The Online Degree Dorm Room

Associate Online Degree Programs | Are we really non-traditional?

Posted by bposton on November 26th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

I really dislike the “labels” that some people give others.

One “label” I really don’t like is the label called non-traditional…the one that all of us in the online degree dorm room seem to get.

That’s because everyone beleives that we’re not the typical college student.

Well, that may be true, but here’s what the latest Sloan Foundation report found:

There’s a lot of information to suggest that online degrees appeal to a different type of student from those who go with face-to-face classroom instruction. 

Online students tend to be older, and often hold additional employment and family responsibilities, as compared to the more traditional student.

OK - you got me - that description fits me to a T

However, do those differences mean that online students are taking different types or levels of courses or are they studying at different types of institutions?

Accord to the study, the the general population of online students is a close match to the overall higher education student body, but the mix of schools where they study is not.

Students getting their degree online, like the overall student body, are overwhelmingly undergraduates.  And the amount of graduate-level students is a little higher in online education relative to the overall higher education population.

Now, who was it that said online eduction is not for undergrads? A dean from Stanford, I beleive. - HA! - take that, Stanford!

One difference the study did find is that online undergrads are more likely to be studying at Associates institutions than are their face-to-face contemporaries.

More on that later…

Ben

No Comments »

Engineering Degree Online | Community College Student Leaders Drop POA

Posted by bposton on November 11th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

I just heard that the student trustees of the Orange Coast Community College in Costa Mesa, CA voted the other day to drop the Pledge of Allegiance from their meetings.

The vote came after an intense meeting during which one POA supporter called the leaders anti-American radicals.

3 of the 5 trustee board members voted for the pledge to be dropped from their meetings.

One of those voting for dropping the pledge argued that the pledge inspires nationalism, violates the separation between church and state with the phrase “under God,” and is irrelevant to the business of student government.

He used a evidence for his claim a 2002 San Francisco federal appeals court ruling that the pledge is unconstitutional when recited in public schools.

Sorry my friend, but that ruling was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

There were several students attending the meeting to support keeping the pledge. One of them waved an American flag and accused the board of “radical views and anti-Americanism.”

I guess that’s just another topic that doesn’t come up in my online classes

Ben

No Comments »

Engineering Degree Online|Is there a nurse in the house?

Posted by bposton on November 2nd, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

Check this out.

As of the fall of next year, the Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences (FHCHS) will no longer have a RN-BSN degree program on campus.

Why? Because they’re moving the entire program online!

In fact, students already enrolled in on-campus courses will be transitioned into the RN-BSN degree online program and as of the Fall 2007 term, no on-campus BSN courses will be offered. All future enrollments will be only for the RN-BSN degree to their online program.

The online RN-BSN program began in 2004 with 26 students, and has grown to 369 students.

The program helps working professional Registered Nurses (RNs) attain the education necessary to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. Students enrolled in the program live in communities as close as Orlando and as far away as Okinawa, Japan.

Dr. Nancy Haugen, Chair of the Department of Nursing had this to say about this change in their offering:

“The number of students who are choosing the online program really shows how valuable the flexibility of learning at home is to nurses trying to balance personal and professional obligations. With this in mind, we feel it is important to focus our attention on developing the online program.”

So, score one for the online degree program!

Ben

No Comments »

Engineering degree online : Are these the best schools with online programs?

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

“America’s Best Colleges,” a publication of U.S. News & World Report, recently ranked the following among the best in the nation.

These schools are also associated with University Alliance Online. They’re one of the largest providers of online degree and certificate programs from the nation’s leading universities:

Villanova University

University of Notre Dame

Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business

Thunderbird - The Garvin School of International Management

University of South Florida

Regis University

Florida Institute of Technology

The University of Scranton

Saint Leo University

Jacksonville University.

U.S. News & World Report puts out “America’s Best Colleges” every year. There’s alot of detail that goes into the rankings such as school catagory and mission (are they a research university or liberal arts college) and location (North, South, Midwest and West). THen they gather for each school in about 15 areas related to academic excellence such as peer assessment, retention and graduation of students, etc. etc, etc.

So are these the best online programs? I can’t say that for sure, because each one has their own strengths and weaknesses. The best thing to do is look at each one and find out if it has the right program for you.

Ben

No Comments »