Would You Attend a Virtual School or Work Fair?
These days virtual meetings, shows, and communities are getting more and more elaborate. Whether it's hanging out in Gossip Girl's Second Life neighborhood, holding a wedding ceremony online, or simply using iChat for business or pleasure, there seems to be no end to virtual events and meet-up spots.
Today is the second day of College Week Live's two-day virtual college fair. It was created to help prospective students in their college planning by connecting them with colleges in a live, interactive environment.
According to the website, the event will draw thousands of students from the US and abroad and more than 50 major US colleges – including such schools as Northeastern, Smith College, UCONN, University of Buffalo, Ole Miss, and Tufts. I think it's a great idea, but whenever I check out virtual events, I never leave the site with the same understanding or experience I would have if I had gone in person.
Link Love
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- Source: NASA
10 Comments
The comment about online events/classes being for lazy people is ridiculous. The problem is that you go to a “standard” university. For the sake of argument I am going to assume this means you stay on campus. I attend Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. This is as joint school that hosts both IU and Purdue schools. Oh yeah, and we are harder to get into than either of them. This is however, primarily a commuter school. 90% of people who go here live within an hour and drive. Most are working professionals. Therefore, online classes just fit better. I personally work 32 hours a week as a software engineer, while taking a full course load. I would not be able to work this much if I were at a “standard” university. I take half of my classes online. This means I have to put in the work to watch the lectures, do the homework, study, take the tests, and write my projects. I don’t get to just sit in class and zone out for an hour and a half. One could say “standard” university students are lazy. More often than not they work a part-time retail type job.
To SkinnyMarie:
It does not take 4-6 years to be a teacher. That is a short accreditation. It takes 4-6 years to get a degree in your field so you can teach. At least that is how it is supposed to be in Indy. There is still lab time for online classes. The time is set, usually in the evening, around the majority of the classes schedule. Lab is however not required if you were able to finish by yourself. At least that’s how it works with programming classes.
Personally, I feel that online career fairs are useful, but not to the same extent a s a traditional career fair. Virtual fairs to me are a step above Monster or Career Builder.