Seven hours away from her Chico State classroom, Gisela Chappelle takes online classes from her home in Crescent City, Calif.
"The best part of online education is the convenience and flexibility," Chappelle said. "If I need to go out of town, I can connect to the Internet from all around the world and do my work."
Chappelle, 41, said she watches live video feeds from classes filmed and recorded in the basement of Meriam Library.
Yet she has never walked in the breezeway or seen the George Petersen Rose Garden at Chico State.
A single mother of two teens, Chappelle said taking classes online is the only option because the university closest to her home is 1 1/2 hours away.
She said most online students are like her - they live somewhere remote and have kids.
Despite demographic similarities, online students don't always get along.
Chappelle said sometimes chat rooms can become hostile.
Each online class has a live chat room where students discuss the issues presented in class. But when some students chat during class time, other online students get angry and bothered.
Chappelle said students often accuse other students of not being on subject, but professors usually have it under control.
"It only becomes a problem when the professors don't step in and tell the chat police to please leave the decision of what is on subject, and what is not on subject, up to the professor," Chappelle said in an e-mail interview.
Hostile chat can spark hostile discussion boards as well.
Chappelle said in an e-mail that one person posted, "I think I do have a case for asking that we focus on the topics and expectations of the class, rather than just airing our opinions when we approach something unfamiliar or challenging. If we were uttering our chat in class, we'd be called on it, because though it's relevant to each of us in our own lives, it's not relevant to the study of sociology."
She said another chatter responded, "We basically NEED to chat just to feel like part of the class and to get to know one another, because we don't have a one-on-one connection."
When a chat room becomes too hostile, Chappelle said, she won't attend the class in the chat room live. Instead, she watches the archived version of the class. She said many online classes have lost live online students to the archives because of hostility.
Online classes create camaraderie between students and Chappelle has met some of her online friends in person.
"I have met a real neat woman who is over 60 and is pursuing her college degree," Chapelle said. "She is an inspiration for me."
But even with regular chats, online classes make study groups and other communication difficult.
"I miss the interaction with people," Chappelle said. "I used to enjoy seeing people before and after classes for a few minutes."
What makes or breaks an online class is the professor, she said. While most professors are wonderful, sometimes a professor won't answer e-mail for a couple of weeks, she said.
"They can't ignore an in-class student for that long," Chappelle said. "Right?"
Brea Jones can be reached at:
bjones6@mail.csuchico.edu
Other stories in this series:
Learning technology to learn sociology
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