Ok, I know that limits it to several million, but the one I am referring to is the Jif commercial that appears regularly on the Food channel. A 30ish mother is studying (sounds like an MBA course) at the dining room table and the young son comes up and asks her how is it going. She responds that it is rough and she needs to study. He goes off makes her a peanut butter (no jelly) sandwich, comes back and we have a warm and fuzzy as she hugs him and shares the sandwich. 1. Yes I know I watch too much food channel, but I really like the Iron Chef! 2. In the real world, she would not be studying on the dinning room table with the doors open, she would be cloistered away to avoid distraction (side note, as my wife gets ready to start working on her MA (HUX) from CSUDH, and I continue my doctoral work at Colorado State, it is going to get interesting around our house, the dog is going to suffer most probably). 3. When he came back with the sandwich, she would have bitten off his head before taking a bite of the sandwich. The point of this epistle is that working on a DL degree while trying to live a regular life, IS VERY VERY DIFFICULT! Talk about mood swings and edginess.
I would have to agree with you. Studying for an MBA by distance learning is not an easy task. Just remember that commercials are there to lure you into purchasing their product. The idea behind any marketing ploy is to take a product, such as the DL MBA program, and make it look appealing to their target audience. The MBA program I took at Windsor was very demanding. I chose to study on campus simply because I did not have the discipline or the inclination to study at home. I found it easier to study in a classroom environment especially with realistic deadlines and expectations for projects and assignments. I would like to know what the drop out rate is from these DL MBA programs?
Jif? Yuck. Maybe after she graduates she can afford to buy Skippy. Yes, I know Jif is the leading seller.
Actually, Roy has asked a very interesting question. What are the dropout rates . . . not just of MBA programs but any given DL program. It seems to me that it's likely to be like my health club . . . lots of people join and only a few actually attend. The dropouts are calculated into the profit margin. They pay for a course/program but never finish up. C'mon you MBA's, you know how to figure this out, right? Jack
Since we're on the topic of commercials, I really hate that commercial that the University of Phoenix bandies about. Now, don't get me wrong. I believe that the school is top notch, but somehow the notion of advertisement in higher education on television seems to tarnish a school's image. ...just my opinion. Cy
If I remember correctly, the primary difference between Jiff and any other leading brand of peanut butter (Skippy included) is that Jiff contains molasses. The added sweetness tends to make it more appealing to kids. Jack
In response to Jack's question...any college that has its eye on its profit margin cannot afford to ignore the incredible earnings potential of dl classes. Your comparison of health club drop-outs to dl drop-outs is spot on. I would love to take a peek at the financial books of many of the colleges that have a dl component and see just what they're raking in. Cy
Cyrus - I'm not disagreeing with you but . . . The fact is that there are a LOT of (MBA) schools out there and they're battling for the available students (I believe that demographic studies indicate declining enrollments based on age-group numbers) UofP, as a for-profit organization, must see itself as being in competition for the available (declining) number of students. Marketing is a primary weapon in this battle. We may see it as being somehow "distasteful" but it may make the difference between life and death for some schools/programs. Twice a year, in the Boston Globe (and the NY Times), there are educational supplements where schools advertise. These adds are for virtually every top school on the east coast. Is this really any different? Jack
The hard reality is that the dropout rate for higher education online courses is typically 20 percent higher than it is for traditionally delivered courses. In fact, the dropout rate in community college courses frequently reaches 50 percent or more. http://distancelearn.about.com/library/weekly/aa091102a.htm Did you know that when you don't finish a graduate program you may lose all the credits you've earned? It's true! Did you know that -- unlike undergraduate colleges which let you transfer in credits earned hither, here, and yon -- most accredited graduate schools accept little or no transfer credit from other graduate schools. Also true. So, you'd better be pretty sure you'v got the right program before you start or you could have find yourself with 30 credits toward a 36 credit Master's degree and having to start all over again! Believe me, it happens. My mailbox is full of letters that attest to it. http://www.degreefinders.com/SRDL.html With 50 to 75 percent of students in non-compulsory online classes dropping out, this strength has apparently become a powerful challenge, and some confide that this is due to human-related obstacles. http://www.degreeinfo.com/article9_3.html Some students learn the hard way that they need the structure and discipline of a regular classroom to complete their studies. It has been found that online learners drop out at a higher rate than those enrolled in regular classes. In a recent Forbes.com article, the online dropout rate was pinned at around 35%, compared to around 20% for typical freshmen. http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2000/11/111300_onlineclass.jhtml A problem that is particularly challenging with distance learning is engaging the student and maintaining motivation. The Training & Development Yearbook 2002 reported the dropout rate for some types of e-learning averages 10 to 20 percent higher than for face-to-face courses. http://www.bmra.com/pan/0502/0502text.htm
Another factor that could play into it is the time frame for add/drop which is usually based on the b&m side. Then with the DL component often lagging by up to a week, by the time you realize that you may not be able to finish the class the window to drop with out penalty (and even get a partial refund) is past. This is especially true with video tape classes (IMHO).
Mike, I see some employment opportunities in analyzing the efficacies of DL. Studies will surely abound as the phenomenon grows. The trick will be to never reach any hard conclusions so as to attain a sinecure in unraveling the mysteries of DL. Hey, it works in every other educational domain.
Hey here in Estonia, I would take grocery store generic peanut butter... Every once in awhile, the big store that caters to us foreigners will have Skippy. But usually we must make do with a cement like mixture from a company called Woodmans. They are from Holland, I think. The Dutch may be good at many things, but peanut butter is not one of them. So enjoy your Jif, Skippy and Peter Pan. I will get out my trowel to endure another jar of Woodmans... clint
Are you sure they aren't feeding you "wood filler". When I was a kid, I used to watch my dad fix the cracks in our doors with that stuff.
That is great!!! I imagine this stuff would serve that purpose well. It is just terrible. The flavor is Ok, but the texture is awful. It tastes like it has sand in it (saw dust maybe????), it makes your teeth stick together like glue and it is nearly impossible to get it off of the roof of your mouth. But, in its favor... it does give me something else to talk about on degreeinfo.com.... later, clint
C'mon now Unk, you are comparing the 'haves' and the 'havenots'. I didn't spend my entire childhood becoming addicted to vegemite. But of course you are right. That stuff is pretty nasty...Now that you mention it, I guess I am pretty lucky. clint
