The Online Degree Dorm Room

engineering degree online : more on the technical requirements

Posted by bposton on October 26th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

You know how you have to look on the side of the software box at Best Buy and squint
really hard to read all the techincal stuff you need to run it?

That’s kinda how I feel about figuring our the technical requirements for
an online degree program.

But here’s what I think is a good representation of what you’ll need, PC-wise,
to take an online class.

This comes from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

System Requirements

Minimum Hardware Requirements

500MHz (or higher) PC
128MB RAM
High-speed connection such as cable, DSL, LAN, etc.*
Color monitor (recommended resolution: 1024 x 768 minimum)
Audio card and speakers

Note that 56K modem connections are not guaranteed to provide sufficient bandwidth
to view courses with streaming video lectures. Students with only a modem connection
should contact the Office of Continuing Engineering Education before registering for courses.

Minimum Software Requirements

Windows 98, 2000, or XP
Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher
Windows Media Player
Adobe Acrobat Reader

Other Software
Some courses may take advantage of other multimedia components and thus require additional software.
For course specific information consult the appropriate home page.

Of course, like most technology, this information will be obsolete in about a year, so
make sure you keep up with the college program you’re interested in and get as much specific information as you can before you head out to Best Buy…:-)

Ben

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engineering degree online : No Child Left Behind…in College?? - Part 3

Posted by bposton on October 21st, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

Here’s the third and final part of the quote from Eugene Hickok about how the government is trying to making colleges more accountable in how they educate their students.

“Americans should have more information about higher education curriculum and teaching. Higher education in this country differs substantially from elementary and high school education,most obviously in what is offered and how it is offered. The academy responds to the demands of disciplines and faculty. It is a culture that cherishes independence and freedom. And it is a culture seriously out of touch with much of America.

Faculty members decide what they want to teach and when they want to teach, if, indeed, they teach at all. This is particularly true regarding undergraduate instruction, which is something of an afterthought on many campuses. Faculty members typically spend fewer than 200 hours a year in the classroom. That amounts to just five 40-hour weeks.

Take a look at what passes for subjects of scholarly and instructional focus on campuses.
Should taxpayer dollars really go to underwrite courses in such things as the history of
comic book art? Policy makers and tuition payers need to be made aware of what sorts of courses institutions consider appropriate to fulfill core academic requirements, if anything resembling an academic core even exists. And there needs to be a greater emphasis on teaching students what they need to know, rather than what faculty want to talk about.

One of No Child Left Behind’s hallmarks is transparency. Today parents know more about the performance of their children’s schools than ever before. This same principle needs to be applied to higher education. Colleges and universities need to be able to explain why they charge the tuition they charge, what their graduation rates are, what they feel constitutes an educated person and how they propose to get first year students from here to there. the various college rating systems and publications are entertaining and interesting to read, but they don’t provide the sort of objective data tuition payers need to make informed decisions.

For generations, a college education has been a big part of the American dream.
Much of the world has come to America to get a higher education. But nothing guarantees that this will be the case in the future. Indeed, for more and more American citizens, that dream is coming into question. It is time for serious reflection and reform in higher education — before it is too late.
Eugene Hickok, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, was a deputy secretary of education during President Bush’s first term.
 

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Engineering degree online - a success story follow-up

Posted by bposton on October 20th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

In my last post I forgot to mention a little more information about the
college involved with the success story.

The name of the college is  Thomas Edison State College. It just so happens the their

latest bunch of 350 graduates received their degrees last Saturday. In fact in all about 1900 degrees were awarded through this college’s innovative degree program.

Thomas Edision certainly breaks the mold of a traditional college. The students at Thomas Edison State College have an average age 36 years. Even more interesting, these students can try a handful of different ways to earn credit because they often work full-time jobs while studying.

It’s a non-traditional college worth checking out.

Ben

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So, what do you know?

Posted by bposton on October 14th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

I’m not the expert - but I hope to be.

I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.

That pretty much sums up my intentions.

No, I’m not an “expert” on getting an education online. I’ve got a little experience on the subject (ok, more that just a little). But my goal is to become a very knowledgeable person in this area.

Nope, I don’t know everything about this - but I’m going to find out And along the way you and I can both learn alot, and hopefully that’s important to you, ’cause it is to me.

Ben

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