The Online Degree Dorm Room

Coming soon to a college near you - Digitial Textbooks…

Posted by bposton on December 30th, 2009 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

Now that the holidays are winding down and most of my dorm room buddies are checking their wallets to see wha’t left, there’s that sinking feeling when they realize that a new semester is coming up and along with that - the rush to get the college textbooks.

It’s a VERY sad fact that the cost of college textbooks has risen at 20 times the inflation rate in the last 20 years (according to the US Government) and I’m sorry, but this is just CRAZY. The poor economic situation brings this to light even more so, and finally there appears to be some good news - the education community is finally starting to “get it” - the time digitial textbooks is NOW.

Yes, there are still opposing camps on this subject. But the biggest opposition I’ve read comes from college faculty that fear they will be left out of the selection process, and worst case, state governments will eventually “mandate” certain books for certain classes. But since the cost of textbooks are such a huge burden on students today, some local governments have already started to write laws to make them more affordable.

These opposing views can’t stop the tide. Here’s some examples of what’s happening today in the move towards digital books:

CourseSmart is a company that has several thousand books in digitial format, costing half the price of printed versions. They have served over 6,500 students (and saved a few trees in the process, too )

Amazon is taking part in a study with seven universities to test and evaluate the success of digitial textbooks

Orange Grove Texts Plus is a partnership between the University Press of Florida (the Florida university system’s nonprofit publishing arm), Integrated Book Technology (a Virginia publisher) and The Orange Grove (Florida’s digital database of K-20 teaching material). This program offers students digital versions of over 140 textbooks and scholarly monographs for free, and bound printed versions for $30 to $50. Eventually, Orange Grove Texts Plus plans to stock more than 1600 titles.

California is also starting an initative similar to that in Florida. However this appears to be targeted to High School textbooks (probably because the state forks out the money for those.)

So, maybe in the very near future we won’t have to add the cost of textbooks to the other stressful activities along the college road.  Let’s hope it’s sooner than later.

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engineering degree online : more on the “non-traditional” student

Posted by bposton on October 29th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

Here’s some more data for your hungry minds from the report I read from WorldWideLearn.com

This report, called “Adult Learners and New Traditions in Higher Education,”
comes to a conclusion that both online and campus schools have found out that’s it’s good for their bottom line to seek out and cater to nontraditional students.

Many traditional colleges and universities have been trying to meet the needs of the
nontraditional student by providing flexible course schedules, financial aid, online degree programs, and aggressive job placement.

So, just what IS a “non-traidtional student”?

I thought you’d never ask

Here’s the official definition from the National Center for Education Statistics:

A “nontraditional” student is a college student who attend part-time, work at
least 35 hours a week, or are past age 22.

In fact, some of these nontraditional students lack a high school diploma, and many have
little dependents of their own. So it makes sense that six of out ten nontraditional
students attend college part time.

Another interesting number: there are more than 1 million of them, and they’re all
enrolled in degree programs that are completely online.

Here’s what Steven Jones, who is Managing Producer for Worldwidelearn.com had to say in summary:

“Earning a college degree will always be a challenge, regardless of circumstances, but
nontraditional students are confronted with obstacles not faced by an 18-year-old

freshman, Such students need timely, reliable information concerning what college degree

programs are offered, where the schools are located, what services they can depend upon, and whether a campus-based or online degree program is the right solution for them,” Jones continues. “They’re demanding–and getting–everything from campus-based child care to courses on weekends, in the evening, and via distance education.”

Rise up, you non-traditional students! The world is your oyster!

Ben

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