Streamlining financial aid

Via the Washington Post …

The Federal Student Aid office of the Department of Education has awarded a contract to Pearson Government Solutions to merge processes currently under four separate contracts into a single operation. The new contract will cover Student Loan application processing, written correspondence, a call center, and the distribution of funds under the Direct Loan and Pell Grant programs. Mac Curtis, president and chief executive of Pearson, said that students and parents will be able to access the new system online, by e-mail, or through written correspondence. Pearson has won contracts from several other federal agencies recently to develop similar systems, which Curtis referred to as "customer interaction management" systems. A spokesperson from the
Department of Education said the system will "improve customer service through increased self-service opportunities" and will streamline financial aid functions for participating institutions.

Student plagiarism on rise in UK

From the BBC …

A rise in the number of students in the UK, including undergraduates from overseas, is likely to mean increased plagiarism, a report has said.

Colleges and universities are being sent guidelines written by experts in the higher education technology organisation, Jisc.

Pharmacist Degree

Some very good information on pharmacist degrees at Farms College, and the same site's blog noting that two of our highlighted schools here – Ellis College and ITT Technical Institute – both have pharmacy degrees available for online students. Worth checking into if you're possibly considering a degree in this field. All the prospectus materials you can order through our sponsors are free.

On learning management systems

Some thoughtful words at Rodeworks on Learning Management Systems (LMS) from a Yale School of Drama and Capella University online student who is not very happy with WEBCT.

Let me say right upfront that as a student I don't like WEBCT. I just find it to be a very inflexible learning environment. My list of complaints grows every day, mostly around items such as it doesn't auto link web addresses in postings, you can't edit your own posts, and other simple user interface/usability issues. The vexing thing is that the features I expect are standard on most other web-based applications I use, so it seems reasonable to expect them in this environment. A more serious issue is that the WEBCT environment seems to be a series of small boxes. In order to get to see the current discussions, for instance, I need to drill through several levels, and finally reach a point where I can see the detail of just one post. The problem is that I often want to respond based on a couple of prior postings, but can't see them when I am doing my own post. This design might be intended to minimize student confusion, but I find it very limiting, and it makes it difficult to see information in its larger context.For more connections, check this listing of higher education weblogs, it's a good one.

MBA’s a bunch of clowns?

It seems they are, but we could have told you that already. From Inc.com.

Improv, that domain of theater students, has become the latest discipline taught at the nation's top business schools. The goal: to improve listening skills, speech delivery, and responsiveness. At New York University's Stern School of Business, for example, students study the techniques that underlie professional joke-telling. As part of their coursework, they also don featureless face masks to hone their body language, and practice dramatic enunciations of words (so "droooopy," not "droopy") to vivify speech patterns.

Get an online MBA in 14 months

From The City Paper and Distance Educator.

Distance-learning provider American Graduate School of Management (AGSM) finally has its accreditation in hand, and by launching some new graduate MBA programs it hopes to help its Nashville-based parent American Learning Solutions Inc. (ALS) break even financially in 2005.

ALS was founded in 2000 by Rick Oliver, a professor at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management, with an investment from the college's Chancellor Fund.

$500M ed-tech grant slated for elimination

From e-schoolnews.com …

President Bush on Feb. 7 released his 2006 budget proposal, asking Congress to cut more than $1 billion in total education spending and eliminate entirely the $500 million Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) state block-grant program, the primary source of federal funding for school technology.

The massive, $2.5 trillion proposal includes a 1 percent across-the-board reduction for all discretionary spending programs and would earmark $56 billion for the U.S. Department of Education (ED) in 2006, down from more than $57 billion in 2005. If the president's budget is approved by Congress, it would mark the end of five consecutive years of increases in department spending, totaling more than $7.9 billion since 2001.

Student Lives: A blogroll

In my roaming through the online university world, I try to keep tags on what the chatter is out there on weblogs. Here's a nice note from Rob at Dreamweaverguy in Chicago about how he's doing in his Master of Information Systems course through Keller Graduate School of Management.

I got an "A" in my security class, so I'm pretty happy about that. This is for my Master of Information Systems Management degree at Keller Graduate School of Management. I have four classes left to finish my degree, counting the one I'm currently taking.

Also from Illinois, Breanne at Lost in Thought notes her dilemma with not getting a refund of her tuition.

So, One day this week I was at work and I got this disturbing email 13 days before I start my masters program at Keller Graduate school. It said they will not reimburse me for tuition since I have not taken my first class yet (Not grandfathered into the program) and they will not renew this benefit possibly until the year 2006. Needless to say I started sobbing. I was so devistated. I really wanted to go back to school and hence this been the third time I have tried to go back, I was very upset and frustrated. My work basically is running out of money and cutting funds left and right. Next thing you know, the car program will be gone and I will be so majorly screwed since I sold my other car.

Stepping Stones to Corporate Success

From Distance Educator and ameinfo.com.

A survey recently conducted across the region by the world's premier online graduate School Universitas 21 Global, revealed that 84 per cent of the respondents would enroll for an online MBA if offered the opportunity by their employers.

Feds Fighting Phony Online Degrees

From Distance Educator and eSchool News.

Students or adult professionals who turn to the internet for online degrees promising brighter futures in a matter of weeks–or even days–should think twice when presented with offers that appear too good to be true, U.S. Department of Education (ED) officials say.

ED on Feb. 1 unveiled a new web site, intended to crack down on the swath of phony online degrees that have begun cropping up in both private and public sector jobs in recent months.