Review of UNE online organic I

I recently finished UNE's online Organic Chem I with lab, and I have to say, in over 200+ credit hours of studies, that was the hardest class I have ever taken. Organic is a pretty difficult subject in its own right, but what made this class particularly challenging is the deplorable level of instruction. The book is a poor copy that appears to be printed out of a .pdf file, which I say because each page has two page numbers. Also, the printing is so poor you can't even tell there is highlighting of the functional group movements, unless you look VERY closely.

In essence, the problem with this course is analogous to someone showing you how to hammer two boards together, and then handing you a blueprint, dropping you off at home depot, and telling you to build a house. There is a HUGE gulf between the oversimplified explanations of the book, and the in-depth understanding required by the questions, which you have to bridge with very little support. I found myself frequently chasing my tail looking for the answers to problems, repeating a mantra over and over while studying, "the answer just isn't f*&^ing in there!" Don't even get me started on the lectures, which have the instructor essentially reading from the text, the same material you just read 20 minutes ago.

About halfway through I bought other chem books and started using more online resources (thank god for wikipedia and khan academy), which helped quite a bit. I honestly learned organic much more in spite of this course than because of it. While the instructor answers questions, the answers tend to be about 2 sentences long and don't fill in the cavernous holes of understanding this course leaves you with.

The lab portion is a simple virtual lab where you click and drag some lab equipment together, add reagents, and then see what pops out. Even for a long time computer gamer, it took me a minute to figure out the set up, which is not very intuitive or user friendly initially. The glassware shattering when I forgot to hook up the N2 gas was a nice effect though.

The final is 60% of your grade, open book/note, online, and there is a significant curve (presumably because so many people bomb it). I managed to get an A in this class, though I am a straight A student and poured all of my energy into this course, studying 12-15 hours per module (16 modules total). This class honestly gave me nightmares, and I spent most of it unsure of if I would even pass. Unless you are a genius at chem or have taken multiple college level chem classes, I would strongly recommend a different course.

Poll: I've taken UNE Organic I and found it to be

• Easy

  0% 0

• Moderate

  50.00% 1

• Difficult with adequate instruction

  50.00% 1

• Difficult without adequate instruction

  0% 0

• I started the class and dropped it

  0% 0