I have completed courses with a number of distance universities and am currently pursuing an MBA at Aspen. I am learning quite a bit and find the school quite good. Not quite as structured or as rigid as Athabasca University here in Alberta but still great. I was wondering if anyone know if Aspen is pursuing, or intend to pursue, regional accreditation.
Nice! Nice to see another Aspenian at degreeinfo There are quite a few Aspen/ISIM students and graduates on this board, and I see that the number is ever so increasing. I was informed earlier this year that pursuing RA status was a possibility... But by no means is this a confirmed direction for the school. Further, knowing its educational/instructional quality, if Aspen were to pursue regional accreditation, I have no reason to doubt it's success in the endeavor. But I am not sure that for RA status a school would also need a B&M campus or not. I am curious; please tell me more about Athabasca's instructional model. Rigidity, I feel, is not good for a professional who is juggling work and studies at the same time. Regards, Mahmood
Sorry, I believe that my term for rigid did not mean that they are inflexible. Also, although I have completed about half my MBA with Aspen, I have no real experience with private universities. Perhaps you can enlighten me. What I menat by rigis is thta Athabasca, as a public university, 1. Has some extremely tough selection criteria for its graduat programs. 2. It is very difficult to complete a course without instruction (at Aspen, I have completed courses without contacting the prof) 3. Concerns itself to a significant degree with format, grammer, clarity of assignments in order to receive higher marks. They are responsible for moulding me in this fashion. 4. I extremely strict about acedemin integrity. Aspen, of course is also very concerned but less investigative. 5. Seems to be more administratively organized that Aspen (i.e. the assignment of student IDs, regular formatted transripts, etc,) Although this also means that the MBA is more than 3 times the cost of Aspen's so I'll stick with the informality) etc etc etc... However, I am happy to see that my choice of Aspen is validated by very positive comments. I am also happy to have made my choice.
I can attest to Aspen University being a good choice for an earning an MBA via distance learning. Enrolled in the MBA (PM) degree programme myself I find the volume of reading is quite high and the assignments seem to cover all the important concepts for each course. And the price is right too. As for the professors every school whether B&M or DL has good and bad. Although in my experience it is essentially the effort the student puts into their studies that really determines whether the outcomes are positive. If Aspen University was to achieve RA status, it would only improve an already good school. By the way, American Public University System (http://www.apus.edu) is in the process of Regional Accredition and as far as I know has no physical campus, only administrative offices. Correct me if I am wrong - I learn from my mistakes than from all the successes added together. ;-)
Re: why While not strictly necessary a course in eBusiness (aka e-commerce) might prove valuable to a graduate going into an established business which may or may not already have a web presence.
TomICAVols, I think you mean eBusiness, not e-commerce. I think the explanation on the web page explains very well why it is part of the MBA program: (http://www.aspen.edu/programs/mba.htm#ebus) Aspen rocks: nay-say'ers be ware!!!
I see that there are a number of Canadians that have taken, or are in the process of taking the MBA program at Aspen. Is it quite recognized in Canada with employers including Government and Colleges? Has anyone done significant research in this regard?
I spoke with Dr. Lady when he was running the school and he told me that RA status was definitely a goal for the future, but not to put too much hope in the immediate future. Now that Dr. Lady is no longer at Aspen, it is unclear whether RA status is still a goal, but it is likely that it still is. The problem with meeting RA requirements is the fact that, so I'm told, the costs go up and tuition would also have to rise. However, no one at Aspen has actually said that to me. The best idea would be for you to call the school and ask. If you do, would you please report back to us because I'd like to know too.
Wait. WHAT? What happened? Is there a thread about this somewhere? Edited to add: I'm a very concerned current student
There's a skagillion threads about Aspen on this board. You can either scroll backwards through the threads or pump those 5 letters into our little search engine.
I've been reading and posting here for years and read every Aspen thread. I've gone back to late March and haven't found anything discussing David Lady's departure from Aspen.
Hello thread about Dr Lady...meet gbrogan... http://www.degreeinfo.com/distance-learning-discussions/37305-dr-lady-aspen-university.html
Hi gbrogan: Sorry I just found this thread, I don’t check here as often as I used to. You can email me at the below email address if you want, nothing bad happened I just decided to turn left as the school was turning right. They have a great plan and great leadership team and will be doing great things for years to come. I of course have my own plans for some great things. Some announcements will actually start coming out this week, but the whole picture won’t be painted for about another month through a series of announcements. I believe the following and you will see that in time I am acting positively against each of these beliefs: Distance education can be a very inexpensive model from the institution side, and that low cost should be passed on to students There is an opportunity to bring some real curriculum weight and innovating thinking to the online programs, they don’t all have to be generic watered down versions of what everyone else is doing Online programs need to differential themselves through their faculty. Right now there are about 250 bright and wonderful people who make up the bulk of online teaching. Many of them are my friends, however I have to be honest teaching at 6 to 10 different online schools means that the schools that use them don’t really have anything unique I think the world of schools like Drexel University, but I cannot understand what it is that their online MBA teaches that other programs don’t that is worth $58 thousand dollars The foundation for education should be based in a not-for-profit environment Even graduate level on-line education should focus on original research and original contribution to the field, almost all online programs fail to do this DL program must start teaching in a way that differentiates their graduates, and they must do a better job of creating alumni networks and other soft benefits of attendance I think you will be happy with what I working to accomplish in DL and will feel comfortable that someone is actually working on it. DEL
DL industry The certainly needs to be a correction. DL education technolgy has a lower cost than traditional education i.e. less physical superstructure, low paid non-tenured adjunct (graders), canned course content and so forth. The DL industry has benifited from the internet and technological advances, but have not allowed innovation to influence a congruency within DL tuition costs. Perhaps this is something akin to the old coal mine "company store" system. I plan to advocate for realistically priced DL at every turn I can. You are visionary and I expect you will influence affordable DL for years to come
We agree The way I look at it is that higher education should not be priced as a luxury item. We are withholding information from the majority of workers to honor an outdated system or make a profit or both (I read the other thread and think many people are confusing a tax status with a business model), both camps are wrong here and two wrongs don’t make a right. What the world economy needs right now is innovation and competition, both of which come from an educated workforce. BTW, below are my bullet points, for some reason in the above post the numbering doesn’t show up. 1 - Distance education can be a very inexpensive model from the institution side, and that low cost should be passed on to students 2 - There is an opportunity to bring some real curriculum weight and innovating thinking to the online programs, they don’t all have to be generic watered down versions of what everyone else is doing 3 - Online programs need to differential themselves through their faculty. Right now there are about 250 bright and wonderful people who make up the bulk of online teaching . Many of them are my friends, however I have to be honest teaching at 6 to 10 different online schools means that the schools that use them don’t really have anything unique 4 - I think the world of schools like Drexel University , but I cannot understand what it is that their online MBA teaches that other programs don’t that is worth $58 thousand dollars 5 - The foundation for education should be based in a not-for-profit environment 6 - Even graduate level on-line education should focus on original research and original contribution to the field, almost all online programs fail to do this 7 - DL program must start teaching in a way that differentiates their graduates, and they must do a better job of creating alumni networks and other soft benefits of attendance
I agree with you Dr. Lady, I could not agree more. The DL degree programs and curricula have a "cookie cutter" look and feel. This is partly due to the loss of autonomy to the accrediting agencies. For better or worse there are great benefits with having accreditation agency standards as the norm for all accredited schools. However, the accrediting body has taken on a constraining role which has limited innovation within DL. The energy and expense involved with bring new degree programs or methods for delivery online is a risky endeavor especially for the smaller less financially endowed DL providers. This has led to a for profit large entity power move to corner the DL market. Not unlike the Wal-Mart phenomenon. Ashford is a good example it was bought by a large for-profit corporation, Walden was also bought by one of these giants. The traditional brick and mortar schools such as the Ivy's and large state universities are being undermined and in the next twenty years or so it is possible that a traditional brick and mortar school will be the exception and not the rule. The DL corporation server with attached brand name is the new university. Once for -profit motives displace socially driven motives ,within education, higher education will become attainable for the elite or the fortunate which can utilize federal loans. I see an insidious trend beginning. The fact that DL tuition is overvalued in that tuition should be around 40-50 percent of what traditional tuition is. I am assuming much in this posting, but I believe research would support much of what I am espousing. The French education system is nationalized and that would not work. America thrives in the laissez-faire. The question is how can the DL “market” find its much needed correction? One certainty is the for- profit camp will resist change.
