We did a little research about online colleges and universities, to find out which ones seem to be the most conscious of the fact that adult learners need flexibility in their graduate degree programs. After all, grownup students usually have jobs, spouses and often even kids to take care of. Here’s a look at which schools have masters and other advanced degree programs designed with the adult learner in mind.

If you’re going to school online, Congress wants to horn it’s way into your living room, bedroom or wherever else you take your tests. Hidden deep in the new bill that renews the Higher Education Act for next year is a provision that requires schools to prove that the person who signs up for a course online is the same person who does the work. While this sounds reasonable, and could conceivably provide relief to some online students who must now travel to schools to take tests, it kicks the door open to all sorts of potential invasions of privacy. Not surprisingly, Congress is once again flaunting how utterly clueless it is about the Internet and technology in general. Although several vendors are developing cameras or fingerprint technologies meant to authenticate test takers, none of them are really proven, and it hardly seems desirable that their little devices should be forced into your home. Welcome to another federal education law requiring something — and providing zero financial help or technical instruction from the government on how to actually do it. Read More

Another blogger – this one on Inside Higher Ed’s website – commented a few days back that students shouldn’t be able to have laptops in classrooms because it simply distracts them from the teacher. Well, to see the comments this idea drew from readers, you can clearly argue this either way. Students and other professors chimed in with choice statements like:
“If you are a hopeless bore, banning notebooks won’t help you.”
“I don’t allow laptops in my classroom either. If you want to be entertained, do it on your own time.”
“Yes, technology can, and does, destroy important knowledge/social skills…”
“This has GOT to be one of the most stupid ideas I’ve heard of in all my ‘educational’ and ‘business’ life…”
Check out the blog post and the rather passionate replies about banning laptops in college classrooms.

Most articles about online learning tend to focus on chat rooms or other portal-type setups as the main tool that students use to communicate with the professor and with each other. But here’s an interesting article by a professor at the University of Hong Kong, about how blogs (set up in this case on Xanga) have proved to result in much more student communication. After setting up a blog at the beginning of the course, students are required to write minimum 200-word entries on a regular basis. But the students enjoy blogging so much that they tend to write far more. Additionally, they like to comment on each other’s blog posts, and on the blog posts done by the professor. The result is a kind of “instant social network” build around a single university class. Read More Here.

Read our overview here at “The Distance Learner.”

An interesting study shows that a certain kind of person will do particularly well as a distance learning student. Being self-directed and capable of putting aside distractions are two of the key traits. Read More

Here’s a useful article about a Dean of Washington University in St. Louis, who gives good, straightforward tips to adult learners who want to add to the education they already have with an online degree. Deciding realistically if the schoolwork will fit into your life, and then having a good conversation with the admissions office and your potential professors about what’s expected of you is a good place to start. Read more of a dean’s advice for online students.

If you read publications for academics like The Chronicle of Higher Education, it becomes pretty clear over time that there’s a big guard of traditional-minded professors in our colleges and universities who absolutely hate online learning. It makes sense. Beyond the legitimate questions that exist about the quality of elearning, there’s no doubt that it poses a big threat to power of professors to control the curriculum. That’s because distance learning is such a big business that college marketing departments stick their noses into every aspect of it more than with traditional classes. Nonetheless, there is a slow-rising tide of faculty voices saying that online learning isn’t just as good as the traditional class – it may actually be better. Check out this NPR story about a University of Illinois professor conducting an online writing class. The reporter observes that: “at second glance, there’s something else here not seen in a regular college class: All of the students are paying attention and all are engaged.” The professor agrees, noting that the students in her online class have a tremendous level of engagement - not just with her, but with each other, all in real time. Read More

It should be easy to take a quick look around the web, look back at your notes or even email another student to get an answer you don’t know when you’re taking a test in a distance learning course, right? No exactly. Even though the professors can look over your shoulder while you’re filling in test answers, the top elearning schools have developed some pretty smart ways of keeping students honest. Giving several versions of a test at one time and having students work through portals that prevent web surfing, cutting and pasting and other functions are just a few of the latest tricks. Read More…

A study by Worcester Polytechnic Institute paints an interesting picture of the typical distance learning student in the well-known tech school. Not surprisingly, 75% of WPI’s online learners are male. 77% are employed and most are taking courses to advance their careers. Most students are attending the school on a part-time basis, but 83% are signed up for a specific certificate or degree program, rather than just taking individual classes. Read More