12-24-2007, 10:46 PM
this must not be construed as apology or defense or "devil advocacy" in favor of the above schools, for I do not know them and have no experience with them.
A few points about distance learning and learning in general, though:
I have taken several courses with accredited DE providers such as Oxford, Cardiff, Exeter, Athabasca, Open University; I have brick&mortar state university degrees.
1 You are on your own. Yes, this is true in most cases and -to a point- is partly why I love distance learning; I am more of a lone wolf. B&M universities ( or online ) are no guarantee you'll get your hand held, or receive tuition as bragged about in the "just wonderful" brochures and videoclips detailing how "just awesome" the university can be.
2 I have not studied under professionals posing as teachers, but always under proper university teachers, including most published authors, scholarly columnists etc. Well, I must say support levels vary, but must be expected to settle towards the lower end of the spectrum. The most common excuse is that they are tutoring 50, 70, 500 students at once and cannot bother trouble-shooting for you. They enforce academic standards & expectations typical of their institution...how to live up to them, it is your problem. Even asked directly, most will just answer "well, if you couldn't find anything about X, then fine. But remember guidelines ask for 50 scholarly sources minimum"; " I understand your predicament, but there is nothing I can actually do to relieve it".
This both DE & B&M ( at B&M teachers actually rely on teaching assistants to do 3/4 of the job at undergraduate levels ).
2-A this raises the question of COMPETENCE, but how would you know, anyways? Yes, professor X published 12 books and chaired 3 symposia, but what good is that to you, if he's too busy (or unwilling ) to help you?
3 REFUNDS. Most universities just do not refund, whether B&M or DE, period. Some offer a narrow time window (at my B&M university it was fifteen days ); some offer regressive refund (EG the further you get with your course, the less you get back ).
4 CREDIT TRANSFER. Even big, established universities often act as complete amateurs in the domain of credit transfer, especially internationally. I never attended dodgy or gray area schools, but witnessed extremely amateurish CT procedures; credit transfer might be denied one time and awarded next time for the same courses. Even university registrars (forget common CT employees ) blindly rely on some aging books and publications -often unofficial- and seem to discover something unheard of when you request transfer from universities such as Cardiff. That is the reason -I think- why many African blatant degree mills "slipped through the net", while a man with half a brain would not even bother; that is also why some universities rely on third party services, EG NACES, IQAS etc.
5 STUDENT SERVICES. Well, I had a few pretty funny experiences bordering complete nonsense. I had to personally phone or write ministries and other state authorities to "get proof" of the actual rules, after getting diverging opinions. Call-center attendants and even niche counsellors are often ill-informed or just "make it as they go". B&M's excuse is that their wallet is kept dry by running physical campuses & the like; DE's excuses is that their revenue is only a fraction than that of BM's.
A few points about distance learning and learning in general, though:
I have taken several courses with accredited DE providers such as Oxford, Cardiff, Exeter, Athabasca, Open University; I have brick&mortar state university degrees.
1 You are on your own. Yes, this is true in most cases and -to a point- is partly why I love distance learning; I am more of a lone wolf. B&M universities ( or online ) are no guarantee you'll get your hand held, or receive tuition as bragged about in the "just wonderful" brochures and videoclips detailing how "just awesome" the university can be.
2 I have not studied under professionals posing as teachers, but always under proper university teachers, including most published authors, scholarly columnists etc. Well, I must say support levels vary, but must be expected to settle towards the lower end of the spectrum. The most common excuse is that they are tutoring 50, 70, 500 students at once and cannot bother trouble-shooting for you. They enforce academic standards & expectations typical of their institution...how to live up to them, it is your problem. Even asked directly, most will just answer "well, if you couldn't find anything about X, then fine. But remember guidelines ask for 50 scholarly sources minimum"; " I understand your predicament, but there is nothing I can actually do to relieve it".
This both DE & B&M ( at B&M teachers actually rely on teaching assistants to do 3/4 of the job at undergraduate levels ).
2-A this raises the question of COMPETENCE, but how would you know, anyways? Yes, professor X published 12 books and chaired 3 symposia, but what good is that to you, if he's too busy (or unwilling ) to help you?
3 REFUNDS. Most universities just do not refund, whether B&M or DE, period. Some offer a narrow time window (at my B&M university it was fifteen days ); some offer regressive refund (EG the further you get with your course, the less you get back ).
4 CREDIT TRANSFER. Even big, established universities often act as complete amateurs in the domain of credit transfer, especially internationally. I never attended dodgy or gray area schools, but witnessed extremely amateurish CT procedures; credit transfer might be denied one time and awarded next time for the same courses. Even university registrars (forget common CT employees ) blindly rely on some aging books and publications -often unofficial- and seem to discover something unheard of when you request transfer from universities such as Cardiff. That is the reason -I think- why many African blatant degree mills "slipped through the net", while a man with half a brain would not even bother; that is also why some universities rely on third party services, EG NACES, IQAS etc.
5 STUDENT SERVICES. Well, I had a few pretty funny experiences bordering complete nonsense. I had to personally phone or write ministries and other state authorities to "get proof" of the actual rules, after getting diverging opinions. Call-center attendants and even niche counsellors are often ill-informed or just "make it as they go". B&M's excuse is that their wallet is kept dry by running physical campuses & the like; DE's excuses is that their revenue is only a fraction than that of BM's.
A.A Mole University
B.A London Institute of Applied Research
B.Sc Millard Fillmore
M.A International Institute for Advanced Studies
Ph.D London Institute of Applied Research
Ph.D Millard Fillmore
B.A London Institute of Applied Research
B.Sc Millard Fillmore
M.A International Institute for Advanced Studies
Ph.D London Institute of Applied Research
Ph.D Millard Fillmore