I know you're thinking "There's 30 self-appointed 'experts' who still post at DD and DI."  But this story is about 30 myths, not 30 frauds.

Quote:30 Myths About eLearning That Need To Die In 2013
Posted by Julie DeNeen on Thursday, January 10, 2013

For as long as eLearning has been around, it has been haunted by the voices of those who aim to criticize its authenticity, viability, and quality. But is it true? Do students of traditional institutions boast more success than those who’ve chosen distance learning?

It’s time for some of these myths to die.

1. The technology is unreliable

Every other arena in society- financial institutions, businesses, and government- do not avoid updating their procedures and protocols because of the fear of unreliable technology. The reality is that most distance learning software requires only an Internet connection and a computer. Fancy tools or expensive software has not bogged down eLearning. And for most people, their Internet connection and computer are very dependable.

2. Students don’t get group interaction

In recent years, the amount of social interaction between people has increased. With the explosion of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, many academic eLearning platforms have incorporated this type of software into their courses, giving people the chance to chat, interact, and enabling collaborative learning.

In fact, eLearners have the opportunity to connect with people all over the world; something that a traditional classroom cannot offer.

3. It puts the teaching profession at risk

Computers haven’t replaced people. They simply make it easier for a person to reach a wider audience. The teaching profession will not suffer because of eLearning- quite the contrary- professors have more opportunity to reach students and branch out of their local school to reach the global market.

4. Students are less likely to finish without a teacher overseeing their work

Unmotivated students fail whether a teacher is watching him/her or not. While eLearning does not require a student to be in a certain place at a certain time, it still offers them access to the teacher and other classmates for help and support.

The old saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink,” is applicable to this myth. Students lacking the desire to succeed will fail no matter how robust the program or the teacher. Placing the blame on eLearning is foolish. eLearning is simply the catalyst for delivering information, it cannot be responsible for a student’s work habits.

5. The curriculum is less robust

Have you checked out some of MIT’s open courseware? These classes are exact replicas of the traditional class syllabus. Students who embark on an eLearning class can receive the same instruction as traditional students. The quality of the curriculum is directly related to the instructor who put it together. The method of delivery (in this case digitally) does not affect its quality in any way.

6. There is no way to measure true learning

For years, administrators have tried to figure out ways to measure learning. Is it through exams? Success in the workplace? The ability to reteach the material? This argument is not exclusive to eLearning. Learning is a difficult thing to measure regardless, simply because there are so many different types of learning. But the truth is that eLearning courses have the same tools for measuring success as a traditional classroom.

7. Distance learning is passive

Sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture is quite passive. Those who sign up for eLearning courses must be more engaged because the responsibility is on the student to attend and interact.

It is more intentional to type out a chat response to a teacher during an online class than to get called on in class while you are playing Tetris on your phone in the back of the room. eLearners are set up to be more active because they’ve made the choice to show up to their computer for the class, even when no one is formally taking attendance (that’s not to say that attendance cannot be taken digitally; it can).

8. It shelters students from the real world

The real world is full of computers. The real world is much larger than a campus in a small town. eLearners have the opportunity to interact with people from all over the world. eLearners are more ready for the digital world that we live in because they never leave the real world to get their education.

Editor’s note: Check out article on how online learning prepares students for the real world.

9. You won’t be taken seriously with a distance learning degree

This may have been true a decade ago, but the tides are changing. More and more employers recognize that distance education is proving to be as competitive as a traditional institution.

Many graduates from eLearning classes are more tech-savvy, motivated, and self-taught. Expect to see more and more eLearning colleges and companies pop up as well as an explosion in matriculation. Traditional education will have to make a radical shift to keep up with private companies that don’t have to wade through bureaucratic red tape to bring robust curriculum to the population at a fraction of the cost.

10. Students miss out on extra-curricular activities

The fact is that eLearners have more time for extra-curricular activities! A student doesn’t have to drive to class and he/she can learn on their own timetable. This frees the student up to take an afternoon art class or participate in other activities that would otherwise be impossible because of a bogged down class schedule. It also makes it so that students can help with community projects that may occur during normal school hours.

11. It’ll be harder to find a job without the college alumni connections

No doubt connections are important for job success. It is difficult to re-enter the job world after four years at a traditional institution. Distance learning doesn’t require the person to ever leave the job market.

Education, job training, and networking happen simultaneously. In addition to this benefit, many online courses connect you with people that you would never otherwise meet in a traditional classroom. Since eLearners are filled with people who already have jobs, this means they usually also have connections.

12. eLearning is impersonal

Online classes are still run by real people. People who are available via email, chat, text, or Skype. eLearning is fully customizable. It can work around schedules, handicaps, and other life events that traditional classrooms don’t make room for.

For people who are naturally shy, eLearning might be the perfect opportunity to interact more. It is easier to type a question in a chat box than it is to raise your hand in a large lecture hall.

13. Instructors don’t take distance learning seriously

Yes they do.

In fact, many instructors who go the online route are more invested in their coursework and curriculum because of the possibility of reaching thousands and thousands of people.

The concept of going “viral” has erupted in the last decade and professors want recognition for their expertise just as badly as anyone else. As more eLearning enters the market, the competition will increase and professors will have to put their best foot forward to entice students to enroll.

14. eLearning is for people who are too lazy to go the traditional route

The traditional route to college is littered with problems, not the least of which is finances. College is brutally expensive. Many intelligent and motivated students cannot afford to go. eLearning is not the lazy way out. It may offer a more flexible time commitment, but the student must be fully engaged in the learning process in order to succeed.

15. eLearning is for people who dropped out of school or couldn’t get into college

This is an old label that doesn’t apply to current online learning. In the past, if a high school student dropped out, they might go online to get their GED. But now students are choosing online learning FIRST- because of the flexibility, reduced cost, and the ability to work while in school. Prestigious schools offer many online courses and the degree awarded is just as admirable.

16. Distance learning only benefits one type of learning style

With today’s technology, students can learn through podcasts, videos, lecture notes, slides, text, group discussions, or real world experiments. The instructor and students aren’t limited to a classroom, giving each person the ability to study and grow in a way that suits their particular personality.

17. The technology is too expensive

The technology is largely cheaper than the cost to run a traditional institution. The cost of the software, Internet connection, and computer is a fraction of the cost of just one college level class.

18. eLearning prevents students from learning how to communicate

Online education teaches students how to communicate effectively. With the barrier of a computer screen, questions, discussion, comments, and other engagement must be well thought out, written clearly, and concise. Communication between classmates and their instructor can be as abundant, if not more so than a traditional classroom because of the social networking aspect of the software.

19. There are too many real-world distractions to make eLearning effective

It is true that eLearning classes must contend with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and millions of other digital distractions.

But this is true for the real world. Students must learn how to balance their time, monitor their online habits, and set priorities. A traditional classroom is a bit of a fabricated environment. As soon as that student graduates and gets a job, he/she will have to learn quickly how to juggle the demands of real life and all those distractions.

eLearners must do this from the start.

20. Students need a top of the line computer

Have you seen Google’s Chromebook? It is priced at $249.00. It is a laptop that is ready to go right out of the box and can handle nearly every type of tool and software an online learner would need. Most courseware is through the Internet. Even if the student has a slow Internet connection, Wi-Fi hotspots are all over the place and offer fast connection speeds.

21. eLearners don’t have access to resources that traditional students have

In the past, students at top schools like Harvard and Yale had access to professors and libraries that the general population could not get. But the Internet has changed all of that. Knowledge is free, abundant, and everywhere.

The playing field has been leveled and the “elite” mindset is quickly fading as online courses are boasting huge success with students.

22. eLearning is a trend that will never equal traditional education

The cost of traditional education is outrageous. Some scholars predict that we will see a crash similar to the United States real estate disaster a couple of years back. The reality is that traditional education is too expensive. It cannot be maintained. Online education is proving to be more cost-effective and just as successful for students. The entire academic world is on the brink of major shift.

23. Colleges haven’t come onboard fully with eLearning because it’s inferior

Universities may not fully be onboard with distance learning, but it isn’t because it’s an inferior method. It is for other reasons slightly less admirable. There is a lot of money in traditional education. There are a lot of politics as well. Some administrators aren’t willing to go with the changes ahead because it means the tower of elitism is crumbling. Make no mistake, there are online courses that are designed by some of the most brilliant minds on Earth.

24. It doesn’t provide real life experience

It doesn’t have to simulate a real life experience…because it is happening in real life. Traditional students have gotten used to compartmentalizing their lives, “School at this time, work at this time, family at this time.” eLearning has made it so that real life weaves in and out of the learning process.

25. Distance learning looks like a cop out

For many students, it is their first choice.

The curriculum, the cost, and the ability to interact with people from all over the world is the reason why it will be the way to get educated in the future. Change is difficult. Traditional institutions have held a monopoly for hundreds of years. The academic sector has always been notoriously slow to catch up with technology, but one day- they may wake up and realize that the world has gone on without them.

26. eLearning is not that much cheaper than traditional education because of hidden costs

There is no question that there are costs involved for the institution to offer online classes. They must pay for the software, the server space, the instructor’s time, an IT person, etc. But even with hidden costs, the amount of money it takes to employ staff to run a traditional brick and mortar school?

It would take thousands of dollars worth of hidden costs to ever make this argument a reality. eLearning is cheaper than traditional education no matter which way you look at it.

27. eLearning means more screen time, which is not good for the eyes

When the Internet boom happened, there were all sorts of dire warnings about the effect on the eyes from too much computer time. But each year technology produces safer and more ergonomic designs. When the kindle first came out, the world marveled at the ability to read on a screen that looked and felt like a book. Computers are here to stay and you can be sure that companies will continue to adjust and modify their products to sell more “eye-friendly” devices.

28. There’s no way to judge the quality of the eLearning program

This argument can be said for traditional education as well. Whatever means we use to assess the success of a school we can use for eLearning as well. Distance education does not have limitations built into it.

Proctored exams can still be offered to eLearners. Presentations before the class or an instructor can be done digitally. Any difficulty in assessing quality may simply be because the industry hasn’t yet figured out a way to accredit the rising number of programs available. But as eLearning becomes the way of the future, you can be sure they’ll be further credentialing of quality classes.

29. eLearning is boring

If an online class is dubbed as “boring”, it is simply because the teacher did not do a good job designing the class. There is nothing boring about the way a digital class is offered. Students can chat, raise hands, ask questions, interact with the professor, and use the power of the Internet to research, find resources, and build presentations.

30. eLearning will never become the WAY of education

If after the 29 reasons listed above, you still don’t think that online learning will become the way of education? Well then, I’m not sure there is anything I can say to convince you.

We’ll just have to wait and see!

Quote:Updated January 9, 2013, 6:41 p.m. ET
Apollo Warns of Sanction for University of Phoenix
By JOAN E. SOLSMAN

Apollo Group Inc. warned that the group that accredits its University of Phoenix is expected to recommend sanctioning the for-profit school by putting it "on notice" for unspecified areas of concern.

Worries about Apollo's accreditation and growth prospects helped stoke a selloff in the stock Wednesday. Shares in the company fell 7.8%, or $1.63, to $19.32 at 4 p.m. on the Nasdaq Stock Market NDAQ +0.30% .

Apollo has lost two-thirds of its market value in the past year, as it and others in the sector deal with flagging enrollment and scrutiny of their practices. University of Phoenix offers courses online and at 115 campuses and smaller learning centers across the country.

The Higher Learning Commission, a regional agency that accredits the University of Phoenix, has been working on a once-a-decade evaluation to reaffirm the school's accreditation. The agency informally advised Apollo Tuesday of a coming draft report, and Chairman and Chief Executive Gregory Cappelli said that evening that he expects the report to recommend putting the school "on notice" for "several areas of concern."

Accreditation is essential for schools to be eligible for Title IV student loans from the U.S. Department of Education, which represent the vast majority of the schools' revenue. Apollo booked more than 80% of its revenue from the loans in the latest fiscal year, as calculated under a rule that limits how much schools can receive.

Being "on notice" means the Higher Learning Commission found some course of action at a school that could result in it failing an accreditation standard.

It is less harsh than being put on probation, but both types of sanction require the institution to take corrective action and provide a written report.

Because Apollo doesn't have the draft report yet, Mr. Cappelli didn't elaborate about what the problem areas were. "When we get that information, there'll be a process to review it and to disclose as appropriate," he said during a conference call to discuss quarterly results.

In a note downgrading Apollo, Morgan Stanley analyst Suzanne Stein said recent areas of scrutiny at the university include faculty changes, student-to-teacher ratios and student default rates on loans.

The University of Phoenix's accreditation was under no immediate threat. Apollo has the chance to write to the agency to dispute any factual errors that company sees in a recommendation, should it come. If it is sanctioned, the notice period typically lasts one year. The Higher Learning Commission may withdraw accreditation if it ultimately finds the school isn't compliant, but institutions have the right to appeal.

The company is still at a "very early stage" in the review process with the commission, said Mark Brenner, chief of staff for Apollo Group and senior vice president of external affairs. He added this accreditation reaffirmation has been the largest the school has undergone.

First Analysis analyst Corey Greendale, who also downgraded Apollo, said he believes the University of Phoenix will likely remain accredited in the end, but the additional uncertainty might weigh on its stock.

Shares in other for-profit educators fell Wednesday as the largest among them faced the accreditation uncertainty. DeVry Inc. DV -0.63% stock sank 4.9% on the New York Stock Exchange. Strayer Education Inc. STRA -0.66% and Grand Canyon Education Inc. LOPE -1.23% declined 7.8% and 3.3%, respectively, on the Nasdaq market.

Similar accreditation worries have plagued the sector. Last summer, Bridgepoint Education Inc.'s BPI -1.37% flagship college was denied initial accreditation from another agency for failing to comply with certain standards, and Career Education Corp.'s CECO +4.29% stock gyrated when accreditation came under question.

Like peers, Apollo has been tightening its practices after facing public criticism over graduates' debt loads and job prospects.

On Tuesday, Apollo said its earnings and revenue fell in the company's fiscal first quarter as degreed enrollment declined again, prompting a downward revision to the top of its revenue guidance.

Fraudulent college degrees from RA Gold Standard colleges? Where are all the swarming assholes to stalk, harass and persecute these miscreants? Too busy writing self-promotiing fairy tale books?

Quote:Dishonest Educators
Walter E. Williams
Jan 09, 2013

Nearly two years ago, U.S. News & World Report came out with a story titled "Educators Implicated in Atlanta Cheating Scandal." It reported that "for 10 years, hundreds of Atlanta public school teachers and principals changed answers on state tests in one of the largest cheating scandals in U.S. history." More than three-quarters of the 56 Atlanta schools investigated had cheated on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test, sometimes called the national report card. Cheating orders came from school administrators and included brazen acts such as teachers reading answers aloud during the test and erasing incorrect answers. One teacher told a colleague, "I had to give your kids, or your students, the answers because they're dumb as hell." Atlanta's not alone. There have been investigations, reports and charges of teacher-assisted cheating in other cities, such as Philadelphia, Houston, New York, Detroit, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Washington.

Recently, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's blog carried a story titled "A new cheating scandal: Aspiring teachers hiring ringers." According to the story, for at least 15 years, teachers in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee paid Clarence Mumford, who's now under indictment, between $1,500 and $3,000 to send someone else to take their Praxis exam, which is used for K-12 teacher certification in 40 states. Sandra Stotsky, an education professor at the University of Arkansas, said, "(Praxis I) is an easy test for anyone who has completed high school but has nothing to do with college-level ability or scores." She added, "The test is far too undemanding for a prospective teacher. ... The fact that these people hired somebody to take an easy test of their skills suggests that these prospective teachers were probably so academically weak it is questionable whether they would have been suitable teachers."

Here's a practice Praxis I math question: Which of the following is equal to a quarter-million -- 40,000, 250,000, 2,500,000, 1/4,000,000 or 4/1,000,000? The test taker is asked to click on the correct answer. A practice writing skills question is to identify the error in the following sentence: "The club members agreed that each would contribute ten days of voluntary work annually each year at the local hospital." The test taker is supposed to point out that "annually each year" is redundant.

CNN broke this cheating story last July, but the story hasn't gotten much national press since then. In an article for NewsBusters, titled "Months-Old, Three-State Teacher Certification Test Cheating Scandal Gets Major AP Story -- on a Slow News Weekend" (11/25/12), Tom Blumer quotes speculation by the blog "educationrealist": "I will be extremely surprised if it does not turn out that most if not all of the teachers who bought themselves a test grade are black. (I am also betting that the actual testers are white, but am not as certain. It just seems that if black people were taking the test and guaranteeing passage, the fees would be higher.)"

There's some basis in fact for the speculation that it's mostly black teachers buying grades, and that includes former Steelers wide receiver Cedrick Wilson, who's been indicted for fraud. According to a study titled "Differences in Passing Rates on Praxis I Tests by Race/Ethnicity Group" (March 2011), the percentages of blacks who passed the Praxis I reading, writing and mathematics tests on their first try were 41, 44 and 37, respectively. For white test takers, the respective percentages were 82, 80 and 78.

This test-taking fraud is merely the tip of a much larger iceberg. It highlights the educational fraud being perpetrated on blacks during their K-12 education. Four or five years of college -- even majoring in education, an undemanding subject -- cannot make up for those 13 years of rotten education. Then they're given a college degree that is fraudulent, seeing as some have difficulty passing a test that shouldn't be challenging to even a 12th-grader. Here's my question: If they manage to get through the mockery of teacher certification, at what schools do you think they will teach?

U of Phoenix makes like $100 billion a year, but the state of California is going broke.  I wonder why?  Don't government administrators know better than private enterprise what is best for the unwashed masses?  You mean there's not a lot of people who want to drop $1400 on an online hula class?

Quote:UC online courses fail to lure outsiders
Nanette Asimov
Updated 11:03 pm, Monday, January 7, 2013

The University of California is spending millions to market an ambitious array of online classes created to "knock people's socks off" and attract tuition from students around the world. But since classes began a year ago, enrollment outside of UC is not what you'd call robust.

One person took a class.

"It's taking longer than we'd hoped" for the $4.3 million marketing effort to take off, admitted Keith Williams, interim director of UC Online, which is open to enrolled students and anybody outside the university.

What UC didn't know in 2010 when its best minds conceived of selling stellar, UC-quality courses online for college credit was that other great universities like Stanford and Harvard were about to start giving theirs away for free. The phenomenon, called Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, caught fire in 2011.

Hundreds of thousands of students have signed up for courses from cryptography to entrepreneurship. By contrast, UC's approach snagged one high school girl who paid $1,400 for an online precalculus course at UC Irvine and four units of UC credit.

To be sure, UC has carefully developed some of the most interactive, multifaceted online education available, with 1,700 UC students taking 14 classes that premiered a year ago. These are apart from the 250 undergraduate and graduate-level online classes that UC has offered enrolled students for years. Developed by faculty, the new courses undergo rigorous peer review and allow students to interact with professors and fellow students alike, Williams said.

By contrast, the free MOOCs offer little contact with professors, and students themselves often evaluate classmates' work. The financial benefit to universities remains unclear.

Even so, in today's MOOC-laden landscape, UC is seen as a laggard.

Upended by digital change

Gov. Jerry Brown recently expressed that view, prompting the UC regents to schedule a two-hour presentation of UC Online to explain itself at their meeting on Jan. 16.

Brown, a regent, made a rare appearance at the November meeting and compared UC to the U.S. Postal Service, "a venerable institution being upended by digital change." He urged UC to invite Udacity, a MOOC provider out of Stanford, to show UC what to do. He then turned to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and said: "There's stuff going on in Silicon Valley that will leave you in the dust."

Birgeneau, who had already signed Cal up with EdX, a MOOC provider from Harvard, retorted, "We're ahead of them. ... There's a lot happening, Governor."

The governor thrust himself into the debate because he envisions cost savings in online education. UC did too. But its project has lost money so far. After raising just $750,000 from a foundation, UC Online took out a $6.9 million loan from UC. It has spent more than $5 million, with most going to a marketing company. And now that MOOCs are stealing UC Online's potential clientele, UC may rethink its plans.

High expectations

But changing midstream will be tough. UC Online has to pay back the loan in seven years and expected to sell 7,000 classes to non-UC students for $1,400 or $2,400 apiece, depending on each course's duration. China was thought to be a lucrative potential source of students, but few expressed interest. The U.S. military also fell through.

"This is not a recipe for success," observed Richard Garrett, an online education expert at Eduventures, a consulting company. "UC's in this gray area of offering neither free courses nor conventionally high-priced (undergraduate) degree programs online."

Tuesday, online education experts and university leaders will meet at UCLA for a conference on how the systems should make the best use of their online assets.

In a demonstration of UC Online, Williams powered up Professor Jacqueline Shey-Murphy's online course "Dance Cultures and Context," which attracted more than 120 students last quarter at UC Riverside. Shey-Murphy introduced the class on video, with the syllabus and calendar at left. Students joined in "synchronous discussions" - a chat room - each Friday.

Hula to hip-hop

The class is about the culture of dance forms from hula to hip-hop and features videos of such dancers as Earl "Snakehips" Tucker, an early 20th century Harlem icon, and books on-screen. Students write blogs, convene in groups online, and can e-mail the professor or attend office hours via Skype.

"Students also have to dance once a week - even if it's in their bathroom with the door closed," Williams said.

UC leaders say they will focus online efforts mainly on students already enrolled at UC, in hopes that such classes will help them zip through school more quickly and cheaply. Yet on Monday they got some encouraging news: Four more non-UC students had signed up.

Is Wisconsin's "Flexible Option" truly a "game changer," as the article states, or just another gimmick by the higher ed cartel to co-opt distance learning?

Quote:December 21st, 2012
Competency-based public degree program moves forward
University of Wisconsin System reveals details about its flexible online degrees for working adults

University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly has revealed new details about what is expected to be the first set of 100-percent, competency-based online degree programs for working adults offered through a public university system. The programs will begin next fall through UW-Milwaukee and the two-year UW Colleges.

The new Flexible Option degrees initially will focus on the largest skills gaps in Wisconsin: health care, information technologies, and business and management. Other University of Wisconsin System campuses are expected to follow in the next few years with additional flexible degrees that working adults can earn online at their own pace.

UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Michael Lovell announced during a news conference last month that the school will repackage existing courses into mostly online formats for the following Flexible Option degrees: a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in nursing; a bachelor’s degree-completion program in diagnostic imaging; a bachelor of science in Information Science & Technology; and a certificate in Professional and Technical Communication.

The two-year UW Colleges will begin providing liberal arts courses in the flexible, competency-based online format, and they will offer an associate of arts and science degree to help working adults advance in the workplace or to meet general education requirements for four-year degrees launched by other institutions.

The University of Wisconsin System already offers 4,600 online courses and 120 online degree programs, but it previously has not had a flexible option for students to work at their own pace and take as many courses as they can finish for a flat fee. Other schools, such as the private Western Governor’s University, also offer competency-based online options—but the UW System might be the first public university system in the nation to offer such programs.

The cost of the flexible degrees, which will not be differentiated from degrees earned at UW campuses, is yet to be determined. It’s likely to depend on the cost of competency assessments, UW officials said during the news conference at UW-Milwaukee.

“It’s a sign of the times, I think, when we start thinking of online delivery as traditional,” Reilly said.

The new flexible degree is “the 21st century face of the Wisconsin Idea,” a guiding principle that education should improve the lives of state residents, Reilly said.

“It’s a game-changer when you decouple learning and instruction from assessment,” said Ray Cross, the UW Colleges and UW-Extension chancellor who is overseeing development of the flexible degree programs.

Working adults don’t have to sit in a classroom to learn skills and prove competency, Cross said. They may learn through on-the-job training, military experience, or previous coursework.

Aimed at working adults

The new college degrees will be more affordable and accessible for working adults because, in addition to moving at their own pace, students will take only the courses they need. They won’t have to spend time and money on coursework if they can prove through competency testing that they’ve already mastered it.

The University of Wisconsin System will have methods in place to prevent online cheating, Cross said.

Currently, 26 percent of Wisconsin adults have a college degree; the national average is 28 percent. The new flex degrees ultimately will target the estimated 700,000 to 1 million Wisconsin residents who have some college credit but no degree. Even if 10 percent to 20 percent finish a degree through the new competency-based program, it would dramatically boost the state’s number of college graduates, and by extension, its economy, UW officials and Gov. Scott Walker said.

“It gives nontraditional learners another way to finish their degrees,” said Walker, who left Marquette University his senior year before finishing his degree to work for the American Red Cross.

“With the strongly underlined emphasis on competency, it’s not about becoming a degree factory,” Walker said. “I think there’s a way to maintain that high standard and still be adaptable and flexible.”

‘The funding will be there’

The University of Wisconsin System has requested $3 million from the state to fund start-up of the first batch of Flex Option degree programs in the 2013-’15 biennium budget. Among other things, the money will support faculty members from multiple campuses who are working to take the UW Flex Option from the drawing board to the internet.

“The funding will be there,” Walker promised in an interview. “That’s a commitment we made.”

UW-Milwaukee’s flexible option degree for a bachelor of science in nursing is expected to be in especially high demand, because the Institute of Medicine recently recommended that 80 percent of all registered nurses have a bachelor’s degree by 2020, said Barb Daley, interim associate dean for academic affairs at UWM.

The new degree won’t replace the BSN at Home program, but will provide students with another option, Daley said.

The two-year UW Colleges will provide general education and liberal arts courses in the flexible format for core fields such as biology, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, business, English, Spanish, geography and others.

Other UW campuses will develop flexible degrees over the next several years, led by UW faculty who designed traditional UW degree programs in the first place and identified learning outcomes students should achieve, Reilly said.

UW-Parkside expects to begin offering flexible degree options in fall 2014.

“This is a new direction in American higher education, and Wisconsin is at the forefront,” Reilly said.

“It’s visionary and evolutionary,” said Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, which conducts public policy advocacy, research, and initiatives related to higher-education issues.

“This is acknowledging the growing diversity of who college students are, and finding an effective way to give them the first-rate opportunities traditional students on campuses have had for decades,” Broad said in an interview. “It’s going to be interesting to watch the extent this program at the University of Wisconsin makes it possible to increase the educational attainment of your state.”

If it produces a large number of new working adult degree holders, other states will follow, Broad predicted.

Here’s how the new Flex Option degree program will work:

UW faculty members will modify existing college programs into self-paced, competency-based formats. To maintain rigorous academic standards, UW faculty will continue to oversee the academic quality of the reformatted degree programs.

Working adult students can start the Flex Option at any time once the degree programs launch; they’re not under the constraints of an academic calendar. They determine the pace of their own learning.

Students can take UW courses or take advantage of free online courses offered elsewhere, including the growing number of massive open online courses (MOOCs), through universities such as Harvard and MIT.

Whenever they’re ready to demonstrate mastery of specific competencies, they will complete assessments designed by UW faculty, then move on to the next course or part of a course if they pass the assessment, according to Cross, the UW Colleges and UW-Extension chancellor.

Students will be held to the same rigorous standards that apply to all other UW degrees, Cross said.

Advisers will be available—with an estimated ratio of one adviser to every 85 students—to help students choose courses and stay on track, Cross said.

UW Extension will offer some individual courses in the Flexible Option through a pilot program developed by UW Independent Learning. The first courses will include college algebra, elementary statistics, and a noncredit business mathematics and personal finance certificate.

Walker encouraged development of the flexible degree program nearly two years ago after returning from a National Governor’s Association meeting in Salt Lake City, where he heard about a national nonprofit online university created in 1995 by 19 Western governors called Western Governors University.

The online university started because Western states’ budgets were cut while populations and college tuition at public universities were growing.

Walker said Wisconsin didn’t need to create an online university system to accomplish the same thing as Western Governors University. So he approached UW System officials, who already had been thinking in that direction.

The governor said he might finish his own college degree through a Flexible Option degree program, if an economics degree is developed and offered.

“I’m not going to direct them to do ones uniquely for me,” the governor said. “My hope is they’ll keep adding more and more.”

Walker said he’s like a lot of Wisconsin residents who started earning a college degree, but didn’t finish because life got in the way.

“For me, it was time,” Walker said. “I took a job, got married, and had a kid. Every time I thought about [finishing the degree], something else came up.”

https://encyclopediadramatica.se/University_of_Phoenix

Quote:
Very prestigious.University of Phoenix is a fictional online university brought to you by the innovative minds serving the failure community with inventions such as ITT Tech, Kaplan University, and The Jew Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Who Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.

Providing convenient online courses to basement-dwellers in combination with a wide variety of useless academic degrees, University of Phoenix has established a reputation as a reliable paper mill for keyboard warriors that already have an associate of arts degree in their inventories, are unable to leave their parents' homes to attend a mockery of a campus, or looking to pad the résumé to cheat their way into gainful employment. When they do finish it, their final diploma is equivalent to Ron Paul's nomination.

Nutcase kid-killer Adam Lanza attended regionally accredited Western Connecticut State University.


Solid!

Quote:At [regionally accredited] Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, where he enrolled at about 16 in 2008, there was never any indication of trouble, the university said in a statement Sunday.

Lanza took six classes — including website production, data modeling, Philosophy 101 and ethical theory — and compiled a solid 3.26 grade-point average.

Quote:Univ. police reviewing officers' conduct after video of dorm room raid goes viral
By Josiah Ryan, on Dec 11, 2012
The [regionally accredited] University of Kentucky -- Lexington (UKL) Police Department says it is reviewing the conduct of two of its officers after they appeared in a viral YouTube video threatening a student with expulsion while forcing their way into his dorm room on Saturday.

Official university policy, obtained by Campus Reform on Tuesday, states that police officers may not search a student's dorm room without permission.

The video, which passed 150,000 views on YouTube on Tuesday, is entitled "I hate cops," and seems to show a student setting up a video camera before berating two campus police officers while refusing them entry into his room.

The officers, who alleged alcohol had been dumped from the dorm room's window, demanded to search the premises for more alcohol but did not appear to possess a warrant.

Instead, one officer invoked "administrative rights" to enter the room and threatened the student with expulsion for declining to permit entry.?

"Listen man, do you want to be kicked out of this university?'" he asked.? "I can pave that road."

"We're going to get you kicked out," he added.

After the student demanded an explanation, the officer appeared to say "we don't have to explain anything to you son."

The officers did not appear to gain consent from the student before finally shoving past him and conducting a cursory search of the premises without turning up any alcohol.

The same officer who threatened expulsion can then be heard remarking that there "is no Fourth Amendment" after opening the student's refrigerator.

WARNING -- EXPLICIT CONTENT | WATCH: University police enter dorm room without consent of student



The officer was likely referring to the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights section of the Constitution which guarantees against "against unreasonable searches."

UKL's spokesman Jay Blanton told Campus Reform on Tuesday afternoon that "the UK Police Department is reviewing this matter" but refused to address further questions.

The university's official residence policy, available online, does allow administers and police to enter student's dorm rooms for a variety of reasons but seems to bar warrantless searches.

"[A]uthorization to enter a student's room under this policy does not constitute authorization to conduct a search of the room," it says.

UKL's police department did not provide a spokesperson to Campus Reform for comment, despite multiple requests and would not reveal whether or not the two officers are still on active duty.

According to a legal guide published by [the Dumbass Factory], students have the same Fourth amendment protections living on campus as they do off campus. However, the guide notes that some student housing agreements may provide some exceptions.

The video, was published Monday by a user calling himself "Peter Dimples."

No, it's not who you think.

But it does make you wonder....what is the deal with all these physics mental cases?

Is it that they think their massive intellect exempts them from the standards of civilized society, or are they just such complete dorks that they never learned them in the first place?

Quote:Suspended UA student charged with making terrorist threats, stalking


Zachary Burrell, 28, is being held on charges of stalking and making terrorist threats. His bond is set at $500,000.

By Stephanie Taylor
Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 12:23 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 12:23 p.m.

A suspended [regionally accredited] University of Alabama doctoral student has been behind bars since Friday after UA officials said he sent disturbing e-mails to them last month.

Zachary Burrell, 28, is being held on charges of stalking and making terrorist threats. His bond is set at $500,000.

The physics student sent “erratic” e-mails including video clips of a movie depicting violent acts toward university officials, according to a deposition filed in Tuscaloosa County District Court.

“The e-mails did not contain direct threats to the general campus population,” said UA spokeswoman Cathy Andreen.

Burrell was dismissed from the school in late October “for various behavioral issues,” according to the deposition. He was issued a no-trespass order that prohibited him from going to campus, Andreen said.

E-mails to staff members began Nov. 5 and continued until Nov. 28. UAPD investigators arrested him late Friday. E-mails were sent to UA President Judy Bonner, Dean of Students Tim Hebson, an associate director for academic affairs, an assistant director for judicial affairs and an astronomy professor.

“While these e-mails do not contain any direct threats, there are underlying threats as well as inferences to one movie involving violence to individuals and, more concerning, another movie involving violent acts towards university officials,” a UAPD investigator wrote in the deposition and charge sheet.

A YouTube trailer for the movie “Dark Matter” was attached to one e-mail.

The 2007 film is based on a 28-year-old physics and astronomy student at the [regionally accredited] University of Iowa who killed four faculty members and a student before taking his own life in 1991.

Hello there, I have question to the group. I have a 3 years Bachelors from India, 1994 & after that I have an MBA from California state approved Newport University, 1997 (now known as Janus University). I am not looking for any credit transfer. However, I'm looking for admission in a DETC MBA? Any DETC university will accept my Newport MBA as the 4th year equivalence of a Bachelors?