The Online Degree Dorm Room

Associate Online Degree Programs | South Carolina grows it’s online degree programs

Posted by bposton on November 30th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Both the University of South Carolina and it’s Community Colleges are seeing rapid growth in online enrollements.

The University of South Carolina Upstate has offered 56 online courses during the last two semesters. The courses are in the arts and sciences, nursing, education and business departments.

The number of online courses that the university has offered has more than doubled over the last two years and they expect the number to increase even more over the next two years.

They’ve had great success with its “RN to BSN program,”

This a program designed for registered nurses who already have an associates degree who want to earn their bachelor of science degree in nursing.

Of the 98 students enrolled in the program at the university, 30 are earning their degree online. The rest are taking course in a traditional classroom setting or through a partnership with state educational television (ETV).

Spartanburg Community College’s online courses have grown steadily since the college began offering them in 2001.

The community college currently offers three online degrees: an associate of arts degree, interpreter training program and a management degree. And they offer 60 online courses each semester.

They report that these online courses fill up as fast as are developed. And the school is finding that many students are taking traditional classes, and then adding online courses because of their flexibility.

They’re also finding out that online courses are often less expensive for colleges to offer since there’s little overhead, and textbooks can be updated often and downloaded easily.

According to college spokesmen, the South Carolina college system as learned that online classes can be just as good, or better than the traditional class environment,

And as long as the technology continues to expand (which it will, online courses are the way of the future.

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | Another Success Story

Posted by bposton on November 30th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Janet Ward is a 50-year-old single mother of three children who worked as a paralegal for several years before heading back to the classroom in a very non-traditional way.

She found Limestone College’s Internet Management degree program, and never looked back.

She works at the college’s Eastwood Library, maintaining its Web site during the day, and plans to graduate next month with a bachelor of science degree in computer science and Internet management with a concentration in Web development.

Then she’s off to get her master’s degree.

Here’s a quote from her:

“You know, I’m a single parent, and it’s wonderful to work at your own pace. There are so many benefits to online courses, and the way the program was developed, I’m more than comfortable going into the outside world with the knowledge I have.”

Ward said the coursework required her to develop and maintain a Web site from scratch, to set up computer hardware and to act as a system administrator.

The Virtual Campus for Limestone was created by Doug Hulsey in 1997 and continues to teach the Internet Management courses. The program offers five bachelor of science degrees, an associate of arts degree and 24 majors. Limestone offers new online courses every eight weeks.

The Virtual Campus program began with between 30 and 40 students, and now around 2,000 students take online courses through Limestone.

Way to go, Janet, and Limestone!

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | Drexel offers new online degree program

Posted by bposton on November 30th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

One of my daughters is a senior in high school and she’s going through that wonderful process of selecting the colleges she wants to apply to.

She wants to major in Communications. I give her credit, because most high school seniors don’t have a clue what they want to take in college

So this announcement from Drexel university Online caught my attention.

They’ve added a Communications degree program to their offerings.

Here’s a snippet from the press release:

The new online Bachelor of Science Degree in Communication provides a common core of courses that emphasize communication theory and methods, followed by a concentration in corporate communication and public relations.

Program content teaches students how to address the communication and relationship challenges that arise when organizations deal with their various publics. This comprehensive approach successfully prepares students for senior-level Corporate Communication and Public Relations positions in any corporation or organization.

Just like Drexel’s other online degree programs, this is a fully-accredited program and is done entirely online. Students will have 24/7 online access to class materials, group discussion, instructor feedback and exams. Drexel mentioned that these courses are taught by the same world-renowned faculty and offer the same well-respected credentials as their on-campus courses

Applications for Drexel’s online Bachelor of Science Degree in Communication are now being accepted. The next term begins in January 2007, with a December 8, 2006 deadline. For more information about this online program, visit Drexel’s online degree website, or call (877) 215-0009.

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Associate online degree programs | Indiana reports a rise in online enrollment

Posted by bposton on November 29th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Indiana is reporting a rise in online enrollments at the colleges and universities in the state.

First we’ll take Perdue.

Dennis McElhoe, Purdue’s director of continuing education and conferencing, said Purdue began offering online courses in the 1999-00 academic school year with two enrolled students. Now, more than 4,700 students are enrolled in the courses.

Next, there’s Indiana U.

Indiana University had 40 graduate-level online courses in the school of education during the 2005-06 academic school year, the coordinator of student and course support reported. The number of students enrolled were not counted.

The university had 83 undergradate online courses and 44 high school online courses as well.

Last year, 1,917 Indiana undergraduates were enrolled in the courses, compared to 1,734 the previous academic school year.

So, even more evidence that online education is surging.

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Associate online degree programs | Ball State reflects the rise in online enrollment

Posted by bposton on November 29th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Remember the report I told you about that showed an increase in online enrollments?

Well I thought you might like to know that this increase is being seen across the country
at many universities.

Take Ball State, for example.

The Ball State School of Extended Education has a 9 month independent learning program and a ten-week fast track program, The independent learning program has about half of its classes online and allows students to work at their own pace in a nine-month period. The fast track program has all of its classes online and students have to finish their work within the 10 weeks.

Ball State is reporting that registration for the online independent learning programs is increasing. The online independent learning programs were started in 2005, and offer the entire core curriculum. Students must also complete two minors that the school of extended education developed.

Online enrollment has almost doubled at Ball State. However, they are seeing more graduate level students that undergraduate students at this time.

Jim Flowers, professor and director of online education in the Department of Technology, said the department’s two master’s degree programs skyrocketed in enrollment numbers. He said offering online courses gave an advantage because of different perspectives from students around the country and world. Indiana does not require a master’s degree for education, so Flowers said Ball State can service a greater population of students.

He commented that the graduate students who are online are students who have already done teaching, and have already established houses and families, so they’re able to provide a different perspective to things.

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | My Back is Back…

Posted by bposton on November 29th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Did you miss me?

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but this past weekend I managed to pull a major muscle in my back and I’ve been out of commission.

But I’m “Back” in action again, so expect more posts shortly

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | What colleges offer the most online degrees?

Posted by bposton on November 26th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

The annual report on the state of online education has found that the number of colleges and universities offering 4 year and associate online degree programs has increased.

Which is good news for everyone.

However, the last 3 annual reports showed a very uneven distribution of online course and program offerings by type of institution.  Public colleges and universities and the very large institutions in the US have always been first with online degree offerings.

Private, small 4 year colleges have been least likely to offer online courses, and typically have they’ve received the most negative opinions about online education in general.

And this year’s report is pretty much online the same line. This year’s results show no major changes from this type of pattern. The same large and public universities are still offering the most degrees online.

More than 96 percent of colleges and universities with more than 15,000 total enrollments have some online degree programs, which is more than double that of the smaller, private institutions.
The proportion of colleges and universities with completely online programs rises as the size of the instituion increases. 

About two-thirds of the very largest institutions have degree programs that are completely online programs, while only about one-sixth of the smallest institutions have such programs.

Interestingly Doctoral and Research institutions have been shown to have the greatest depth of online programs and courses. Over 80% of these colleges and universities have some form of online program, either courses or full programs.

So you probably need to look toward the public university or a very large college to find an online degree program with a lot of depth and selection. The private colleges have them also, but you might not find exactly what you need.

Ben 

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Associate Online Degree Programs | Are we really non-traditional?

Posted by bposton on November 26th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

I really dislike the “labels” that some people give others.

One “label” I really don’t like is the label called non-traditional…the one that all of us in the online degree dorm room seem to get.

That’s because everyone beleives that we’re not the typical college student.

Well, that may be true, but here’s what the latest Sloan Foundation report found:

There’s a lot of information to suggest that online degrees appeal to a different type of student from those who go with face-to-face classroom instruction. 

Online students tend to be older, and often hold additional employment and family responsibilities, as compared to the more traditional student.

OK - you got me - that description fits me to a T

However, do those differences mean that online students are taking different types or levels of courses or are they studying at different types of institutions?

Accord to the study, the the general population of online students is a close match to the overall higher education student body, but the mix of schools where they study is not.

Students getting their degree online, like the overall student body, are overwhelmingly undergraduates.  And the amount of graduate-level students is a little higher in online education relative to the overall higher education population.

Now, who was it that said online eduction is not for undergrads? A dean from Stanford, I beleive. - HA! - take that, Stanford!

One difference the study did find is that online undergrads are more likely to be studying at Associates institutions than are their face-to-face contemporaries.

More on that later…

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | Has the growth of online degree stalled?

Posted by bposton on November 26th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

As I mentioned yesterday, there’s a new study out sponsored by the Alfred Sloan Foundation. It’s the 4th yearly report obout the condition of online learning in U.S. higher education.

One of the questions this survey and report tried to answer was:

Has the popularity of getting an education online grown or stalled over the last few years?

Here is what they found - I think it’s very important:   

First of all, for several years the number of people enrolling in online degree programs have been growing much faster than the overall higher education student body.  But the results from last year’s study. although reporting that the raw increase in numbers was the same from the previous year, also showed a lower percentage growth rate. 

Was that an early sign that online enrollment growth has finally begun to plateau?

Well, according to this year’s report, the answer is an overwhelming NO…

Here are the facts:  the growth of online enrollments has not leveled off. In fact, institutions of higher education reported a record online enrollment growth on both a numeric and a percentage basis.

Ya-hoo! Great news for everyone in the online degree dorm room!

Here’s even more information - In 2005 there were 2.3 million people taking at least one online course during the fall term. That number has now grown to nearly 3.2 million. A hugh increase.

Also, more than 800,000 new online students were taking classes in 2006 which is more than twice the number added in any previous year.

So there’s absolutely no doubt about it - online education is growing, and growing fast.

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | New Study about online degrees

Posted by bposton on November 25th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Hey there dorm room buddy!

There’s been an important new study just released bout the growth of online education.

The study was don by the Babson Survey Research Group in partnership with the College Board, and was sponored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The report, based on responses from over 2,200 colleges and universities, examines a number of key questions:

Has the Growth of Online Enrollments Begun to Plateau?

Who is Learning Online?
What Types of Institutions Have Online Offerings?

What are the Barriers to Widespread Adoption of Online Education?

This is great stuff. I’m reading it now and I’ll give you all the details in my upcoming posts.

Ben 

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