My Penn Foster College Experience

There's an app for that...

tcord1964 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:41:00 GMT

It never ceases to amaze me the many different ways that distance learning programs are using technology to deliver their programs. I have seen distance learning courses delivered online, via PDA and, more recently, witnessed by son's girlfriend doing her high school homework and submitting her answers with her cell phone. Now, Thomas Edison State College has come up with a new way of delivering courses: USB drive.

According to an article at PCWorld, Thomas Edison is loading entire courses and the associated applications on USB drives and sending them to students, who can then access all of the materials and do their homework. What started as a pilot project with 100 students is expected to be expanded to dozens of courses that will be offered to 17,000 students.

While some students still prefer to hold a "dead tree" (book) in their hands while they do their homework, I personally like how portable education has become. The USB drive delivery has some great potential benefits. If a student is in a remote location with unreliable Internet access, being able to access the USB drive for coursework would be a great alternative. Military service members serving overseas could also benefit greatly from having their courses self-contained on a USB drive.

I thought being able to access my courses on my laptap was highly portable and convenient, but I can foresee a time when colleges and universities may more fully adopt social media and communication technology to make their courses event more accessible. Many universities already offer lectures on ITunes. Why not make courses available on ITunes and charge students for the materials, just like textbooks? How about creating an IPhone application which can deliver coursework? Instead of logging into a message board and chatting with instructors and other students in a class, how about allowing students to do this via a social media site like Facebook? The possibilities are endless.

Of course, these course delivery methods will only advance as quickly as schools can ensure that students are doing their own work, and there must be a method of assessing the student's knowledge, either through exams or written papers, but I believe that making education as accessible as possible to as many students as possible can only be a good thing, and will help keep distance learning institutions, and the U.S., competitive in the global marketplace.

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I Have Applied to Excelsior College

tcord1964 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:44:00 GMT

It has been awhile since I have blogged here at eLearners. For those of you who may be wondering where I have been hiding myself, I have been here at home, recuperating from the flu. I suspect I had H1N1, although officially my flu test came back negative. However, the doctor also said the test is wrong 40 percent of the time. If that's the case, what good is the test?

I was on medications for two weeks, and it took about two more weeks to fully recuperate and start feeling like my normal self again. Now that I'm feeling healthy, I'm ready to contribute to the eLearners community once again, and get back to my studies.

Over the past month or so, I also came to a decision about my future at Penn Foster College. As I slaved away over my Managerial Accounting exam, I thought to myself "why am I studying Managerial Accounting? I work a marketing job and I really want to study Communications." Although I have time invested in this semester at Penn Foster College, I feel the right decision for myself is to transfer to a school which offers the program I really want to study, and where I can make full use of my transfer credits. I have decided that school is Excelsior College.

I got a user name and password for Excelsior's documents and admissions page, and I filled out the online application form and paid the $75 admission fee. I now have to send in requests to the U.S. Navy, Penn Foster, Andrew Jackson University and the University of Wisconsin to have my transcripts sent to Excelsior for an evaluation of how many of my credits will transfer into their Bachelor of Science in Communications program.

Once I receive my evaluation, I will know more about how many more courses I need to complete until I earn my degree. I believe that with all of the credits I have earned so far, I am very close. I will post the results of my evaluation here once I receive it. I am truly excited about being so close to realizing my dream of earning my degree!

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Penn Foster Gets a new Owner

tcord1964 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:31:00 GMT

For the second time in the past four years, Penn Foster College is being sold. When I first enrolled at PFC in 2005, the school was known as Education Direct, which I admit wasn't a very catchy name. Now, the company which purchased Education Direct and renamed it to Penn Foster is selling the school to the Princeton Review, a company which produces test preparation material. The purchase price is $170 million in cash. The sale involves Penn Foster College, Penn Foster Career School and Penn Foster High School.

According to a press release, Penn Foster will retain its current management team and will continue to be headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania. As for what changes will be ahead in the future, the press release states "The transaction will combine two of the most-recognized educational brands in the United States to create an organization that can capitalize on a diverse range of opportunities in the secondary and post-secondary markets, and can be a scale player in online education. The acquisition will also enhance The Princeton Review's ability to grow through the addition of new test prep services and partnerships with educational institutions, professional and trade organizations and others."

As a student, the sale raises a few questions for me:

Will the tuition price increase? After Education Direct was sold, the price did increase after a couple of years, from about $52 per credit hour to $90 per credit hour. School officials cited an increase in the cost of textbooks and shipping the textbooks to students. The tuition is still a good deal, considering it includes textbooks, but if the price increases again, distance learners will lose a true "bargain basement" priced online educator.

Will Penn Foster offer new programs? PFC just recently started offering bachelor degree programs. With the sale to Princeton Review, could graduate degrees be far behind?

Will Penn Foster seek regional accreditation? Education Direct was a candidate for regional accreditation prior to its sale to Penn Foster College, but dropped that bid just before the sale. If the school is seeking to become "a scale player in online education," does that mean it will seek regional accreditation? Currently, PFC is nationally accredited by the DETC.

Will there be a name change (again)? I do like the Penn Foster name much better than Education Direct, although nobody really recognizes the name Penn Foster, either. Of course, Princeton is already taken (Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton, the university).

Time will tell!

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What Degree Would You Like To See

tcord1964 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:14:00 GMT

I paid a recent visit to the Facebook group of Penn Foster College, and came across an interesting question. PFC asked it's Facebook friends "What degree program would you like to see offered by Penn Foster College?" I have also seen the same question posed in student surveys sent to my student account. In the past, I indicated that I would like to see PFC offer bachelor degrees. Many other students must have given the same answer, because PFC does now offer bachelor degrees.

After giving it some thought, I have some other suggested degree programs that Penn Foster College should consider offering:

Masters degrees. Ashworth College follows the same type of business model that PFC does, and they have offered masters degrees for a long time now. I think PFC should throw its hat into this arena and offer an MBA, a MS in Marketing and and MS in Criminal Justice, to start.

Bachelor degrees. How about a BA in Communications? So few distance learning schools offer this program, and from what I can see there is a demand for it. A BS in Marketing and a BS in Accounting would be good, too.

Association degrees. These seem to be the real bread and butter of PFC and they already offer several different programs. Again, an AA or AS in Communications would be great.

Also, I would like to see PFC take a stab at gaining regional accreditation for its degree programs. The courses in their degree programs are already ACE reviewed, which makes transfer to regionally accredited schools easier, but I'd like to see the school itself gain regional accreditation. I think this would help them attract even more students, make credit transfer easier, and make their programs more valuable to its students. When the school was known as Education Direct it made a bid for regional accrediation, but dropped out and soon changed its name to Penn Foster College.

How about you? Which degree programs would you like to see Penn Foster College offer?

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I May Have Met My Match

tcord1964 — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:28:00 GMT

I have encountered difficult exams in the past. The Business Math course at Penn Foster College gave me some difficulty. I am an admitted math moron, and I never did learn how to do algebra when I was in high school. Although it took me awhile, I finally did finish the Business Math course, and I finished with an "A". However, that was nothing compared to the course I an working on now.

I am working on the second online, open book exam for the Managerial Accounting course. To say I am finding it difficult is an understatement. Not only am I having a difficult time understanding the questions, but the explanations in the texbook for how to work the problems are difficult as well. The material for the second exam covers problems such as figuring out contribution margin, profitability index, break-even point and comparison of net present value. Have no idea of what I am talking about? Well, neither do I!

Part of me wonders why I am putting myself through accounting courses, when I don't use accounting at my job, and won't really need them to meet my bachelor degree requirements. I suppose there is always the chance I will opt to enter an MBA program and will wish I had this accounting knowledge. Considering I am having this much trouble working on the online exam, I can't imagine how I will pass the proctored final.

Well, enough whining. I'll just have to do my best and do the work.

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