Opportunities with online courses seem endless. In a world that is becoming more digital, online courses have proven to be a more effective way to learn.
The online environment has proven to be very conducive for today’s generation as they spend a lot of time glued to their PCs and phones. Having them take learning using this medium will definitely feel nothing but natural to them.
Online Courses have become increasingly popular in the American Tertiary Education system. Any student with a laptop and fast internet connection can take university courses from the comfort of their dormitories, libraries or favorite study spots.
A typical Online Course consists of the following:
- Pre-Recorded Lectures (except it is a live course)
- Electronic Quizzes
- Message boards for classroom discussions
With online courses, access to tutors and classmates will not be as immediate as it is with classroom learning. However, there is the benefit of being able to arrange your class around your schedule.
Another benefit of taking online courses is the ease at which you can get someone to do your coursework for you. If you are a busy student, you can easily pay someone to do your homework. Isn’t that really cool? With Online courses, learning has become a lot easier and more fun.
As stated earlier, online courses are quite the rave in the American Tertiary System. It is widely available for several courses in most American Institutions.
However, for international students, there are a limited number of online courses that they can take. For the most part, the number of online courses they can take is determined by the type of visas they have.
Students with J-1 visas are restricted from taking any online courses as part of their full-time normative workload. If they have to take an online course, students with this visa type must first obtain approval from the school’s Office of Global Services.
Students with an F-1 visa, things are a lot different. Here is the regulation for F-1 enrollment in online courses,
“For F-1 students enrolled in classes for credit or classroom hours, no more than the equivalent of one class or three credits per session, term, semester, trimester, or quarter may be counted if taken online or through distance education in a course that does not require the student’s physical attendance for classes, examination or other purposes integral to the completion of the class. An online or distance education course is a course that is offered principally through the use of television, audio, or computer transmission including open broadcast, closed circuit, cable, microwave, or satellite, audio conferencing, or computer conferencing. If the F-1 student’s course of study is in a language study program, no online or distance learning classes may be considered to count toward classroom credit.”
This means that students with this visa type can only enroll in one online course per session. It is, however, important to note that Institutions may have different interpretations of this legislation.
However, students with visa types H-4 or L2 are not subject to these restrictions.
Wrapping Up
It should be noted that the fact that most American online courses are conducted in English could be bad for International Students. With online courses, international students may not be able to exercise their listening and speaking skills.