The Online Degree Dorm Room

online degree programs psychology | Educators see barriers to online education

Posted by bposton on December 6th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

In the latest Sloan report on online education, I found am intereting and somewhat disturbing fact.

The data shows that only 4.6% of all CAO’s (Chief Academic Officers) of higher education agree that there are no big barriers to the odoption of online learning.

OK, so that’s sort of like a double negative.

It means that about 95% DO see problems with online education being adopted nationwide.

Scary number to me.

So Why do to they see problems in this area?

It has to do both the students and the teachers. And the report confirms that.

More in the next few posts…

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online degree programs psychology | An interesting conflict

Posted by bposton on December 6th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

I was just taking a look at the latest Sloan Consortium report on online education, and I found what appear (at leadt to me) to be something of a contridiction.

Not that the data is wrong - not at all.

I just found this a little curious:

According to the report, of the 3.1 million people taking online courses over 80% of them are at the undergraduate level.

Yet when you look at where they are taking their online course, over half (51.5% to be exact) are taking these classes at a two-year associcates institution. I take that to mean community college or Junior College.

Compare that percentage to the overall higher education population and you’ll find that only about 38% of all higher education students are enrolled in a two year program.

So here’s what I don’t understand. What does the Associate institutions know that the others don’t?

It think it must mean that there still must not be enough of a selection in courses or full 4 year undergraduate programs online. That’s maybe why students are turning to Associate degrees first.

Anyway, my mind is shot on this one.

Maybe I’m just looking at the data wrong, but it appears to me that folks may be having a hard time find a four year degree program that fully online.

Ben

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online degree programs psychology | Universities start marketing thier online programs

Posted by bposton on December 6th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

It’s a sure sign the online programs are becoming more popular when you hear about
Universities beginning a marketing campaign to highlight their degree offerings.

It’s music to my ears

For example, Regent University, has selected a marketing group called Tocquigny to
help them communicate their online degree programs to the world.

The press release actually mentioned that they want to “drive exponential growth for the University’s online degree programs”.

Sounds like they’re pretty serious about this…

Tocquigny will begin working on this campaign next month. It will include development of a more clearly defined brand, primary research, messaging strategy and online marketing and lead generation programs.

I’d me remiss if I didn’t give you a little more detail about Regis:

Regent University was founded in 1978 and is one of the nation’s premier Christian graduate university. They’ve grown to have campuses in Virginia Beach and Washington, D.C., as well as having a strong presence online around the world. Students can earn bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, communication, divinity, education, government, law, leadership studies, and psychology and counseling.

For more, visit regent.edu.

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online degree programs psychology | Universities start marketing thier online programs

Posted by bposton on December 6th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

It’s a sure sign the online programs are becoming more popular when you hear about
Universities beginning a marketing campaign to highlight their degree offerings.

It’s music to my ears

For example, Regent University, has selected a marketing group called Tocquigny to
help them communicate their online degree programs to the world.

The press release actually mentioned that they want to “drive exponential growth for the University’s online degree programs”.

Sounds like they’re pretty serious about this…

Tocquigny will begin working on this campaign next month. It will include development of a more clearly defined brand, primary research, messaging strategy and online marketing and lead generation programs.

I’d me remiss if I didn’t give you a little more detail about Regis:

Regent University was founded in 1978 and is one of the nation’s premier Christian graduate university. They’ve grown to have campuses in Virginia Beach and Washington, D.C., as well as having a strong presence online around the world. Students can earn bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, communication, divinity, education, government, law, leadership studies, and psychology and counseling.

For more, visit regent.edu.

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online degree programs psychology | Three Tips for Test Day

Posted by bposton on December 6th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

OK, so other than cramming, what are some other ways you and improve your chances on exam days?

Here’s three tips:

First - sleep.
Now I know that you college kids sleep til noon anyway, but what I mean is - get a GOOD night’s sleep. This is where cramming actually gets you in trouble. If you stay up all night studying (i.e. cramming), you’ll probably be at less than 100% and have difficulty concentrating.

The National Sleep Foundation 2005 “Sleep in America” poll found that only half of adults get a good night’s sleep a few nights each week. And students can have poor sleep habits. All that school-related or social pressure trigger stress, and stress is considered the number one cause of short term sleeping difficulties.

Second - Eat
Eat something before a test. Brains run on glucose and if your blood sugar is low, your brain doesn’t function well. Just ask the pre-med student down the hall.

Third - Relax
Hey. it’s only a test, right? Don’t get so stressed out over it or you’ll have a harder time recalling the information you’ve been studying. And don’t study just mintues before a test either because although you might gain some last minute reinforcement, you’ll be in the wrong state of mind before the exam begins. Just take deep breaths and stay calm.

So in summary:

Eat a good meal, relaxing and get a good night’s sleep.

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online degree programs psychology | Cram, I am for the Exam…

Posted by bposton on December 5th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

It’s that time of year again…

Nope, I’m not talking about Christmas time. I’m talking about

EXAM TIME!!!  :-0

Yep, that holiday favorite - the end of semester exams - are fast approaching for many college students.

Which of course mean less time for sleep and increased stress and anxiety.

Just a wonderful time of year

So along with the age old exam comes the age old question:

Is cramming worth the effort?

Well, that depends on who you ask:

Most research has proven that cramming is useful for memorizing data and is stored in the short-term memory.

BUT…cramming does not build lasting memory connections to what you’ve studied.

So if you’re only interested in the grade and not the lesson to be learned, then go ahead and burn that midnight oil.

But if you really want to grasp and retain the material, try studying and regular reinforcement of ideas through repetition.

That will help build those little neural connections in the brain that help you recall and understand what you’re recalling.

OK, so now that I’ve preached about how cramming is not good, I’m sure most students will do it anyway.

So now I guess I’ll give you some tips on how to improve your chances on those tests:

But I’ll cover that in my next post…:-)

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online degree programs psychology | MOre on Northwestern’s first online Master’s degree

Posted by bposton on December 5th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

First, a correction. Northwestern’s Medical Informatics degree program is developed with the Feinberg School of Medicine. The program is being offered through Northwestern’s School of Continuing Studies.  This is the first joint development between NU and the Feinberg School of Medicine.

Sorry for my confusing statement on the first post :-0

Anyway, the school is using some great new technology.
The program will use streaming video, chat rooms and Webex online meeting services, which are now available due to the rapid development of Internet technology in the past decade.

SCS Associate Dean of Academics Linda Salchenberger said the program will use videoconferencing so faculty and students can schedule Web meetings to discuss interesting or challenging topics, work on a group project or even review for an exam.

The fact is that these emerging distance education technologies have become more reliable, and they now use broadband Internet rather than traditional communication lines.

And they are now much more accessible to anyone who has access to the Internet.

The school will try to keep the course fun and exciting over the Internet, but of course that requires a lot of work with faculty and students.

For example, last year the SCS moved from a semester system to NU’s quarter system so administrators could work with faculty in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Communication.

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online degree programs psychology | Northwestern and SCS announce their first online Master’s degree

Posted by bposton on December 5th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

Northwestern University has announced their first online master’s degree program.

It’s called the Medical Informatics degree program and it will be offered through the School of Continuing Studies beginning next quarter.

This will be a program to train healthcare and information technicians on how to transfer hospital data to electronic form.

This also represents the first full academic initiative between the two schools.

The new online degree program is just one of the steps the School of Continuing Studies (SCS) has taken recently to increase its emphasis on distance education.

And their changes are a reflection of the growing trend accross the country towards online distance education as new technologies replace come on line to replace the traditional classroom experience.

There have been a number of attempts at some universities to develop distance education projects, but many have “gone bust” due to insufficient funds and lack of student interest, said Thomas Gibbons, dean of the School of Continuing Studies.

So SCS looked at where other colleges failed and how others have been been doing well.

As a result, they developed this program with newer, more reliable technology.

More to come:

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online degree programs psychology | More about SUNY’s tuition increase

Posted by bposton on December 5th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

OK, so some more facts on SUNY’s request from taxpayers.

Bit of Trivia - SUNY enrollment is 424,000 students state-wide.

Not only did they request $2.2 billion more in operating aid from the state, the trustees are also asking for $751.6 million more in construction and maintenance, $142.7 million for SUNY’s three hospitals and $56.9 million for the community colleges.

What’s the timing on all this?

Well, the Trustees passed their budget and that’s the first step in their efforts to gain support from the governor and lawmakers.

Now NY Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer is working on the 2007-08 spending plan and will recommend his plan to the lawmakers in late January or early February. Then the Legislature has until April 1 to pass a budget.

So anything can happen between now and then. Some say that there is a strong possibility SUNY’s request could be cut.

The SUNY budget plan includes a $116.8 million spending hike for continuing its existing programs and covering increases in salary and benefits and energy costs.

And there’s an additional $123 million in the plan that would pay for new initiatives to:

- Prepare for an expected increase of 5,600 students at its four-year campuses.

- Implement an online degree-tracking program to make academic advising more effective and help students complete degrees on time.

- Increase graduate-level stipends and tuition assistance to attract the “best and brightest” doctoral students.

- Raise the state’s portion of community-college funding by 7.6 percent, to $2,717 per student.

- Increase the three SUNY hospitals’ state operating subsidies by a total of $2.9 million.

- Provide additional funding for the handful of SUNY colleges with fewer than 2,000 students.

- Give the four statutory colleges Cornell University runs for SUNY and the fifth statutory college, the College of Ceramics at Alfred University, an additional $34.8 million.

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online degree programs psychology | SUNY looks to increase tuition

Posted by bposton on December 4th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

SUNY (State University of New York) trustees plan to for the NY state governor and Legislature to approve a plan to raise tuition for each new incoming class, starting in 2008.

ARGGGH - I hate any news about tuition increases…:-(

Anyway, their plan to increase tuition be based on an index would be tied to an inflation.

I guess the good news is that they’re not planning to raise it until 2008.

But the taypayers of New York probably don’t think that’s good news. That’s because SUNY is requesting 12.1 percent more in taxpayer money for the 64-campus system next year.

However their plan to tuition increases is somewhat eaiser to digest when you learn that tution would would be the same for the length of a student’s degree program, which is a policy SUNY has been seeking for three years.

SUNY leaders’ rationale for raising tuition for each new class is it would prevent sudden large tuition hikes and enable students and families to better plan for financing a SUNY education.

Not a bad idea, in my opinion.

But again, it’s just a plan - it’s not been approved yet.

And speaking of hikes - the last tuition increase at SUNY was a 28 percent increase in the fall of 2003, to $4,350, where it has remained.

Yikes! what a Hike!

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