INSTRUCTIONS - MICHELE

Blog #1, #2 & #3 are all from peer reviewed sources. I have copies of all of the articles and the websites are posted. Blogs #4, #5, & #6 are from informal sources.

Blog #6 - Online Degree Programs Take Off

Blog #6

Online Degree Programs Take Off
As More Schools Embrace Web-Based Courses, More Students Log On to Expand Their Education While They Work

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/15/AR2006051501496_pf.html

By Lois Romano
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 16, 2006; A06

SUMMARY

In our ever changing world people are becoming busier. The expenses needed to raise a family have increased. People are learning how to multi-task…even men. Part of this evolution is because of online learning. Distance learning allows people to earn degrees while completing all of life’s other challenges.

Angela Bostic is a perfect example of how a student has adapted to this new world. She has never come face to face with a professor or sat in a college desk. All of her classes have taken place online.

She is one of many students who had adopted this new lifestyle. Numbers say that student enrollment in online courses has jumped from 1.98 million to 2.35 million in one year.

Some criticisms of online learning involve bogus degrees. It is taxing to perform all the research needed to find out if a distance course is actually coming from an accredited institution. Most people just take their chances assuming that something like that would not happen to them.

The University of Phoenix is the winner in the distance education race so far. Heavy advertising has pushed this particular University to the top of the list. Their classes are supposedly no joke. If you want a degree they make you work for it!

The majority of distant students are between the ages of 24 and 50. Most have jobs and families. The supposed mentality of older students involves a “need” to further their education, not a want. Students like these act as if they are not in school because they are trying to please their parents or guardians. Professors claim that students with this idea about learning are wonderful to teach.

The idea of distance learning is slowly being accepted as “real”. It is very important to find out whether the school being attended online is accredited. One program awarded 229 degrees to various students. None of them could take the bar exam because the American Bar Association did not recognize their degrees. Easy come…easy go…

REVIEW

I have a friend who began taking classes out of the University of Phoenix. She saw a commercial and decided that distance learning would be a lot easier than actually going to classes. After the first two classes she dropped out. She said that she did not have the self discipline it took to do that much work on her own.

She has not yet fallen into that “I am doing this because I need to” category. So far, the majority of people I know who have gotten their masters degree are teachers. Most admit that they have acquired their degrees because they had to…not because they wanted to. I agree…

Distance learning supposedly puts self discipline to the test. I am not there yet.

Blog#5 - Diploma Mills

Blog #5 - Ivory Tower Rip Offs - How Online Degree Mills Work

Stacy Schreiber

http://www.elearners.com/resources/diploma-mills.asp

SUMMARY

Diploma mills are apparently a new industry in today’s world. Since the growth of the internet, money hoarders now have a nearly free way to advertise a bogus campus, classes and student population. Our system supposedly lacks regulation in the “university” area. The rules are not specified as to what defines an institution and what doesn’t so people who would probably make better lawyers than crooks, find the loop holes and pull them to their maximum.

There are two types of diploma mills. The first type involves the student attending low quality, disorganized online classes. The other type basically sells the student a degree with his or her name on it.

A diligent student named Margaret Chester found a degree that seemed too good to be true…because it was. She enrolled in a program at Columbia Pacific University. She created her curriculum, her pace and her own assignments. In the beginning she wrote numerous papers and received good grades from her mystery teachers. Eight thousand dollars later, she was up to the point in her degree where she had to write a dissertation. She sent proposals to her fictitious support staff and they were rejected many times. Margaret did a little bit of digging and found out that her school was operating without the appropriate state approval, she withdrew.

Columbia State University was “busted”. The alumni who had received bogus degrees were informed. Some included people who worked in the White House…isn’t that comforting. More than one million dollars per month was being stolen from the student population.

Of the many survival tactics these school use to proliferate, the most popular tactic is the use of religion. Separation of church and state allow the schools to remain unchallenged. Bogus schools claim religious affiliation that often put any questions to rest.

Students can protect themselves from this by conducting thorough research before enrolling in any programs that sound too good to be true. Schools should be accredited by the appropriate officials. Asking lots of questions is also another great way to sniff out any inconsistencies.

REVIEW

For the amount of work I have put into my undergraduate degree and my masters, I think I would have a coronary if someone told me that my degree was bogus. I am still old fashioned in the respect that I do not trust these so called online classes.

I want to see my teachers and know that they are real people. I want to see my classmates as well. Though socially, these aspects can be challenging at times (given that I am a complete introvert), it is still worth it to know that I am working with real people.

Finally, if something seems too good to be true it probably is. I have better faith in the human senses. People know when they are being conned. They just need to be more confident and trust their instincts.

As for those people who claimed to not know that their degree was fake, I don’t believe them. I am sure that at some point, these people were the slightest bit suspicious of what was really going on. Getting a phony degree was just the easy way out,

Blog #4

Blog #4 – How and Why I Chose Kaplan University

Stacy Schreiber

http://community.elearners.com/blogs/kaplan_management_degree/archive/2007/04/05/How-and-Why-I-Chose-Kaplan-University.aspx

Anonymous (This man’s picture is on the website but he failed to mention his name)

SUMMARY

Here is an eyewitness account of a student who went “back to school”. This 30 year old business man (who omitted his name) felt the need to continue his education in order to move forward in his job. Reluctant to go back and attend university classes after never having attended them before, he investigated some online options.

When he began this process, distance education was just starting to spread throughout the United States. Instead of attending classes at the University of Texas, this future student was afraid that committing to a university life would seriously affect his job as well as his marriage. There was no other option than to take a chance with the “new” distance education.

He had heard about diploma mills (so-called universities that cheat students out of their money to give them a bogus degree). Legitimacy was key here. After hearing comments and opinions from friends about how hard they worked for nothing, this man made no decisions quickly.

After sampling online classes in two accredited schools, his opinions were bleak. He described the classes as “fragmented” and “chaotic”. He withdrew from the classes without any credits to show for it.

In this particular situation, this man found that the Kaplan program suited him best. His degree program was planned. The online environment was structured and the classes were well paced. The curriculum was demanding, but orderly.

This student is just finishing his degree with a 3.6 GPA to show for it. The best part about his experience is that he claims to have enjoyed it.

REVIEW

This man claims that structure is the most important factor to any distance learning environment. He said that the first two programs he tried were nationally and regionally accredited, yet disorganized and chaotic. How could this be?

In my opinion, distance learning programs do not receive that kind of accreditation if they are not good. How could a nationally recognized online learning program be this way?

Either this man had to become accustomed to such a change from his previous life and used those programs as ice-breakers or the people who are responsible for giving the programs that kind of credit are not doing their jobs properly.