The eLearners News Blog : Online Learners

Every Time a Diploma Mill Is Sued, I Smile

AndriaL — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:00:00 GMT

To See if a School Is Accredited:

Just search for them in CHEA's database — that's the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. They're a pretty big deal. :)

I've got accreditation on the brain today from reading this story about a high school diploma mill called Belford High School that was recently exposed because it's being sued by someone in Michigan. (By the way, here's a list of K-12 online schools in the United States with legitimate accreditation.) Basically Belford has been accused of charging customers (I'm sorry — their "students") $250 for high school diplomas with no authority to do so.

These stories irk me to death because of the inherent dishonesty of buying a diploma outright, or worse, being ripped off by these con artists. Also, each time a diploma mill is outed publicly, I think it reinforces people's suspicions of and prejudices against online learning, or more specifically, the notion that if you got it online, it can't be genuine. We obviously know that to be false, but it just sets us a couple steps back in our crusade to convince people that e-learning is a reputable, reliable, effective way to complete one's education goals.

If you want to brush up on your ability to tell a diploma mill from a legitimate school, read this page on eLearners, then check out the Belford High School web site to see how apparent it would be to you that this site is a scam. Check out those made up accreditation agencies! All done with "high school?" Don't worry — Belford University is right next door! Ack!

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All About Online Communications Degrees

AndriaL — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:50:00 GMT

eLearners just finished the Mini-Guide to Online Communications Degrees, in which you'll find a ton of great information if you're considering starting a career in communications. Here's some of what you'll find in our guide:

Average salaries for professionals in this field
What courses you'll take to get a communications degree online
What you can do with a communications degree
How to tell if your personality is a good fit for communications

Check out the guide now and then see what communications degrees you can get online!

The weekend is here, guys — have a good one!

-Andria

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Will E-Learning Kill the University?

AndriaL — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:39:00 GMT

In a recent Washington Post article, A Virtual Revolution Is Brewing for Colleges, Zephyr Teachout paints a bleak picture for brick-and-mortar education due to the burgeoning popularity and relative cheapness of online education. In response, ZDNet's Christopher Dawson asked, Will Online Education Kill the University?

The gist of Teachout's article is that while it's great that e-learning has made education and college degrees infinitely more accessible, it threatens to wipe out universities that won't be able to compete cost-wise; the business model on which traditional universities have operated will no longer work, she argues. Teachout expresses concern that a boom in, and, ultimately, a reliance upon, e-learning threatens notions such as tenured professors and well-funded academic research — by 2030, Teachout says, typical faculty will be adjunct professors working from home grading multiple choice quizzes. She also purports that within the next 40 years, most brick-and-mortar schools will either need to partner with other services or shut down completely.

This all sounds a bit too Henny-Penny for me, though. Some viable comparisons were made, yes. She likens e-learning to the news industry of 10 years ago — an industry with redundancies that was revolutionized (some say destroyed) by the Internet — people aren't confined to getting all their news from one source; we're more likely to read news online, article by article from many papers. But how does this apply to education, exactly? If learning is everywhere and accessible by anyone, is it less special? Maybe, more than anything, this is more predictive of a movement toward degrees, especially bachelor's degrees, mattering less; in 40 years, I can see bachelor's degrees having such ubiquity that graduate education will be the new standard, but IMO brick-and-mortar institutions and the whole college campus experience are so intrinsic to American culture, I just don't see them disappearing. I feel the traditional schools will be able to adequately adapt their business models and continue to make e-learning more effective and efficient.

What do you guys think?

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Doctor's Orders: Mizzou

JonM — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:43:00 GMT

University of Missouri Health Management and Informatics

The Physician's Choice

About

The University of Missouri has a strong curriculum that delivers a quality education to the individual that will be the foundation for a long and successful career. University of Missouri faculty is recognized nationally and its program was rated #5 in Modern Physicians Magazine for Business Schools for Physician Executives.

Master's

Dual Master's Program in Health Administration and Informatics

Master's of Health Administration

Master's of Science – Health Informatics

Accreditation

University of Missouri is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (30 North LaSalle, Suite 2400, Chicago, IL 60602-2504; 800-621-7440; http://www.ncahlc.org/
The Department of Health Management and Informatics also is accredited by Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education http://cahme.org

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Learning a Language Online is as Effective

AndriaL — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:47:00 GMT

According to research conducted by University of California, learning a language online is just as effective as learning in a traditional classroom setting. In their words, e-learning is a "responsible and equivalent option to the classroom experience." Yay!

Here's a link to online language courses that can be found right here on eLearners (http://www.elearners.com/courses/languages.htm). Languages that can be found on eLearners include Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, Russian, and even Latin!

-Andria

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