It’s a virtual world...

Online classes don't work for everyone.

If you tend to do sit in the back of the class and do as little as possible to slide by in face to face classes then online just may work...depending on the subject.

Clark is putting more and more classes online for students. With higher tuition costs students seem to be working more hours which leaves less time for classes on campus.

Psychology professor Kathy Bobula is currently in the process of making all of her face to face classes online for the 2012-13 school years. "When I first taught online, about 10 years ago, I was not too impressed with the technology and what was possible in a virtual classroom. However, the online world has changed," said Bobula.

"More and more students are wanting online classes as they try to manage work, family and school. Thus we need to provide online classes in Psychology," Bobula said. "I decided to be the one to take this on wholeheartedly."

Bobula said there are positives and negatives to both online and face to face classes. Her main strength for online is that they free up classrooms for other needs, which will serve more students.

Subjects that require less instructor interaction seem to work fine online. Classes like English or Womans Studies fill up fast and can be hard to get into. Math is another story.

Math is one of those subjects where students have lots of questions, and usually tons of homework. A students taking math online needs to have patience and strong self discipline.

To ask a question in an online class you need to be prepared for the fact that your question may not get answered in a timely fashion. You will have to email your instructor and patiently wait for an answer. The alternative is to ask the question of your class mates in one of the forums offered in most online classes. You'll have to hope that whoever answers your question knows the correct answer.

Second year Clark student Marie Fitzgerald-Wittmer has spent her time in college in a virtual world. She has taken most of her degree classes online due to working full time and being the mother to a active son.

Wittmer says that at first she liked the idea of online, but after her first few classes she quickly realized that they were not all they were cracked up to be. She thinks that online classes can get very hard and sometimes equally as complicated.

"Sometimes I think that there is a secret society of professional students that understand how everything works," Wittmer said. "E-Learning has made me feel isolated."

For a parent, someone who works full time or if you like to attend class in your pajamas you should try an online class. If your one of those students that asks a lot of questions and needs the answers to learn you may want to stick to face to face.