San Diego State University Online Classes: PHP w/MySQL; Ruby on Rails.

I'm coming to the end of the line of my 2 online classes with San Diego State University and I have a few things I would like to say about my experience learning PHP, MySQL, and Ruby on Rails.

My first and biggest gripe is the inability to have access to the Instructor's email. Having just graduated from a 4 year university, I can say this kind of thing never happened in any of my classes. The teacher's were supposed to at least try to make themselves available to those who might have extra questions. This shouldn't be any different just because the teaching has moved from the classroom to the chat room.

The way they expect you to interact/deal with this is to ask all lesson-related questions in the discussion forums; they don't want you talking about things that don't directly pertain to the lesson. But this is too limiting, and almost inhuman. I understand the reasoning behind this, but it makes me feel like I'm just a number. I think they could at least benefit from a "General discussion" forum that allows for topics not necessarily related directly to the lesson at hand. This'll offer a little more flexibility making the experience feel a little more organic, and therefore enjoyable. And there shouldn't be any excuse for denying the student access to the instructor's email. Some people don't feel comfortable having their questions advertised in front of everyone, and so some option for these kinds of people should be available.

Anyway, onto my view of the lessons. For whatever reason, I find the PHP/MySQL to be taught pretty effectively. He explains it in a fashion that allows even complete newcomers to pick things up pretty quickly. However, not so much is the case for Ruby. I don't know why, but it seems like presumptions are made about the general familiarity with programming we are supposed to bring to the class. This shouldn't be happening because both classes are in the most basic "beginners" format. Especially considering the uniqueness of object oriented programming, extra precautions should be made when explaining Ruby. Now maybe it's just the English major in me, but about 40% of the time I could see myself explaining what was being said in a much more efficient way.

All of this being said, I'm typically a pretty independent learner, so I feel all of what's needed to be one is generally provided with these online formats. Rich, the instructor, is pretty reliable whenever you have an issue you'd like to bring up with him so that was good as well.

If all works out, I'm going to add a second part to this "review" detailing more of the positive aspects, or even just the general format of the presentation. For now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my Thanksgiving.

Many days DTC,

Dansid.