My local community college is offering an on-line course in Travel Writing. Has anyone experienced any kind of writing course over the internet? Opinions please, thanks! I'm a little wary, but then again, I was the last kid on my block to go from records to CDs (and I'm still hanging on to those 8-tracks!) so maybe I just need to get with the times!

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Nutella,<BR>I have taken two internet writing course, on on general magazine writing and one on travel writing. The first was offered by Writers' Digest, and it was really awful. The &quot;instructor&quot; gave little or no feedback, the format and posting were clumsy, and you didn't have to have your work critiqued by others if you didn't want to, which subverts the whole concept of a writers workshop.<BR><BR>On the other hand, I took a travel writers course through UCLA Extension and it was excellent. In fact, I am thinking of taking it again.<BR><BR>So, it really depends on who is offering it. You want to make sure that you get a lot of feedback from the instructor. It is also nice if the other participants are active and keep up with their assignments but that is not a guarantee.<BR><BR>Good luck.

Thanks SC! I'm going to contact the school and ask about the things you mention - instructor and fellow student feedback. Anything else I should be looking out for? I suppose at the very least it will get me to WRITE, so I think I'll go for it!

More information for you to think about:<BR><BR>I have a doctorate and a masters that were both earned solely through classes taken in the class-room. I attempted to take one course recently, that was offered over the internet through the university where my master's was earned. This class required at least 3x the amount of work as my non-internet courses required. <BR><BR>Another problem that I had difficulty with was that the work was critiqued and partially graded by others in the class. I had a problem with this because I did not know the other students in the class and their qualifications. It was difficult for me to accept their recommendation for corrections and modifications when I did not know who they were.<BR><BR>I ended up dropping the class.<BR><BR>Ask for a copy of the class syllabus and for the grading chart. If they do not have one, then the teacher has probably not taught the class before or the teacher is modifying his methods as the semester progresses. In either case, I would have a problem.

Kjulie: Good points and good advice. The UCLA travel course (and I just checked; it's full for this term) was led and critiqued by the instructor, who was excellent. Students critiqued each other's work since it was conducted as if it were a classroom writing seminar, but the instructor was very much involved. She delivered individual and lengthy critiques of each assignment.<BR><BR>You are also right about it being a lot of work. It is very difficult to keep up with, and about half the class had stopped participating midway through the course.

Thanks for the advice! I've been trying in vain to get answers from the school regarding an exact syllabus and the method of feedback. The answers - if I ever get them - will determine whether or not I take the course.

<BR><BR>Hey, don't apologize for the 8-tracks. As my grandmother used to always say: &quot;Better an eight-track mind than a one-track mind.&quot;

My friends and I took an online travel writing course from the University of Hawaii...we took it at different times so we had different experiences. It depends on who else is in your 'class' to get the full flavor. One of my friends had a good experience, many people in class exchanged feedback and asked questions. In my class, I was the only one posting anything or asking questions!! I think I would have had a better experience if my classmates were active.