Online Universities Weblog

Online college is often the best option for adult learners seeking to complete their college degrees. In addition to the scheduling flexibility offered by online schools, students are generally able to earn their degrees faster when studying online.

Many adults already have college credits at more than one school. Several online degree programs will allow these credits to be counted towards a diploma – shaving months or even years off the time required to graduate.

My latest About.com article explains how adult learners can finish their degrees by enrolling in online programs. Here's a blurb:

"You may decide to keep your original major, or you may choose to study something completely different. Keep in mind that if you have a lot of subject-specific transfer credits, choosing a new major may substantially increase the time it takes to earn a degree. Some fast-track college completion programs offer only a limited selection of majors. Generally these majors are in subjects such as "general studies." A degree in such a generic major may not help you when applying to industries that require training in a specific field. However, most jobs that only require a "bachelors degree," should accept generic majors with no problem."

Check out the full article for more advice on degree completion programs.

If you're tired of paying several hundred dollars for textbooks each semester, you may be in luck. The House recently passed a bill to aimed at making college textbooks more affordable. The Stingy Scholar reports:

"The College Opportunity and Affordability Act (H.R. 4137) includes three critical provisions to help students deal with textbook prices. First, it requires publishers to tell faculty the price of textbooks when professors are choosing books for their classes. Publishers often withhold prices from professors, hoping that cost won't factor into their decisions – and students end up paying the price. If publishers put price on the table, professors can consider the cost to students when selecting textbooks…Second, the bill makes publishers sell the parts of bundled textbooks separately…Third, the bill encourages colleges to give students course booklists the semester before the class starts so they can shop around and look for better deals. Students can usually track down lower prices and used textbooks online, but they need to know in advance which books to look for."

When the House meets with the Senate to finalize the education bill, the affordability act just may make it into the final cut. That may result in significantly lower textbooks prices for online college students.

Due to a slight decline in enrollment numbers, many business schools are accepting applicants straight from their undergraduate programs – without any business experience. Online MBA programs are following suit, making it possible for a fresh college graduate to choose from a variety of schools.

Some argue that these open enrollment policies can be detrimental to the inexperienced student. An eLearners.com blogger puts it this way:

"…Would an MBA program really be suitable for someone who has little to no professional experience from which to apply the new knowledge that an MBA imparts? Will these new students have anything at all to offer their peers in the area of applied skills and decision making other than enthusiasm? Of course anyone who has read my blog for any length of time knows that I am a huge proponent of the open enrollment concept by and large but I do not for a second believe that everything that is permissible is also beneficial.

I have found that in my own MBA program I have drawn substantially from my peers in the areas that I am weak. Especially in Economics and Accounting whereas since I have years of experience in management I have had quite a bit to offer my peers along those lines. My classes have largely been filled with representatives from every corner of society, men, women, white, black, poor, rich, experienced, inexperienced, young and old we've had them all. I have read discussion posts in the areas of management (where I am strong) and been able to immediately see a fellow student struggling to apply a real world concept to their own decision making through no fault of their own, they just tend to be inexperienced."

What do you think? Should online MBA programs offer open enrollment or should they limit their courses to those with experience?

eLearners.com recently released a list of the most popular online degrees users searched for on the eLearner's database. According to their recent press release, these were the top online degrees in 2007:

* Business Administration
* Criminal Justice
* Psychology
* early childhood education
* Health Administration
* K-12 Education
* Nursing
* Engineering
* General Education
* Counseling

So, which degrees are going to top the lists in 2008? eLearners postulates that onlne business degrees, online criminal justice degrees, and early childhood education will continue to grow in popularity.

"This data shows online business degrees and online criminal justice degrees continue to be high demand areas of interest among prospective online students. This is not surprising when considering that more than 20 percent of college students get a degree in business, according to the U.S. Department of Education. According to eLearners.com, the supply is there to meet the demand…The fastest growing online degree programs for eLearners.com in 2007 were in early childhood education. From 2006 to 2007, the interest in these online degrees rose 30% percent. This growth is at least partially attributed to the growth in the industry. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the job outlook for teachers is expected to increase by 12 percent between 2006 and 2016, creating about 479,000 new teacher positions."

No one can say for sure which industries will be popular this year, but these observations look like pretty solid estimates.

Many online business schools (as well as traditional business programs) are adding virtual simulations to their curriculum. A new Business Week article explains:

"Online simulations are Internet-based games that allow students to perform tasks such as overseeing operations management of a virtual factory or serving as chief executive of a virtual business and networking with other executives. Professors can track every move students make in these online games and use the data to grade the students and provide feedback on specific skills. Often the online simulations drive competition among students and give them a chance to apply the skills and theories learned in class in a virtual arena similar to a typical workplace.

Companies that are developing the online simulations say they have an inherent advantage over paper-based case studies. "You can read about bicycles, but you won't be a good cyclist until you start riding one," says Samuel Wood, one of the creators of Littlefield Technologies, an online factory simulation, at Stanford Graduate School of Business."

Virtual simulations are a great fit for business programs as they generally do not require a lab setting (unlike subjects such as chemistry). Business Week even postulates that new virtual simulations may win out over the ever-so-popular business school case studies.

Want to attend a regionally accredited online college and earn a bachelors degree in legal studies or wellness/fitness? Take a look at California University of Pennsylvania. A new About.com profile shares details on the school:

"California University of Pennsylvania, part of Pennsylvania's public higher-education system, launched its Global Online campus in 2004. The university offers a variety of online master's degrees and certifications as well as two undergraduate programs. Students are grouped into classes of 30 to 35 that progress through the curriculum in a unified fashion. A free technical helpline is available for students."

Check out the full profile for more information on admissions, tuition, and programs: California University of Pennsylvania Global Online Profile.

Joining the military doesn't mean you have to give up school. Among other colleges, the University of Colorado offers several distance learning degree programs to military personnel. Unlike old-fashioned distance learning programs, many of today's courses are interactive and can be viewed in real-time. Campus Technology reports:

"At the University of Colorado in Boulder, Senior Instructor Emeritus Gerald Mitchell has been using classroom capture technology to provide his remote military students with access to classes and content wherever and whenever they have the time. The program has allowed those students to keep up with classes by tailoring their course time, and thus their education, to the rigorous military schedules they face while deployed overseas.

Mitchell, who is the university's military liaison, has been recording all of his lectures for several years using Tegrity's class capture and playback program, now known as Tegrity Campus 2.0. The software arrangement allows any student in the masters-level interdisciplinary telecommunications program to view and listen to a class lecture later via the Internet. That's especially valuable to military graduate students-generally either captains or majors in the Army Signals Corps, Mitchell said-who may be deployed in locations anywhere in the world. The program, which requires that every student take an assortment of both technical and non-technical courses, results in either a master's of engineering or a master's of science in engineering degree."

If you're in the military and are interested in earning an online degree, be sure to ask about financing. Some soldiers qualify for reduced tuition fees.

Over the past couple years, UMassOnline has created several new online degree programs. Now, they're adding three additional virtual programs to their catalog. A recent UMassOnline press release reports:

"These new program developments," said Gray [the university's CEO], "are a result of our ongoing commitment to remain in the forefront of innovative online offerings in step with extremely high-growth fields. In emerging disciplines where sweeping changes are happening rapidly and the demand for highly educated professionals continues to grow, the most rewarding career opportunities favor those with the most advanced knowledge and best contemporary understanding of the requirements for success."

Fall 2008 applications are not being accepted for the new degree programs which include concentrations in journalism studies, art administration, and health and human services.

Community colleges are known for their open enrollment policies, entry-level courses, and affordable tuition. Now, they're tackling online learning. Virtual learners can choose from thousands of online classes offered by community colleges all over the nation. Some community colleges try to target local students; others generate extra revenue by publicizing their courses across state lines. NWAnews.com reports:

"Millions of college students around the country attend class from living-room sofas, kitchen tables, home offices and even park benches – - part of an ever-escalating trend of attending school online.

The trend is being set largely by community colleges, with their propensity for nontraditional students who need an easier, more flexible way to earn degrees. The number of students taking online classes in Washington has jumped 75 percent in just four years."

Some community colleges offer complete online Associates Degree programs. Others offer a more limited scope of online courses. Many students in online universities and traditional brick-and-mortar colleges have found that taking online community college courses is an easy way to complete missing credits.

If you're a nervous test taker, you may want to enroll in one of Penn Foster's online programs. A student blogger recently shared his testing mishaps over on eLearners.com:

"I'll get a second chance at taking the two exams I failed during my semester one finals for Penn Foster College later this week. The re-take exams for Business Orientation and Principles of Management are scheduled for Wednesday evening.

As I've mentioned before, I ran out of time while taking the Principles of Management exam, but I'm confident I would have passed just fine if I had another 20 minutes to finish the exam. I don't have the faintest idea why I bombed the Business Orientation course. The only thing I can think of is my answer sheet was either lost or wasn't graded. I answered every question on the exam, which is OPEN book."

Not only was this student allowed to take his final exams open book, he was given make up tests when he failed. Plus, the make up tests came with study guides. Rarely can you find a college with such lenient final exam policies.