; the implementation sucks.
