Engineering Degree Online | Stanford’s Online Masters Program

Posted by bposton on November 24th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

I just read about Stanford’s online master’s degree program.

The program is call the Honors Cooperative Program. It’s a degree that you can earn over 5 years by completing 15 courses - and it’s offered as both an on campus or online program. It’s open to 250 students, most of which live in the Bay Area, but quite a few of them live all over the U.S. and overseas.

Students hail from as far away as China and India. All foriegn students are required to hold a valid student or visitor U.S. visa, and they must be proficient in English.

The online students that are admitted to Stanford are held to the same academic standards as on-campus students. This degree which is offered through Stanford Online, established in 1996, is identical to those of other students.

Ben

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Engineering Degree Online | The college textbook ripoff - continued

Posted by bposton on November 10th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

OK, I’m rested now and ready to finish my expose on the college textbook scam…

Again, to recap - it’s a 6.5 billion dollar business. The costs have risen 186% since 1986. The average student book bill is 900 per year…

ahrgggg….

Here’s another thing. Publishers are saying they have to include more and more material to serve as many people as possible, and that’s why they costs keep going up.

Of course, that also means that the darn books get stuffed with so much “stuff” that it’s impossible to go thru it all during the course!!!

double ahrgggg!!!

Here’s another thing. since these publishers are bundling disks, workbooks, and website access into a textbook, they’re not playing fair with the textbook resellers. That’s because once these type of bundles are opened, like courses with DVDs inside, they can’t be resold. So these publishers are doing everything they can to end the used book market

Yeah, I know. theres alot of reselling options on the Internet. For example there’s the every popular ebay, half.com and even independent outfits like varsitybooks.com and ecampus.com. But you know what? their slice of the business is a small fraction of the total textbook market. A 2006 report by the NACS found that 23 percent of students buy their books online and of those online sales, a third are from the websites of existing campus bookstores.

So what’s a student to do?

Write your congressman…

Seventeen states have recently proposed legislation to help curb the rising costs of books, including the requirement that schools post the international barcode number of each of the required texts so that students can shop for them online. The new Connecticut law also even require publishers to tell professors what the books cost before the professors assign their students to buy them. I guess that might make a different.

In my next post, I’ll tell you about a student who took matters into his own hands…

Ben

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engineering degree online : self-motivation is a pre-requisite

Posted by bposton on October 25th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

I found a note on my online dorm room door that asked this question:

“How do I know if I’m right for an online program?”

Good question!

I have found that there is a subtle yet important difference between people I know who are
taking colleges classes in a traditional classroom, and those taking them in an online program.

That differnce is called “self-motiviation”.

Yeah, I know it takes motivation of one-self to get out of bed in the morning and get thyself to class by 8am.

But in my opinion, taking online courses does require a different type of motivation. The type that comes from
an inner drive and dedication.

And I think there are some students who need that “in-your-face” type of motivation that you can only
get from a classroom instructor or even a fellow dorm-mate who’s telling you “do your homework’ or “don’t forget about
that paper due next week…”

Those types of students won’t do as well with an online class.

But if you’re someone who can stick to a self-imposed disiplince and schedule; if you’re someone who can
do your work independently, then online programs are just right for you.

Ben

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