University for The People

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by jackrussell, Aug 16, 2009.

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  1. jackrussell

    jackrussell Member

    Have anyone seen this? http://www.uopeople.org/ It is unaccredited for sure but the founders seem to have a noble cause. Anyone tried?
     
  2. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I thought that its 'accreditation' page was about as good as I've ever seen from an unaccredited school.

    http://www.uopeople.org/ACADEMICS/Accreditation/tabid/200/default.aspx

    They say that they are restricting themselves to undergraduate level business and computer science, and won't be awarding any degrees in those subjects until the school is fully authorized and has progressed further down the accreditation track.

    (It's operating out of Pasadena California, a state where anything goes. They could churn out PhDs if they wanted to.)

    Its tuition is about as good as I've ever seen too. They say that it's free at this early stage, though they reserve the right to change that when the school is closer to accreditation.

    http://www.uopeople.org/FEES/tabid/205/default.aspx

    My only reservations at this point concern its methodology.

    http://www.uopeople.org/THEMETHOD/tabid/209/default.aspx

    It looks like a great deal of weight is going to be placed on peer-peer learning. Students will study in groups and pair with "study-buddies". They will all have webpages with photos where their work will be posted for others to see. (Recruiting pride and embarassment as motivators.) There will be instructors and group-leaders who apparently will be volunteer professors and graduate-students. I'm not sure what their roles and responsibilities will be, exactly. So I'm not really sure how all of this is supposed to work.

    But seeing as how it's free while they tinker with it and work out the kinks, there isn't a whole lot of risk. Even if it eventually flounders and sinks without a trace, it would still be a great guided-study opportunity for its students.

    My initial impression: I like it.
     
  3. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    I agree with Bill, entirely.

    U of the People seems to be an outgrowth or evolution of www.cramster.com which UotP founder Reshef, Israeli entrepreneur, helped finance and took over its helm. Cramster has more than 100,000 participants, which is a great launching pad for UotP. And the Cramster model that they call "freemium" -- basic services free, more specialized services with a fee -- may turn out to be the model for UotP as well.
     
  4. Shawn Ambrose

    Shawn Ambrose New Member

  5. Dave Wagner

    Dave Wagner Active Member

    Intriguing... The wording around degree conferral is a bit off putting though. They don't plan to confer degrees until proper authorization is attained.
     
  6. mba_expo

    mba_expo New Member

    Having stumbled across them a couple months ago, I have been following them in the news. Somehow, I just really like their approach in particular, and, in general, the whole idea of supervised peer-to-peer learning at a nominal cost to everyone (well, anyone with a highschool diploma and an internet connection).

    So, for the past weeks since their first semester started with 174 students, I have been asking myself, what it would take for the UofPeople to be, at least, nationally accredited, that is, licensed in the State of California where they're at? What would they need in order to legally issue bachelor degrees for the two programs they have?

    Once/If authorized to issue degrees, they'd undoubtedly make a big splash and draw significantly more students and also more volunteer instructors.
     
  7. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    I believe they would need to be state licensed if operating out of California. The state requirements can be found here:
    http://www.bppve.ca.gov/about_us/reform_act.pdf
    If state licensed, then nothing stops them from granting degrees except their own internal 'business' plan.

    National or Regional Accreditation is different then acquiring a state license and can take several years to obtain. Check websites for WASC or DETC if you need details.
     
  8. mba_expo

    mba_expo New Member

    Thank you, Ian Anderson, for the lit. reference. The 248pp. of BPPVE legalese will make for the perfect winter bedtime story. :rolleyes:

    Also, thanks for clearing up my long-nourished misunderstanding that state licensing was synonomous with national accredition.

    Would you happen to know, how much it would cost (monetary & time) for an institution to go through the accreditation process, resp. for national and regional accreditation? (Somehow, I recall reading that it can be somewhere in the neighborhood of USD 100-200,000 and a couple of years for regional.)
    And for online schools, I have found DETC's here, though I presume DETC accreditation would not be in lieu of - but in addition to - national and/or regional accreditation.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 11, 2009
  9. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    Licensing and accreditation are not even in the same league. Businesses get licensed. Educational institutions, which might be a profit or non-profit business, get accredited otherwise they remain unaccredited despite having a license to operate. Whether an institution can issue degrees is state regulated.

    If you are interested in the costs, contact the appropriate accreditation bodies for the most up-to-date information. Anything you read on a discussion forum cannot and should not be taken as gospel. Do your own research, cite your sources, and then ask questions. Sorry if my reply sounds snarky but I was attending a Remembrance Day ceremony earlier today.

    [/quote]
    And for online schools, I have found DETC's here, though I presume DETC accreditation would not be in lieu of - but in addition to - national and/or regional accreditation.
    [/quote]

    DETC also accredits brick-and-mortar schools. On this forum references to national accreditation usually means DETC. For example, Western Governors University is nationally accredited by DETC and regionally accredited by one of the regional accreditation agencies. For their web site, "Western Governors University is nationally accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). WGU is also regionally accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, one of the major accrediting commissions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)."
     

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