New Forum...

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Dr. Gina, Jul 5, 2003.

Loading...
  1. Dr. Gina

    Dr. Gina New Member

    After reading the following post I have to agree with FNHayes that MIGS slot is long past its 'use-by' date and needs to be replaced by something of greater interestto all of us.

    http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9015



    Therefore, I have come up with a suggestive list of new forum titles - to either replace MIGS or create a whole new forum - that have been of interest to some of us lately:


    1.) Kennedy Western University

    2.) St. Regis University and its affiliates

    3.) NBOE and Liberian Accrediation

    4.) Accrediation - either accreditation in general or Universities up for accrediation.

    5.) Online Doctoral Programs

    6.) State Laws Regarding Degree Acceptance (or something related to that)

    7.) Individuals Caught using Less-than-acceptable degrees.


    Any feedback or discussion would be appreciated
     
  2. Dr. Gina

    Dr. Gina New Member

    Another one

    8.) Diploma Mills. (even though we have an accredited vs non-accredited forum, I am of the opinion that Diploma mills should not be associated with legitimate non-accredited institutions.)
     
  3. c.novick

    c.novick New Member


    I'm with you Dr. Gina.

    #1 & #8 get a lot of milage here.

    I think we could open up on some other forums. It may also be less confusing to keep up on some of the excellent debates in progress.
     
  4. DaveHayden

    DaveHayden New Member

    My suggestion would be to NOT create additional forums. It is easier to sift through just a couple of forums rather than subdivide the posts further.
    :)
     
  5. Guest

    Guest Guest

    How about a new forum to discuss the pros/cons of beginning a new forum? ;)
     
  6. plumbdog10

    plumbdog10 New Member

    "The Touro Advertising Forum"
     
  7. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I agree with Dave.

    If you look at our threads, they usually encompass a whole lot of related issues. What's more, they often have a tendency to go off-track and change direction midway. If we subdivide our topics further, threads would just be less likely to remain on-topic.

    What's more, people are reactive. They are less likely to start new threads than to respond to on-going discussions. That means that forums need a critical mass of activity in order to attract new participants. (Look at the IT forum.)

    I like things they way they are now:

    A forum for actual nuts and bolts student's-eye-view discussion of DL programs, for announcing new programs, discussing admissions, course requirements, professional licensing, personal experiences, solving problems and the like.

    A forum for the accreditation-related issues and for discussing the degree-mills.

    And an anything-goes (within reason) forum for whatever interests people, even if its relation to DL is tenuous.

    If we have to replace the MIGS forum with something, then perhaps a faculty and administrators oriented forum might interest somebody. That would kind of balance the student-oriented forum, attract new participants and give us a new perspective. (The differences between the student and faculty perspective could turn out to be very enlightening to both sides.) There are a number of people on Degreeinfo who either teach DL courses currently, or would like to teach at some point. (Sometimes I think that everyone here with the exception of myself is either a doctor or a doctoral student.) The new faculty forum could delve into everything from teaching methodologies and course design to labor issues.
     
  8. fnhayes

    fnhayes New Member

    Dr Gina's comments make sense - MIGS needs to be eliminated.
    Now that the K-W poll, with the usual resultant animosity from the 'bush' lawyers and 'bush' doctors, has run its course what about a 'democratic' poll on Dr Gina's suggestions? :)
     
  9. tcnixon

    tcnixon Active Member


    What a great idea! If a goal is to bring in more folks and to make distance learning more acceptable to faculty, then this would seem to be a good way to do exactly that.

    And, yes, can't we archive MIGS already? The only activity that it ever gets is when someone asks why we can't get rid of it.

    As to the IT forum, it never really took off. Rather surprising to me. I think what happens is that many/most of the IT questions end up being answered in the main forum.



    Tom Nixon
     
  10. mfh

    mfh New Member

    What about "I hate Touro" forum? Perfect for you!

    MFH
    MBA (Final Semester)
    Touro
     
  11. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    I agree that the MIGS forum is no longer of much interest. It was a very fun forum when it was being used. Actually though this is a completely different issue from breaking the forum up into more sub-groups.

    IMHO, breaking DegreeInfo into more sub-groups would not be good. For example, if there was a degree mill forum separate from the accredited versus unaccredited forum, who would decide which discussion goes where? K-W should be discussed in the degree mill forum (he-he, the Council on Higher Education and my opinion) but few K-W threads would really be started up there. If we had a separate forum for just K-W then when it either achieves RA (yea right :)) or is closed down for fraud, we would be stuck with the same problem that we have with MIGS now.
     
  12. oxpecker

    oxpecker New Member

    We already have a degree mill forum. So no need for another.

    I like the idea of the Touro love/hate forum.
     
  13. Tom Head

    Tom Head New Member

    I'm with Tom N. on the Faculty and Administrators forum; it would bring in an entirely new audience that isn't interested in DE from a consumer perspective. As far as the MIGS forum goes, my feeling is that something should be done to it, but I'm not quite sure what. I think the posts should remain somehow accessible out of historical interest, but it's unlikely that there will be any breaking news about MIGS to discuss, and it makes the forum list look dated. Maybe the messages could be exported to an HTML archive accessible from the Articles page, then transferred to the unaccredited degrees forum?


    Cheers,
     
  14. Dr. Gina

    Dr. Gina New Member

    Time for a vote?

    If we have to replace the MIGS forum with something, then perhaps a faculty and administrators oriented forum might interest somebody. That would kind of balance the
    student-oriented forum, attract new participants and give us a new perspective



    I think this is a great idea for a forum. However, I still like some of the ideas that I have originally presented. Therefore, in keeping with all the above suggestions, i ammend my list:



    1.) Kennedy Western University and/or St. Regis University

    2.) NBOE and Liberian Accrediation

    3.) Faculity and Administrators forum

    4.) State Laws Regarding Degree Acceptance (or something related to that)

    5.) Diploma mills


    I still feel that KWU and SRU, at this point almost ned their own forum, since SRU and KWU discussions take up most of the threads in the Distance Learning and Accredited Vs. forum, as well as NBOE (since it is timely). I still keep the title of Diploma Mills as an alternative to KWU and SRU, so as not to become dated, and to keep discussions of schools of this type there.


    Any feedback or when a poll should be created would be appreciated
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 6, 2003
  15. Gus Sainz

    Gus Sainz New Member

    The simplest solution would be to rename the MIGS forum something akin to Questionable Foreign Degrees. In that way, not only could all the current posts remain in place and be relevant, but also the insidious practice of bogus overseas accreditation could be addressed in a more salient manner. Many people come to DegreeInfo looking for specific information on a particular school. A separate and distinct forum would make it easier for those looking for information on, or wanting to discuss, such schools as St. Regis, IUFS, and Berne.
     
  16. Tom Head

    Tom Head New Member

    I'm not sure I like the idea of a "Questionable" forum, because it would place the administrators in a position where they would constantly need to make value judgments about individual schools. I also don't care for the idea of a KWU or NBOE forum because, with all due respect to everybody, I think they're both flavors-of-the-month as far as active discussions go, and probably would not sustain enough long-term interest to support a forum. MIGS was a special case because so many regulars on this forum were connected to the situation.


    Cheers,
     
  17. dlkereluk

    dlkereluk New Member

    Agreed. :)

    Darren.
     
  18. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    No one wants the MIGS forum to go away more than me. Much ado about nothing, it turned out, but some important discussion along the way.

    That said, I'd like to see it continue to be available--who knows when Danzig and company will resurface in this field? But I agree with Gus that it should be expanded to include the whole bunch of "end-arounders."
     
  19. Gus Sainz

    Gus Sainz New Member

    I don't think so, Tom. That's precisely why I chose the word "questionable" instead of terms that would perhaps be more appropriate, such as "bogus" or "fraudulent."
     
  20. Tom Head

    Tom Head New Member

    "Questionable" would probably address the legal liability concerns; what I'm more worried about is the practical issue of where posts go. If someone posts mentioning a university that has taken a nontraditional route to accreditation that is perfectly valid but not well-understood (say, that of a small Australian or South African divinity school), what makes it questionable? Who has to question it to make it questionable? And if a school claims unrecognized foreign accreditation--say, from Liberia or St. Kitts--isn't the "accredited vs. unaccredited" forum precisely where it belongs? How does it get upgraded to "questionable"?

    I don't feel really strongly about this; I just have an awful lot of experience moderating various online forums and see a potential problem here.


    Cheers,
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 7, 2003

Share This Page