Interview with Zulya Amrulayeva, Boise State University Student

Nadira Mursalova: How many online classes did you take? What were they? Zulya Amrulayeva: I took two online classes. One of them was sociology 101 and other one was education technology 202. NM: According to your experience which class design is harder online or regular class? ZA: In both settings are harder, but from personal experience traditional class is easier, because you have more time and interaction with teacher and student in traditional class. NM: Why did you take online class? ZA: Schedule inconvenience. NM: Did you like anything about being online student? ZA: One reason why I like online class is you do not have to attend to class and you have one full week to finish and turn in your assignment, but in other hand it is bad not having specific due date, because you procrastinate, and think that you have hole week so I do this home work tomorrow or after tomorrow, but end up doing it last moment most of the time. NM: Which classes’ workload is harder? ZA: I think it depend on subject in both situation. My sociology online class was supper hard there was always too many writings and class discussions so I had to focus on this particular class lot more than my other traditional classes, but my second online class, education technology 202, was not really hard overall I spend only five to six hours per week and I focus more on my other classes. NM: In which class version it is easier to communicate, interact and make friends? ZA: Of course it is easier in regular class to communicate and be more social instead of in online class; because it is easier to talk, you can use body language eye contact, so it is easier to explain what trying to say. In online class you have to write everything and sometimes writing does not make sense even it does when you talk. NM: What is the difference in student relationship in online and traditional class? ZA: First thing in online class, there is no bond between students. We had a group project due in sociology class, so me and my other group members come up to meet and work on it together, but it did not happen, everyone had some things to do, so we end up just dividing up the work and sending to each other the pieces. Well in traditional class when we have group project we come together and everyone does something and if someone needs help to collect information as a group we help to each other, so it ends up being more productive and more successful project. Also this way you can build relationship. NM: Would you recommend online class to other students? ZA: I would recommend online class to others only if there is schedule inconvenience and they have to take this class to be able to get into higher level next semester, than yes but otherwise I would not recommend online class to other students. Other reason why I would not recommend online Mursalova 14 class to others because students learn more in traditional class than in online, so traditional class is an advantage in log run. NM: Is it easier to contact online instructors or regular class instructors? ZA: It is easier to contact regular class teachers at the first place you see them every class period, and most of the have office hours in the compass so you know where and when to find them if you really need help. Well in online class you email them, most of them pre-good retuning back within 24 hours but sometimes is may take longer. Also as said it is lot easier to talk than to write your thoughts