Indiana Wesleyan University

Date: Apr 24 2014
Major: Computer Science (This Major's Salary over time)
I just finished the Associates program for Computer Science. This was done online through the adult LEAP program. I picked this due to my schedule at the time that enrolled in the school. It was very convenient for me to login at home and participate in the course on my time. Since I never knew what time I would leave my job, this was the best fit for me. I would like to point out this is my first time taking any online classes.

At first it seemed very easy, and it was. There were literally a few classes I never even bothered to open the book on. Not that I am a very smart person by any means but it was that easy. Then there are classes that you need more than the 5 weeks that is allowed for classes. I do remember math running 8 weeks long. There was another class that was 4 weeks and I believe the rest were only 5 weeks in duration. You take one class at a time, and then move onto the next course. So this is going to be very accelerated on some courses.

I do believe the education you get out of this school is defined by the effort you put forth. There were a few classes that I believe should have been longer than 5 weeks, or possibly better examples or text books for the course. There are classes that are extremely tough and take up every bit of your time; this is to be expected on some classes. You will have to put forth some long hours and read a lot of the material.

Pay VERY close attention to the syllabus and do your work exactly how it asks. Also an important note is the professor may change something in the syllabus and post it under the faculty forum. I do understand with this being online you may miss out on key lectures and class discussions of which are beneficial to the learning process. There is really no hand on experience with this degree. Programming, web design and troubleshooting would probably be the best bet towards any experience. I personally like programming and wish it would have been longer and a better book for the course.

Now here is why I gave these school bad marks. The professors, there was only one professor I came across who tried to teach you anything, one. They are simply there to grade your paperwork, which is about it. You can ask for help and get a question in return. I had one professor who always told the class to look online for the answers and for help! There was one professor who wanted you to reference EVERYTHING, even your own experience. Ok, think about that. If you take a history class, and someone asks you who won a certain war or a time period in history. If you answer that question, is that plagiarizing the book you read? In this class, if you answered a question that was asking for your opinion on a matter, he wanted you to reference the book? Sorry but that makes no sense at all.

There is a lot of group work with online. I am not sure about in the classroom but online, there is a lot. This would be ok if you are in a good group. If you have a slacker or last minute person, your group will suffer. You must answer to discussion board posts. You typically post two subjects weekly. You must respond to at least two of your fellow classmates on TWO separate days. I know, that is a little stupid that they believe it takes that long to conjure up a thought to respond. I get the whole participation on day?s thing but really? Some professors are VERY strict on this while others clearly think that rule is ridiculous.

You will see some professors who do not grade too harshly, pretty much pass or fail attitude, which is fine. There were even a few professors who were not even reading what I typed and turned in. Some professors seemed to give different grades for the same mistakes.
I noticed that the more chest beating someone did on their background, the bigger of a jerk they were. Then there was a class New Testament Survey with Robert Biberstine (Mr. B). This is forever a class I will remember for the rest of my life. On one of my discussion board posts he wrote the following ?You really need to use the spell check or learn how to spell and use grammer. Just a thought.? Now you may have noticed some errors in this. The first sentence is a run on sentence, ?just a thought? is not a complete sentence (thought of what), and grammar does not have an ?E? in it.

I printed this out and displayed that at my desk for all to see. The shock from people who discovered this was an actual professor who sent this to me was always priceless. I could give more examples of a few professors, but this was my favorite. Not only did he write this but there were a few other choice examples that could have been used.
Bottom line, the school is expensive. This is a Christian school, and it is a little overdone at times. The professors do not help you much at all; you will depend on your classmates. I was fortunate enough that our math professor did help us, hopefully you have her. If you are not self-motivating, online schooling is not for you. If you can get passed the professors and their lack of teaching or helping, you will be fine. Get to know your classmates, ask each other for help. Do not go online and try and cheat. Yes most of the answers are there and your professors or whoever is grading knows that too.