The Online Degree Dorm Room

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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Associate Online Degree Programs | One Dean’s View of Online Education

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

Andy DiPaolo is the executive director of the Stanford Center for Professional Development for Stanford University. He’s also the associate dean of the Stanford School of Engineering.

Here’s what he had to say about online education:

Online education is not appropriate for undergraduates, who benefit from on-campus socialization, he said. Nor does it work for doctorate candidates, who work one on one with faculty.

(I personally disagree with him on that one. I beleive online education is just fine for folks getting an undergraduate degree. Sure you may miss out on some socialization, but if you’re focused it works just great) 

But a masters-level degree from the School of Engineering is a good fit for older students who are working and so cannot attend class, he said. Many employers help pay for a worker’s graduate degree.

Now that I do agree with

Ben
 

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Associate Online Degree Programs | Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by bposton on November 22nd, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Hello, my online degree dorm room buddy!

Just wanted to let you know that I’m gonna be skipping a few classes and taking a little time off from my postings to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family.

I want to thank you for putting up with my crazy sense of humor and I hope you’ll continue to come back and learn more about getting your online degree.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday (if you’re in the US, that is) and I’ll be back soon!

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | All About Associate Degrees - Part 7

Posted by bposton on November 21st, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

I’d like to wrap up my posts about associate degrees with some things to consider when choosing a program, either on campus or online.

You need to make sure that whatever program you’re interested in is both fully accredited and the credits transferable. This is important even if you don’t intend to move on to a 4 year degree.

So how do you make sure of this?

Well, the best way is to follow the same rule that the US does in it’s relationship with Russia:

“Trust but Verify”

That means you need to verify with third party sources the accrediation status of the community college or junior college you want to attend. Don’t just trust what their information or website tells you. Check with the accrediting agency and even the department of education at the state or federal level if you need to.

Next, if you’re planning to transfer to a 4 year school, you should check with that school to make absolutely sure that the credits you earn at the community college will be accepted at the 4 year school. This is critical! Do just assume, and don’t take the community college’s word for it. Check it out for yourself.

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | All About Associate Degrees - Part 5

Posted by bposton on November 21st, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

I wanted to delve into more detail about the difference between community colleges and juinor colleges.

I’ve already mentioned that either one is a good place to get your associates degree, but you need to understand some of the fundamental differences between them before you decide where to go.

As you already know, community colleges are run by the government of the state in which they reside. Some states have better community college systems that others. For example, my home state of North Carolina has one of the best community college systems in the country. The state takes very good care of it’s community colleges, and along with business and industry partnerships, they have become a great place to learn the technical skills of the high-tech (and high-paid) trades that today’s businesses need.

So let’s turn to the Junior College, and see what that’s all about.

Junior colleges are very similar to community colleges with one big exception - most of them are privately held and run. So they are profit-oriented, for the most part.
That means that as compared to Community colleges they are normally not as economical.

Junior Colleges also tend to be more focused in certain areas of study. For example, I went to a Junior College to learn radio and TV broadcasting. The school was very specifically oriented to that industry. So instead of pursuing a 4 year degree at that time (I did so later) I learned a specific trade, and after graduating actually went to work in radio. I’m not in radio today, but you get the idea, I hope

So you need to think about what type of skill you’re looking to learn - is it a specific skill, like becoming a TV producer or radio announcer - or do you want something more general in nature, like business administration, that you can use to continue your quest of a 4 year degree. Answering that question will help you decide which type of college you may want to attend.

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | All About Associate Degrees - Part Deux

Posted by bposton on November 20th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Here’s the next segment in my “All about Associates Degrees’ Series

Did you know that there are three different types of Associate Degrees you and earn?

Well listen up my dorm room buddy, here they are:

The first, and most commonly know of the three classes of US associate degrees offered is the associate of arts degree (also called the A.A. degree).

The second is called the associate of applied science degree (also called the A.A.S. degree).

And last but not least, there’s the associate of science degree (A.S. degree)

So those are the three types of degrees. Next, I’ll discuss the three types of people that typically choice to get an Associates Degree.

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | A Hurricane Katrina Survivor Story

Posted by bposton on November 19th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

Here’s a great story I read about a Hurrance Katrina survivor who’s now persuring her degree online

Sharon Truly had never evacuated for a hurricane.

So when Hurricane Katrina came barreling through New Orleans, she thought it was just another storm and decided to
ride it out at a motel with her husband, her son and her 21 exotic birds.

“In one day, everything you have in your whole life is wiped out. That fast,” Truly said, with a snap of her fingers,
as she looked through photographs of the things she lost.

Truly, who suffers with seizures, migraine headaches, a chronic respiratory disease and ruptured disks in her back,
is unable to work. She must have oxygen to sleep at night. Her oxygen concentrator was flooded and she also had
trouble getting her prescriptions filled. She eventually relocated to Memphis, Tenn.

That’s when she heard about the Memphis and Shelby County Community Services Agency, a member of Katrina Aid Today.

Truly’s case manager helped her find an apartment and furnish it, and get her prescription medications refilled.
The case manager also is helping her map out a plan for her recovery, and assisted her in applying for an educational grant.

Today, Truly is working toward her bachelor’s degree online and plans to start a home-based business selling
vitamins and nutritional shakes.

What a great success story. I wish you all the best, Truly

Just so you know, Katrina Aid Today is funded through a $66 million grant to the United Methodist Committee on Relief and monitored by Federal Emergency Management Agency. It’s a consortium that consists of 25 agencies with years of
disaster recovery case management experience serving either as national partners or as local service providers under
the Katrina Aid Today umbrella.

Although it has been more than a year since Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf Coast,
the figures confirm that many people across the nation are desperate for aid. This consortium plans to
assist about 70,000 more Katrina-affected families over the next 11 months.

Kudos to Katrina Aid Today!!

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Programs | The USA Today Report - the Online Degree connection

Posted by bposton on November 16th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

OK, so after posting my heart out over the report in Tuesday’s USA Today about the US Dept of Education wanting to reform the higher education system, I’m left with this nagging question…

What about online schools?

There was absolutely nothing mentioned about the trend to online education in the report. Which may mean that the Department of Education doesn’t care or doesn’t track it?

That would be a shame, because to me it’s a very important trend that they need to follow and include in any policy regarding higher education.

There was one little stat in the report that could be an indication of this trend. It was reported that 39% of all students at degree-granting institutions were over the age of 25, and that nearly 40 of students go part time.

hummm, I that sounds a lot like the profile of someone in the online dorm room

Ben

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Associate Online Degree Program | More US Dept of Ed Stats

Posted by bposton on November 16th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

In an effort begin reforming the higher eduction system inthe US, The US Department of Education, headed by Margaret Spelling, referenced some interesting stats the other day in the USA Today.

For example:

According to a 2006 Report by the American Institute for Research, more than 50% of all graduating students at four years colleges did not have the skills needed to handle tasks like understanding credit card offers or summarizing arguments of newpaper editorials.

That number increases to 75% of students graduating from 2 year colleges.

And according to Spelling, most colleges can’t measure whether their student’s skills are improving and that’s not a factor in today’s rankings in US News and World Report.

The Department of Education says that to reform this and other measures such as degree completion rates, a Federal database is needed to track graduation rates and other factors more effiecently and to make this data easily available to prospective students. They also want colleges to publish data on how students are improving. What’s interesting is that a lot of colleges already are doing some sort of measurement - they’re just not making it available to anyone but themselves.

More on that later

Ben

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associate online degree programs | Spelling recommendations to college under fire

Posted by bposton on November 15th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

More about the government’s attempt to “improve” higher education quality.

US Education Secretary Margaret Spelling created a commission awhile back to make recommendations to reform the nation’s higher education system.

The process itself and the motives behind it have come under scruntiny in the past few months. One reason are some of the resulting recommendations.

One recommendation that is coming under fire is the creation of a database to track individiual students. That worries a lot of Student groups across the country because it could raise tons of privacy issues.

This month Spelling and her department will be meeting with the accrediting agencies and also asking for public comment.

One of the questions they’re likely to be asked is why are they spending so much time an money on this when what really need to do is make more money available for lower income students who can’t afford to go to college.

In my next post I’ll look at their side of the story, and let you in on some of the distrubing facts and figures that the US DoE has put out recently.

Ben

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