Online Degree NewsBriefs

From Our Online Learning Blog

1/2/08
Great Site With Free Education Content
Here's a great blog/site dedicated to using the tons of free information out there in the web to create an open culture that has some real educational value. It's two guiding lights, Dan Coleman and Ed Finn, are both involved in Stanford University and have lots of editorial credits. Oculture has everything from tech tips to podcasts on whether or not Hannibal really crossed the Alps - all of which you can download to your iPod. One section of the site offers over 75 university courses on Biology, Religion and just about every other imaginable subject. Happily, along with all the free podcasts available here, there' s also a very useful page on how to actually download or access a podcast through rss for the uninitiated. Oculture makes a great case that, along with all the junk out there, there is also a rich repository of learning you can use on the web - if you have someone who can lead you to it.

11/14/07
What If Online Learning Isn't Just As Good As Classroom Learning, But Actually Better?
Two educators have written a new book that says students aren't really interested in "lecture hall learning," and that online courses can actually engage them better - if they're done properly.

11/8/07
Blind Student Earns Online MBA Degree
This story is a testament to the human spirit and to the potential reach of e-learning. 53 year old Lonzo Hall will soon finish an MBA degree online at Virginia College. It might be unremarkable, except for the fact that Mr. Hall is blind. A combination of special computer equipment and cutting-edge software have helped him get through the advanced business courses online. Hall says it is “amazing” how much technology can help a disabled person with their education today. Experts add that the online learning environment may be a real advantaged to disabled students, who might otherwise feel uncomfortable in a live classroom.

11/7/07
College Students Tell Professors To Bug Out Of Their Facebook And MySpace
It seems like one of the guaranteed ways for a college professor to be “cool” these days is to write something about how he or she is using Second Life or some other Web 2.0 app to get into students heads. Well, it looks like the students may not think it’s that cool at all. In fact, in a recent British study, college students said loud and clear that they are irritated by teachers trying to horn in on their favorite websites, particularly Facebook and MySpace, and that they really don’t like to see academic information there.

11/6/07
Distance Learning Grows and Size And Quality
Take a look at the Christian Science Monitor’s update on the growth in online degrees and distance learning. Its author once taught online classes at Brandeis. It’s not just the number of people taking online courses that’s growing, he says, the ways they’re studying is changing too. Among the interesting innovations is the use of Skype to help foreign language students practice by conversing regularly with native speakers.

11/5/07
You Can’t Be Too Young For Distance Learning
One company thinks that even the youngest learners are ready to pursue e-learning. Teachscape Inc. is now offering a new series of courses to help teachers get ready to train pre-kindergarten kids on the literacy skills they will need to be ready for school. Meanwhile, some older kids – aged eight to fourteen – have told researchers that they’re dying to take online courses. Only 7% have actually tried online learning, but over 40% want to engage in distance learning before they finish high school.

11/1/07
Online Professors Interviewed
Check out this blog for updates on what online professors think needs to be done to make their classes and their technology work better. Today’s post is with a Duke expert who works on online degrees for adult and corporate students.

10/30/07
Canadians Love Distance Learning Even More Than Hockey!
OK, they may not love it that much. But they’re sure using online education a lot these days up north, particularly in farming areas where it’s a long, long drive to the nearest school. A new report says that one university in Alberta is not teaching more than 32,000 students online, and that more than one-quarter of all adults in Canada are using the web for some kind of education. Most are adults getting online degrees to advance in their current careers.

10/30/07
One Professor’s Techniques For Adding The Human Touch To Distance Learning
This teacher, who also happens to be editor of eLearn, is pretty smart about getting closer to her e-learining students. She can’t look in her online students’ eyes to tell if they’re paying attention, nodding at what she says or watching birds outside the classroom window, but she’s invented some good techniques to get to know her distance learners better. The ancient telephone, surprisingly, is a good tool in this world of online degrees.

10/29/07
The Kaplan / Concord Law School Creates Opportunities for Online Law Degrees
Concord Law School has been merged into Kaplan University now has a law school. It’s an interesting move by Kaplan to open up opportunities for government financial aid to online law degree students, but also to push back a bit on the American Bar Association’s general resistance to online legal degrees.

10/29/07
You Are Not Alone: Professors Are Also Confused About Online Degrees
A fascinating story turned up today about a college professor who got into some hot water because she got a Ph.D. online from a school that’s considered “substandard” bu the Higher Education Coordinating Board in Texas, where she now teaches college. She spent a pile of money and says she did a ton of work to get a Phd degree in psychology online that her current employer, Lamar University, can’t accept. Luckily, she was actually hired for her current teaching job on the basis of another degree she got at an approved one. If she had been hired because of her unacceptable online degree, she could have not only lost her job but also could have been charged with a misdemeanor.

10/28/07
Good Video By A Teacher Explaining His Online Degree Course
To see a little of what you can expect in a distance learning class, have a look at this 5-minute video by professor, introducing his class on “Coastal Management.” Expectations on participating in class, posting good comments on the school website and his grading system are included.

10/27/07
A Video on College Kids’ Attitudes Toward Their Classes
It’s almost Halloween, so here’s a really scary video made by Kansas State U. students about how valuable they think their high-priced college education is. Generally, they don’t see much value at all. They don’t read much, love to waste all day messing around online rather than doing schoolwork, and don’t think teachers offer anything that will impact their lives. If it’s all such a waste of time, you may ask, why don’t they leave school and do something else. Uh, that would mean working, right?

10/27/07
You Might Want To Learn How To Read Before Going To College
This news isn’t good. The U.S. Department of Ed now says that 40% of kids coming into American colleges need at least one “remedial” course before they can start doing college course work. Little wonder that companies like Blackboard, public universities and government online learning groups are trying to offer more college courses available online to high school kids, in hopes they will improve their “educational preparedness” before they enter higher learning.

10/25/07
According To Capella, the Career Ops Are Now In Education, Gerontology
and Security Management If you want to know where the jobs are, keep an eye on where the major e-learning schools are launching new online degree programs. Capella, the teaching giant based in Minnessota, has just created new degree courses online in Gerontology (caring for the elderly), Early Childhood Education and Security Management. Taking care of old people, teaching very young kids and fighting terrorists are all clearly growth areas. Most of these new programs are for people already working in these areas, who want more advanced skills to get career promotions.

10/24/07
Is There A Limit To How Far Distance Learning Can Grow?
Private colleges and state universities alike are investing big dollars in creating online learning centers. The ones that got in early have already made millions of dollars and attracted tens of thousands of students through it. But now a study from the highly respected Sloan Foundation has put out a report saying that distance learning in America grew just 9.7% last year. While people in most industries would break out the champagne to celebrate that kind of growth, online degree centers see it as weak, given that their growth in the previous year was a whopping 36.5%. It will be interesting to see if online learning can keep growing fast enough to support all the investment that’s being made in it by the private and for-profit schools.

10/23/07
Sloan Awards Single Out America’s Top Online Learning Professionals
The Sloan Consortium has named it’s 20078 crop of leading professors, administrators and schools in the distance learning field. Among the winners: Michelle Pacansky-Brock of Sierra College, for her work in improving online art programs, Maryland Online, for general excellence in developing faculty and programs and St. Petersburg College and Stevens Institute of Technology, who shared and award for best teaching and online learning program.

10/22/07
Another Battle In The War Over Illegal Student Loan Practices
Ever since Andrew Cuomo, New York State’s Attorney General, went after college financial aid offices for taking illegal gifts from student lenders, the colleges have started shutting them out. But now a new group of money-pushers is jumping in, with TV ads and other direct marketing materials to get at students directly. MyRichUncle and other lenders are spending lots of money to pull in college kids who need to borrow. That’s brought new scrutiny from Mr. Cuomo, who complains that LendingTree.com’s claim that it lets multiple banks compete for your student loan business is a cover for a system that actually pushes all students to a single lender. Whether you’re getting an online degree or a traditional education, it’s a good idea to watch out for predatory lenders.

10/19/07
Companies Get Comfortable With Spending On Distance Learning
A hospital in Florida is making a special arrangement with an online training company to send more of their employees to distance learning. The hospital is enjoying a volume discount under this arrangement, but would never go through with it if they were not confident in the quality of online degrees. American companies are now spending over 100 billion dollars on employee training, so expect more of them to get involved in e-learning.

10/19/07
Louisiana Online Students Choose For-Profit Phoenix Over The State University’s
The University of Phoenix is finding that Louisiana likes it. Students are signing up much more rapidly for UOP’s online courses than they are for the University of Louisiana’s. It may be because Phoenix has spent longer learning the customer service skills that help draw in adult learners online.

10/17/07
How Green Was My Online Degree?
Learn the shocking truth: online study uses far less energy and actually produces far less carbon dioxide than classroom based courses. At least that’s what this fun entry from a writer in the UK claims. Who knew the online degrees were environmentally correct?

10/16/07
Don’t Make Your Online Degree More Expensive With A Bad Tax Strategy
If you need to borrow money for e-learning (or traditional college classroom study for that matter) you’ll want to be aware that some approaches to borrowing can cost you a lot less in taxes. Here’s good advice on paying for you education from an expert.

10/16/07
Online Christian Education And The Open Intellect
Christian education via the web is growing rapidly. This representative of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary says that a religious degree should not mean closing your intellect off to the wider secular world. Learn how religious groups are getting smarter about online degrees and study programs.