Suddenly I need to take 6 units of college physics, to teach HS physics this year and then next. I’d rather not have to travel for it, and I’m living in a place that would mean a lot of traveling if it’s not an online course. Anyone got experience with something like this, and have recommendation? Thanks.
What you need to know first is which online courses, if any, meet with your employer’s standards. What accreditations do they accept/require, etc.
Any accredited college, really.
Do you have to complete the courses before you are eligible to teach the class? Or can you be concurrently taking the classes while you are teaching?
If the former, I believe that you are SOL.
If you already know the material or feel you can learn it on your own, you could take a standardized college-level exam for credit. It looks like CLEP has discontinued their physics exam and DSST has never had one but there is a UExcel physics exam worth 6 credits. The test costs $95 and proctoring fees are (if memory serves) another $50 in addition. If your employer won’t accept the UExcel results by themselves, they may accept them if they come on a transcript from a credit bank, such as OneTranscript a service of Excelsior College (which is an accredited college). I believe Thomas Edison State College has a similar credit bank, but I don’t know as much about it. There is no need to enroll in a degree program to use the credit bank service, but there are fees that run about $300 I think.
If you want to learn or refresh the material in preparation for taking the exam, there are several introductory physics courses online free to participate in from EdX, Coursera, MIT Open Courseware, and Saylor. All or most offer free access to lectures, homework assignments, etc. Some of these will also offer a verified certificate for money but that wouldn’t help you because they’re non-credit courses. If you don’t already know calculus, stick to an online course that is algebra-based which is all the Uexcel exam requires if memory serves.