Why are schools like U of P looked down on by the majority of people?

Good reflective commentary, except for that little self-promotion at the end. Would you like to add anything else? You must want something by coming here. Let's see if we can discover together what that something is...

 

What a Jerk

Well, this is one of the most benign things I've ever seen a troll do, but, it's still quite annoying when people come here for real advice and opinions.

The truth is, though I have NO experience with UofP, it is one of the very early examples, and maybe even the only popular example, of a well-known online school. I'd say that even though online schools are given much more respect these days, it very well may still have the original stigma. Also, it seems, MBAs tend to receive the most employer scrutiny and if your resume says University of Phoenix, it may just stick out as a sore thumb, whereas they might not even recognize another school as being distance ed.

Again, I can't speak for the actual programs, but from what I have heard, there are just so many campuses and the faculty turnover is so high that the quality of the training you receive may be impossible to guarantee.

 

In my experience with UOP, every new instructor teaches with a mentor shadowing for the first course. Most campuses do a full faculty evaluation every year. Many campus have an auditor that observes some of the face to face and online activities for each course. Turnover doesn't matter too much. Narcissists and dummies are immediately booted out of the system.

Are you aware of any community college, state university or prestigious university, that engages in such rigorous instructional quality assurance? (Being evaluated so much is almost annoying...)

 

Have to agree - the instructor training is the toughest I have seen. I failed out of the instructor training (for a few reasons) but I would never say the staff is under trained.

 

In the past I have applied as an adjunct with UOP with no responses back. However, these have been postings that a M.Ed. or M.B.A. would be considered as a minimum qualification; however, my academic qualifications would be a low priority to UOP in that I wouldn’t compare well with the Ph.D., D.B.A. or Ed.D. qualified candidates.

 

With the understanding that the OP is a troll, this is something that I did (except with Excelsior not UoP).

However, UoP was the first school I approached, largely because of their name recognition. When I heard it would cost $24K I looked at other options and found bain4weeks.com. The rest is history!

I have colleagues who are attending UoP, and their feedback to me was mixed. Some have said that it was very valuable while others expressed concerns about the quality of other students in their learning team - one teammate was a single mother who said "I can't contribute as I work and am a single mother", expecting to coast along. I've heard that professors who crack down excessively get reduced courses in the future - this may be true or not, but again, it's the word on the street that I've heard.

The rep for some of the for-profits like UoP and AIU is that "if you can pay, you get an A". Probably not accurate, but not helpful. As Cookderosa said, there are a zillion options out there. Before selecting a for-profit look at a geographically close state school which might have similar flexibility for less money.

 

I hear you. Yes, it would be easy to not complete the initial faculty training... It is very time consuming. Just one big project at work or a family emergency, and that event will set you behind enough to have to start over.

 

Wow, you devour degrees like I devour hamburgers! Do you even taste them?

 

I conducted that training for more than a year, and I'd have to agree. Faculty take a 4-week course to prepare them for the UoP process and method. It's not comprehensive, but it is throrough--and tough.

Bellevue U. has a terrific instructor prep program as well. Several years ago, I turned down a chance to be the first Dean of Faculty Development at AMU. I got a counter-offer at the last moment, but I've always wondered what would have developed from it. Bellevue and AMU are two of my favorites. (UoP is not.)

 

Faculty training at UoP is no joke; I used to teach for another online program, and their training was nothing compared to what you have to do for UoP.

 

Noted the above from 12/8 Dave. With some significant distance between the then and now, I offer a reply and wish you Happy Holidays.

Self-promotion is not the same as being an advocate for self. One implies profiteering. The other simply advises that I don't take any grief from anyone when it's not warranted in my opinion. I'm here because there are a lot of people who post here with similar aspirations and a few who hold careers/positions that I've interest in pursuing.

Sorry for the conversation necromancy.

 

Thanks for sharing that. I am hearing you say that my general comments about educational access for persons of color affected you personally back then and are still on your mind today. Am I understanding you correctly?

 

Could you two stop? I mean it was kind of entertaining initially, but you're both grown men. The two of you are obviously never going to see eye to eye, just agree to disagree and move on.

 

Yes, and they are great !

 

No, you're not. Not in the slightest.

I think the poster who advised us to forget the matter was on to something.

Happy Holidays.

 

It has gone on long enough, I have forgotten who I initially agreed with

 

The sad thing here is I'm pretty sure that if we were having a face to face conversation on the matter, we'd eventually see eye to eye and understand the differences in our arguments better; maybe learn from each other.

The problem is once you start talking about charged issues on a web forum, personal assumptions start taking over and you end up looking at people through a lens that isn't accurate or fair.

All I'll say here about this issue is that my statements about U of P apparently got turned into an assumption that I was against equal opportunity or that I had a problem with U of P faculty as a whole.

I have a huge problem with U of P as a business.
I dislike open enrollment practices.
The faculty at U of P are qualified to be faculty at U of P. That's all I have to say about that.

In terms of race or color or socio-economic disadvantage or whatever boundary Mr. Wagner wants to put around the open enrollment argument, I could care less about that. But that's not saying we couldn't have a wonderful discussion about that at some point.

Just not in this thread.

 

I second this motion!

Happy New Year to all.

 

And, on that note.........