Is An Online Degree Right for You?

Have you ever considered taking a course or earning your degree online? 

With the ever-changing job market and increasing competition for stable, well-paying jobs, more and more adults are seeking additional education to help them in their current professions or to prepare them for a career change. For people who are working full time, online learning, sometimes referred to as distance learning, can be a great choice. 

Taking courses online enables you to pursue an advanced degree without sacrificing the time you spend with your family or the momentum you have in a career track. Online programs allow learners to take courses when it’s convenient for them. Without set classroom time, learners can work on assignments from home, the office, or on the road — as long as they have access to e-mail and the Internet.

The practicality and convenience of online learning has helped it become a popular choice among busy adults. Currently, there are hundreds of thousands enrolled in online degree programs.  University of Phoenix, the largest accredited university in the United States – and leading online university — helps more than 180,000 working adults achieve their academic and career goals every year.
 
Online learning offers many benefits. Most programs have rolling admissions and courses begin frequently so students can get started quickly. Going to school online means no hurried commute to make it to class in time. Students can log on to their course any time of day. And online programs typically cater to adult learners, so courses focus on material that’s important and practical.

Online Degrees – What You Should Know

Online Degree:
With the advent of the Internet the mode of eductation has changed drastically. From distance education the word has changed to Online Education where the method of teaching has become virtual.

Online Degrees are available all over the Internet from valid accepted Universities to fake Diploma Mills that churn out diplomas without need for anything other than cold hard cash.

While the advantages of the Online Degree providing colleges are many the fact remains that the fake diploma mills are adversely affecting the reputation of the legitimate degree providing colleges.

Legitimate Online Degree College vs Fake Diploma Mills:
Universities and colleges online have to be accredited and the best ones like Phoenix University are, but there are again, the ‘life experience’ degree providers like the Belford University that create fake accreditation agencies and then accredit themselves, causing students looking for shortcuts to believe that these are legit institutes and are merely showing them the way out.

However, when all online degree holders enter the practical world looking for a job carrying their ‘online diplomas’ these fake diploma holders cause the legit degree holders to lose out as potential employers lose faith in the ‘online degrees’ so many of which are useless.

The result is what a study reports, “A Vault.com study reports that 77 percent of hiring managers say that an online degree received through an established university such as Duke or Stanford is more acceptable than a degree earned through an Internet only university like Capella or Jones International.” The assessment may be unfair but with so many fake diploma mills employers are unwilling to take a risk.

Some of the ways in which to identify legit Internet Degree Providers?
• Check accreditation of the online degree at US Department of Education
• Check legitimacy of the Internet University at Council for Higher Education Accreditation
• Write to the Diploma Mill Police that authenticates Internet Institutes of Education.

More on Online Degrees

Too often people leap into registering for an online degree without doing all their research, which often leads to wasted time, excessive costs, and disappointments. Will employers recognize my degree locally? Is there anyway to shorten the length of time it will take me to complete an online degree? Will my credits be transferable? Is it really an accredited school or is it a degree mill? Has anyone else taken this online degree before me?

Before you decide on the college where you want to earn your online degree, you may want to consider where you will eventually be working and where your earned degree will have a better name recognition. Publicly funded and state schools, local to the area of your future employment searches are worth investigating, as they can be less expensive in the long run. This will offer the name recognition that your future employers may be looking for.

If you have done your research and have earned a degree from a reputable, accredited online school your online degree will have the same standing as a degree earned from a typical campus-based one. In fact, for colleges that offer both online and campus-based learning, an online degree is exactly the same as one earned on campus. Nowhere on your degree will it be listed that you received your education online.

Tips for Distance Learners

Are you thinking about enrolling in a distance-learning program?  You need to know what is expected of you before you enroll, and what equipment you need before you get started.  Here are some tips for distance learners:

Tools
Before enrolling in a course, make sure you have access to the tools necessary to complete assignments. A word processor can help you to organize your work and communicate your thoughts more clearly. Access to a fax machine, computer with adequate hard disk space and modem for e-mail transmission are “musts” for many classes.

Schedule
Set aside a regularly scheduled time for study. Schedule your studies for a time when you are mentally fresh and able to devote at least one hour to your work. Think of the hour as “reserved time.” If you miss too many study periods, revise your schedule.

Where to Study
You will find it easier to focus in an appropriate environment for study. Find a place that is free from distractions.

Reading Skills
You must comprehend and retain what you read for real learning to take place. At the end of a study session, review everything you have read, making special notes of important points. Reading a computer screen can be hard on your eyes; it may be necessary to download hard copies of reading assignments and communications from your instructor and coworkers.

Communication Skills
Pay careful attention to instructions and be certain that you understand what is being asked. It often helps to develop a brief outline before responding to questions whether they are submitted in writing, via e-mail, orally, or on video/audio tape. Organization, grammar, and the appropriate style are important whichever medium you choose.

If you stay focused on your program and follow a regular study schedule, you should have success with your distance-learning course.

Tips for Distance Learners

Are you thinking about enrolling in a distance-learning program?  You need to know what is expected of you before you enroll, and what equipment you need before you get started.  Here are some tips for distance learners:

Tools
Before enrolling in a course, make sure you have access to the tools necessary to complete assignments. A word processor can help you to organize your work and communicate your thoughts more clearly. Access to a fax machine, computer with adequate hard disk space and modem for e-mail transmission are “musts” for many classes.

Schedule
Set aside a regularly scheduled time for study. Schedule your studies for a time when you are mentally fresh and able to devote at least one hour to your work. Think of the hour as “reserved time.” If you miss too many study periods, revise your schedule.

Where to Study
You will find it easier to focus in an appropriate environment for study. Find a place that is free from distractions.

Reading Skills
You must comprehend and retain what you read for real learning to take place. At the end of a study session, review everything you have read, making special notes of important points. Reading a computer screen can be hard on your eyes; it may be necessary to download hard copies of reading assignments and communications from your instructor and coworkers.

Communication Skills
Pay careful attention to instructions and be certain that you understand what is being asked. It often helps to develop a brief outline before responding to questions whether they are submitted in writing, via e-mail, orally, or on video/audio tape. Organization, grammar, and the appropriate style are important whichever medium you choose.

If you stay focused on your program and follow a regular study schedule, you should have success with your distance-learning course.

Tips for Distance Learners

Are you thinking about enrolling in a distance-learning program?  You need to know what is expected of you before you enroll, and what equipment you need before you get started.  Here are some tips for distance learners:

Tools
Before enrolling in a course, make sure you have access to the tools necessary to complete assignments. A word processor can help you to organize your work and communicate your thoughts more clearly. Access to a fax machine, computer with adequate hard disk space and modem for e-mail transmission are “musts” for many classes.

Schedule
Set aside a regularly scheduled time for study. Schedule your studies for a time when you are mentally fresh and able to devote at least one hour to your work. Think of the hour as “reserved time.” If you miss too many study periods, revise your schedule.

Where to Study
You will find it easier to focus in an appropriate environment for study. Find a place that is free from distractions.

Reading Skills
You must comprehend and retain what you read for real learning to take place. At the end of a study session, review everything you have read, making special notes of important points. Reading a computer screen can be hard on your eyes; it may be necessary to download hard copies of reading assignments and communications from your instructor and coworkers.

Communication Skills
Pay careful attention to instructions and be certain that you understand what is being asked. It often helps to develop a brief outline before responding to questions whether they are submitted in writing, via e-mail, orally, or on video/audio tape. Organization, grammar, and the appropriate style are important whichever medium you choose.

If you stay focused on your program and follow a regular study schedule, you should have success with your distance-learning course.

Growing Popularity of E-Learning

More students are taking online college courses than ever before, yet the majority of faculty still aren’t warming up to the concept of e-learning, according to a national survey from the country’s largest association of organizations and institutions focused on online education.

Roughly 3.2 million students took at least one online course from a degree-granting institution during the fall 2005 term, the Sloan Consortium said. That’s double the number who reported doing so in 2002, the first year the group collected data, and more than 800,000 above the 2004 total. While the number of online course participants has increased each year, the rate of growth slowed from 2003 to 2004.

The report, a joint partnership between the group and the College Board, defines online courses as those in which 80 percent of the content is delivered via the Internet.

The Sloan Survey of Online Learning, “Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006,” shows that 62 percent of chief academic officers say that the learning outcomes in online education are now “as good as or superior to face-to-face instruction,” and nearly 6 in 10 agree that e-learning is “critical to the long-term strategy of their institution.” Both numbers are up from a year ago.

Researchers at the Sloan Consortium, which is administered through Babson College and Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, received responses from officials at more than 2,200 colleges and universities across the country. (The report makes few references to for-profit colleges, a force in the online market, in part because of a lack of survey responses from those institutions.)

Much of the report is hardly surprising. The bulk of online students are adult or “nontraditional” learners, and more than 70 percent of those surveyed said online education reaches students not served by face-to-face programs.

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