What courses are not good for online learning?
You are the best judge of whether a class is appropriate to take online. Your personality and work ethic should be contributing factors in your decision. Below are some courses that many students have said are difficult to take online:
Speech Classes
Some universities require students to take at least one speech or public speaking course to graduate. The goal of a class like this is to help you speak in public situations, such as work presentations or meetings. If you only read about the act of public speaking, you won't be able to practice it. It is important to see what the requirements are for the course before you enroll. If you are required to meet with a professor or instructor to practice a speech or presentation, the class is likely to give you the same experience as an in-person course.
Foreign Language Classes
Although it may seem easy to take a Spanish or French course online, this is not always the case. In order to understand how to conjugate verbs correctly, you can probably just refer to a textbook. However, without the face-to-face practice of an on-campus course, you are unlikely to learn how to speak the language correctly. Furthermore, some online schools may require you to spend time talking to an instructor online or in face-to-face meetings in your city. If this is the case, you may have to spend more hours on the course than you would on a traditional on-campus class on the same topic. So you may not get enough pronunciation practice in an online foreign language course and you may have to spend too many hours on it. Be sure to check the requirements for the course before enrolling.
Classes Requiring Labs
It may sound great to do laboratory experiments at home, but the cost for the necessary equipment can run pretty high. Online courses may require you to buy certain types of equipment or chemicals for a class like an organic chemistry lab. The same goes for lab classes for majors such as mechanical engineering and biology. Ask what the cost of outside materials will be for any course you're considering.
