AIU Question

Now I know AIU has been talked about a lot on here but I was just have a couple questions....

First off I have a friend that I work with that is currently going through AIU. It seems like the work is sooo easy I never see him open a book until Saturday and spends a couple hours and that is it. He always jokes about how little time he spends on a paper yet he always gets an A. He has been in the business program now for almost a year and only received one B. I just don't see how this degree can compare with other D.L. degree's or B and M schools. I know some people that are in the business world sometimes just need a degree just to get more money. So I think a degree from AIU would be great. In a way I think I am jealous of him b/c here I am working towards my associates in business and I have been at it forever it seems. Then in June he will have his bachelors. I am just curious if a degree from AIU would help a person get his foot in the door or is it for the people with their foot already in the door? I am in the military and I am a cop.... but I want to get out in about 4 years and go into the business world. Would I be better off just going to AIU or continue working the long path and get my degree from UMASS Washington State, Regis, Troy, or State of New York University?? (Just a couple schools I was considering and decided to throw out)

 

That's going to be a personal decision.

However, given the choice between AIU (or similar) and programs offered by the hundreds from schools like you listed on the bottom, I'd go with the latter.

For some reason, I am sure you can find an excellent program at an great institution at a fair price and still be way ahead of your mate.

Just a thought. However, any of your choices is a damn site better than not choosing at all and you cannot go wrong no matter what direction.

 

About which "AIU" are you talking, dwilson?

There's American InterContinental University, which is regionally-accredited; and then there's Atlantic International University, which is not. The former is legit; the latter is a joke. They both go by "AIU."

If ever there were a cogent example of why I keep harping and harping and harping about providing links in thread-starting posts, this is it! I've said it before, I'll say it -- and harp on it -- again and again and again... however many times it takes until everyone starts doing it:

• PLEASE PROVIDE A LINK IN YOUR THREAD-STARTING POSTS TO THE WEB SITE OF THE ENTITY ABOUT WHICH YOU'RE INQUIRING SO THAT THOSE WHOSE OPINIONS YOU SEEK WILL NOT BE BURDENED WITH HAVING TO GOOGLE SAID ENTITY AND FIND ITS WEB SITE THEMSELVES; AND ALSO TO ENSURE THAT THE WEB SITE THEY FIND IS, IN FACT, THAT OF THE ENTITY ABOUT WHICH YOU'RE INQUIRING.

About which "AIU" are you talking, dwilson?

 

I am sorry about that it is American InterContinental University.
here is the link

http://www.aiuonline.edu/

 

Wow. I confess that that's a disappointment. When you talked about how ridiculously easy was your friend's AIU coursework, I just assumed you were talking about Atlantic International University.

Bummer.

Hmm. You know... just because a given person makes regionally-accredited coursework look easy doesn't necessarily mean it is. For some people, school just comes naturally. Could that be it?

I remember going to school with a couple of guys like that. They made it look effortless, always seemed to have plenty of time to party, and never studied 'til the last minute... and never broke a sweat doing so. It later turned out that, in the case of one of them, it really was easy for him. He was just gifted in that way... as I think might be the case with your friend. Today he's a lawyer in... lemmee think... Mississippi or Alabama or somewhere in that neck of the woods.

In the case of the other guy, it turned out he never slept; and he consumed a pick-up-truck-full of speed over the four years it took him to get his bachelors...

...and, now that I think about it, I don't think he's alive anymore. Seriously. I seem to recall hearing a few years back that he had a heart attack or something. I should call an old mutual friend and ask. But I digress... yet again.

 

Is education the only commodity--besides life insurance--with consumers who are tickled to get as little as possible for their money?

 

Well... I don't know about that. For example... I am in an accouting class right now and it is accounting 1 I also have to take accounting 2 and accounting 3 which is mangerial accounting. The first 2 are practial accouting. Each of these classes are 10 weeks. He took his accouting class which was a 5 week class and was just mangerial. It was the same with econ. I took a macro and micro one 8 week accelerated face to face and one online that was 12-14 weeks I think. His econ class was covered in 5 weeks. Like I said previously... if you have a business background that would probably be all you need for most business classes. But I wonder how much you learn in a 5 week span. Also I talked to him about his discussion boards and he was saying that he never really post until the night before they are due. Yet he always gets max points for it.

 

Re: Re: AIU Question

Ha! That's a good one.

 

The course length doesn't matter... nor the mode of delivery. It's the content; and the number of actual hours spent both attending class/lectures and then studying. You can pack a lot into five weeks; just as you can stretch a little out into 12 to 14 weeks.

Not true, generally. Just depends on the class... and the student. The instructor, too, I suppose... as well as whether the final's during a full moon, maybe.

So? A due date is a due date. It means "when it's due," not "the date by which you'll get the least amount of credit if you submit the night before." People who post long before the due date are like people who pay bills the day they receive them. There's no extra credit for being early when there's a clear due date. Due is due. Early is... is... I dunno... maybe compulsive, or something. There's only penalty for being late. The trick is to not be late, not to be early.

 

Could be. However...in my experience such people have been FOS, are cheating or have a background in what they are currently studying.

AFAIK, the people we've regarded as geniuses have all recorded long, hard work as their path to the history books. I keep that in mind when I hear some Joe Shmoe boasting of his simply absorbing knowledge from the ether.

 

I would strongly suggest that you go with one of the schools you mentioned at the end of your post. You might actually get an education from one of those institutions. AIU is a nothing more than a diploma mill in RA clothing. I say this as an alumni of AIU that put about as much effort/time into my work as your friend and ended up with a 4.0. Of course if you are only going to be using your degree for an advancement in the military or police force then getting it asap with as little work involved as possible might be the way to go. The bottom line is you will not get a real education from AIU only a degree.

 

I'm beginning to have some doubts on this. I find that in teaching 6 week courses that there is no practical way to include the course content of a 15 week term. Students can only absorb so much in a short time. And I find students increasingly are loaded (in their personal and professional lives) to such an extent that they can't devote sufficient time to their studies.

As an instructor I am deluged with student's personal problems. I do care about students as people - but the bottom line comes down to - "Can you cut me a break on learning this material because of my personal life?" I won't cut requirements, but class participation usually suffers. Also, I end up giving "hints" until students finally get assignments in.

If I were king for a day I would ban 5 and 6 week courses and insist on at least 8 weeks. One employer in my metropolitan area won't pay tuition reimbursement for courses that are less than 8 weeks. I think they have a clue here....

Regards - Andy

 

The traditional rule of thumb is 3 hours preparation for 1 hour of classwork. Assuming preparation includes all papers, cramming for finals, etc., that amounts to an average of 180 hours, or 30 hours/week for a 6-week course. Even a 2:1 ratio amounts to over 22 hours/week.

Students in my 9-week courses must take 2 per block. Although the courses are well-designed--mutually complementary with each learning task a step towards the final achievement--most students have a hard time coping.

Many are single parents working full-time. Their work suffers from time constraints, even those who have honed their time-management skills over many years. I get a lot of first drafts from students who have not had the time to read and ponder the assignments before diving in. Of course the pressure to plagiarize is very high as well. Frankly, I don't see how they do it at all.

In my own experience, I find Andy's point about the difficulty of absorbing material holds--even for 15-week courses, if the material is brand new and cumulative. A large part of absorbing what one has learned is using it--by reworking problems until they come out right, revising drafts, etc. If students don't have the time to do so, it's very difficult to progress when the next skill depends on mastery of the current one.

 

AIU Graduate

I attended AIU and received my BS in Criminal Justice. The only time I spent on the work was the amount of time it took me to type the paper. I always did the work Saturday afternoon. (the day it was due) As long as I answered each portion of the question I would get an A. I only used my books for resources to cite and quote. I usually never used the books until three weeks into the class and even then I never read the chapter. I think that it is very possible to cover the material in a short amount of time but it depends on the effort of the student and the types of requirements the school has. I am now attending National University for my Masters and each class is four weeks. It takes me much more time and much more reading to pass the classes.

The easy requirements of AIU will only hurt the school in the long run because as the word is spread and employers learn about the unqualified graduates that apply for jobs the serious students who are looking for a real education will stop looking at AIU for a legitimate distance learning option.

 

Re: AIU Graduate

AIU is a no-name school, so I seriously doubt that that will ever happen.

If AIU is on probation from their regional accreditor, then that should be a legitimate concern of theirs. I cannot think of anything worse then to finish a DL RA degree from a school that loses its accreditation. That is a nightmare come true. Try explaining that at a job interview!!!

 

Excellent points by two from which such should come as no surprise to anyone. When I was saying that the length of the course in weeks doesn't matter, I was simply saying that you can't really tell anything from that; and that what matters is how many hours of class/lecture and homework/study is what matters. That's a quantitative matter that only addresses potential, not effectiveness.

What Andy and 3$Bill are talking about is more of a qualitative matter: The effectiveness of packing lots of lecture/homework time into a short chronological timeframe. I think they're right that that's not a good idea; that longer semesters are better.

What did I read a while back about it taking a certain amount of time for stuff we learn to move from the part of our brains where it's treated by the brain as more or less temporary, to the part where it becomes long-term memory? That sort of thing, it would seem to me, would play a key role as well, no?

 

I knew that once . . . for about 5 minutes after I read it.

My short-term memory is just a memory.

 

Interesting...I know someone at my company who completed an AIU MBA recently.

During my coursework, there have been cases where I've posted on the discussion board late in the week due to work/travel commitments...that's one of the benefits of asynchronous communication.

Since we're talking about Accounting (which I'm taking right now in a 12 week quarter) here is my workload for the course, which covers Financial and Managerial Accounting - and assumes you already have an undergrad accounting course.

- First Exam (2 hrs), 20%
- Mid-Term Exam (2 hrs), 20%
- Final Exam (2 hrs), 30%
- Graded Problems (about 1-2 hours per week), 10%
- Graded Quizzes (1 hour each quiz), 10%

I'm putting in around 8-10 hours per week (not including exam/quiz time), and each week covers 1-2 chapters in one of the 2 texts. I can't see how this could be done in a shorter time unless you really put in a lot of effort!

Cheers,
Mark

 

I agree with you mark. I just don't see how it is possible to cover that much material in 5 weeks. In my accounting class through my community college we cover a chapter or 2 a week and have a test assignment and practice work including a test on each chapter. My class is 8 weeks and I will cover 7 chapters.

 

Accelerated courses Arrgh!

I taught at a B & M school a few years ago where all of the classes were 4 weeks. The class met 4 hours a night for 3 nights a week. Not a good thing IMHO. I ended up giving a significant amount of class time so the students could get the work done - and learning obviously suffered.