The Online Degree Dorm Room

Do I need an IPhone to be a Gator?

Posted by bposton on July 4th, 2009 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

OK, since my daughter (and a lot of my money) when to the University of Florida, when I read this story, I just had to pass it along to all my dorm room buddies…

Looks like UF announced recently that for students enrolling in one of it’s programs would be required to own either an IPhone or Ipod Touch. It seems that UF is the second university to require the Apple product.

According to information on the College of Pharmacy website, all students entering UF’s PharmD students must “have a iPod touch (or iPhone) and a computer meeting minimum UF and College of Pharmacy (COP) requirements,” 

Now, don’t get me wrong, UF is a great school (in my humble opinion ). It’s usually ranked in the top 10 every year by US News and World Report. The school began offering its Doctor of Pharmacy online degree program way back in 1994, and now, according to the school, this program has become one of the sought after pharmacy programs around. 

But, an IPhone? Give me a break. Why do I have to go out and get an Iphone (and subscribe to AT&T’s lousy service to boot)?

Sure, health care is one of the more recession proof career paths out there, and evidently, Apple’s developers have added a ton of software apps like medical reference applications, blood glucose monitor accessories, and the like. But why make it required?

UF is the second school to post this type of requirement. Last May the University of Missouri said that beginning this fall, all of its journalism students will be required to own an iPhone or iPod touch.

So what’s going on? Well, a little research uncovered that UF later announced that they would not actually enforce the requirement, and that they only listed it so that students would have an idea of what to budget for in their estimates of financial need.

What? Students actually budget?

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online degree programs psychology | Oh my gosh, were has the time gone??

Posted by bposton on August 15th, 2007 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

Sorry everyone, but it’s WAY to long since I posted to this blog.

I sincerely apologize, but many, many, many other things got in the way, both personal and otherwise. I know it’s no excuse, but…

I’m BACK

And I really hope to “resurrect” this blog. I may not be posting as much as I was before, but, I’ll certainly try.

Thanks for your patience:

So, off we go again:

Here’s a very recent press release from Cappella about some new online degree programs they are offering

Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) August 2, 2007 — Capella University, an accredited online university based in Minneapolis, today introduced a new Education Specialist (EdS) online degree program, as well as a Master of Science in Public Health. Twelve new graduate and undergraduate specializations are also being launched in such fields as emergency management, retail management, school counseling, educational leadership, health information management, human resource management, information security, and project management. Enrollment is now open, with classes beginning fall quarter 2007.

“With the addition of the EdS degree, Capella can offer teachers and administrators an intermediate degree between our master’s and PhD degree programs,” said Harry McLenighan, dean of Capella’s School of Education. “We think it’s important to provide an EdS option for people who want education beyond their master’s degree, but currently don’t want to pursue a doctoral degree.” Specializations available within the EdS program include Curriculum and Instruction, and Leadership in Educational Administration. Capella is one of the few online universities to offer a state-approved specialization in Leadership in Educational Administration.

 We think it’s important to provide an EdS option for people who want education beyond their master’s degree, but currently don’t want to pursue a doctoral degree.  
Capella’s new MS in Public Health is designed to meet the growing need for public health workers, a field in danger of losing a substantial percentage of its work force to retirement. A 2004 report by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the Council of State Governments (CSG) predicted public health retirement rates as high as 45 percent over the succeeding five years and noted public health vacancy rates of up to 20 percent in some states. New specializations offered as part of the MS in Public Health degree include Health Management and Policy, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. The MS in Public Health program is part of Capella’s School of Human Services, which is also launching a new School Counseling specialization within its MS in Human Services program.

Capella’s School of Business and Technology is launching five new specializations, including a Human Resource Management specialization within its Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, and a Health Information Management specialization within its MS in IT program. The school’s PhD in Information Technology program has two new specializations, Project Management, and Information Security, and the PhD in Organization and Management program also has a new Project Management specialization. Capella now offers six Project Management specializations, allowing students at the bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD levels to choose either a business or IT project management focus.

Capella’s School of Undergraduate Studies has announced two new specializations. A new Emergency Management specialization is part of Capella’s BS in Public Safety program. Capella University is currently one of only a few online universities to offer BS, MS, and PhD degree programs in public safety. Capella is also launching a Retail Management specialization within its BS in Business program, designed to address the increasing desire among retailers for college-educated candidates to fill in-store and corporate management positions.

Capella is now accepting enrollment applications for these new specializations. For more information, please call 1-888-CAPELLA (227-3552), option 3, or e-mail info@capella.edu.

Review of the MS in Human Services, School Counseling specialization is pending in AL, AZ, FL, GA, KY, OH, SC, and WA. Review of the MS in Public Health program and the Education Specialist (EdS) program is pending in AZ, FL, GA, KY, MN, SC, and WA. Review of the PhD in Organization and Management, Project Management specialization is pending in AL, AR, AZ, FL, GA, KY, SC, and WA. Review of the PhD in IT, Information Security and Project Management specializations, is pending in AL, AZ, FL, GA, KY, SC, and WA. Review of the BS in Business, Retail Management specialization; BS in Public Safety, Emergency Management specialization; MBA, Human Resource Management specialization; and the MS in IT, Health Information Management specialization is pending in AL, AR, AZ, FL, GA, KY, OH, SC, and WA.

About Capella University:
Founded in 1993, Capella University is an accredited,* online university that offers graduate degree programs in business, information technology, education, health, human services, public safety, and psychology, and bachelor’s degree programs in business, information technology, health, and public safety. Within those areas, Capella offers 101 graduate and undergraduate specializations and 15 certificate programs. The online university currently serves more than 19,000 students from all 50 states and 56 countries. It is committed to providing high-caliber academic excellence and pursuing balanced business growth. Capella University is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Capella Education Company (NASDAQ: CPLA), headquartered in Minneapolis. For more information, please call 1-888-CAPELLA (227-3552).

Capella University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA),
Capella University, 225 South Sixth Street, Ninth Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55402, 1-888-CAPELLA (227-3552)

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online degree programs psychology | The real reason for the lack of online education acceptance

Posted by bposton on December 7th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

OK so you’ve read my posts about what the Sloan report has to say about why 95% of all the CAO’s (Chief Academic Officers) of higher education agree that there big barriers to the odoption of online learning.

But as I delve into the report in more detail, I see what I personally beleive is the biggest reason why this is:

According to the report, over 72% of the CAO’s beleive that online education reaches students not served by face-to-face programs.

Although the report doesn’t confirm it, I beleive that these CAO’s also believe that online education is still best ONLY for those types of students.

What I mean by that is this:

While it is true that the majority of CAO’s beleive that online education is becoming a more critical part of their institution’s long term strategy, I think that they see this growth only for students that can’t take advangtage of face-to-face traditional classroom programs.

Remember, as with all things internet, it begins with a split between the “brick and mortar” world and the virtual world. Then it is later embraced. Think about how Amazon lost money for years and now all the major retailers have an online presence for the typical shopper. Now replace the shopper with a college student…see what I mean?

So these CAO’s think that there is still much more value to the typical college bound student to have the brick and mortar classrooms and the face-to-face instruction than a virtual online class or degree program.

But I think that there are many college bound students, in addtion to the typical “non-traditional” student population, who would love to take online classes rather than cozy up to a smelly dorm room.

Take MySpace and FaceBook as an example. Can’t these be seen as Virtual dorm rooms?

OK so that’s my opinion. Am I right? Don’t know. but it makes sense to me anyway

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online degree programs psychology | More barriers to online education acceptance

Posted by bposton on December 7th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

Here’s another reason why 95% of all the CAO’s (Chief Academic Officers) of higher education agree that there big barriers to the odoption of online learning.

According to the latest Sloan report on online education, professors say that it takes more time and effort to teach online.

My take - well I’m certainly not a professor, and I don’t “profess” to know what they’re doing

But I wonder if some of that is due to the reluctance to accept the technology that would make teaching online easier.

And maybe the professors are ready to accept it, but the college they work for isn’t - maybe due to the cost.

But I also think that there is still this stigma out there with many faculty whenever you say “distance learning” that invokes diploma mills and things of lower statue than a prestigous Ivy League environment.

They beleive that they want and need that face to face interaction on a classroom for their students to be challenged.

I don’t disagree with that thought, I just think that the technology is there that can come very close to replicating that environment. Both to teachers and students.
More to come…

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online degree programs psychology | What are the barriers to online education acceptance

Posted by bposton on December 7th, 2006 — Posted in online degree programs psychology

I don’t know about you, but when 95% of all the CAO’s (Chief Academic Officers) of higher education agree that there big barriers to the odoption of online learning, I sit up and take notice.

That figure is from the latest Sloan report on online education.

So why do so many of the CAO’s out see barriers to the acceptance of distance learning.

I’ll start with the information from the Sloan report, and then some of my own ideas.

According to the Sloan report, two-thirds of the faculty reported that online students need to have better discipline.

My take - well I’m still trying to figure out what that exactly means

you could take it to say that there is a need for more management of student’s activities online, including what actions to take if students abuse the online system, or fail to complete their assignments.

But I think it means that students learning online need to remember that it does take more self-discipline than with a traditional class. I’ve talked about this before. If you’re online you often don’t have a dorm mate telling you to wake up and go to class, for example.

So that’s one reason professors say that there is a barrier to distance education acceptance.

More to come…

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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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