New Schools for Bears' Guide? Request for advice!

I think you should keep Stanford. Some prospects might be looking fro DL because of time/location commitment issues, but be wealthy enough to have the price as a less imortant choice criteria.

Stanford is still probably the better recognized brand of them all and it has appeal to this market segment, in my opinion.

 

Why is everyone so quick to eliminate Stanford?

Alex,

I'd agree on w_parker's proposal of Moorehead. ECU, DSU and Mountain I know very little about. Ashworth, while legitimate and reasonably priced is (IMO) not the best possible option given the RA programs that are only a few thousand dollars more. I even think of UoL and APUS/AMU are right-on-the-money. Yet, how could you, or so many on this board leave out Stanford (Leland Stanford Junior University)? Yes it is expensive, but it does provide a nice top-tier option for many prospective distance education students who are searching for a highly respected North American school. Granted there are many fine programs offered by quality institutions at a much more affordable price, but I believe Stanford should remain on the list. I certainly doubt anyone will argue that a student would receive any less than a top-quality education from study with Stanford.

(Friendlyman, at the time I was writing my post you had already posted. However, I had the very same sentiment.)

 

Re: Why is everyone so quick to eliminate Stanford?

Why leave out Stanford? For the same fundamental reason I would leave out Open University- lack of accessibility to large numbers of Americans. This is a top 101 list, not a comprehensive listing of all DL programs. if I were compiling a top 101, I would try to pick programs that were reasonably accessible to a large number of people. Stanford's high tuition puts it out of reach of a very large segment of the distance learning market.

If you wanted to include lots of top, very prestigious institutions, then you would also want to list Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Duke. Johns Hopkins' MPH program cost about 4 times as much as a roughly comparable program at University of London, as of the time I was choosing a program. Out of reach for a state employee with no tuition assistance! There have been many threads on this board discussing the high price of Duke's DL MBA. It's not clear to me why Stanford would make a top 101 and these other very prestigious programs would not.

Alex

 

Hello Mariah,

Bears' Guide (and Bear's Guide) has been an invaluable reference for me since the 80s. I have many references and texts dealing with distance learning, but none is as fun as Bears' Guide! Thank you for keeping up the tradition of excellence established by your father.

Your existing list includes Eastern Illinois University, Western Illinois University and Governors State University. The Board of Governors BA program offered by these (and by Northeastern Illinois University and Chicago State University) has always been a prominent feature in these programs' listings.

Recent changes in the Illinois system may be of interest for your next edition. The Board of Governors was dissolved, leaving the programs under the care of the individual boards of trustees of the five universities.

Eastern Illinois U.and Western Illinois U. have changed their programs' name to Board of Trustees Bachelors Degree and have increased the residency requirements to 20 units and 30 units, respectively. Governors State has retained the Board of Governors Degree name, but has increased the residency requirement to 24 units. These actions, in my opinion, have made the degrees less student-friendly.

Northeastern Illinois U. and Chicago State U. have retained both the Board of Governors name and the 15-unit residency requirement. The residency units can be completed by courses taken at any of the five universities.

For those who need a low-residency and highly flexible BA program, Northeastern and Chicago State offer a nice alternative to TESC, COSC and Excelsior.

Northeastern Il U. Board of Governors BA (15 unit residency)
http://www.neiu.edu/Nontrad.htm

Chicago State U. Board of Governors BA (15 unit residency)
http://www.csu.edu/ContinuingEducation//bogovernors.htm

Eastern Il U. Board of Trustees BA (20 unit residency)
http://www.govst.edu/bog/t_bog_home.asp?id=328

Governors State U. Board of Governors BA (24 unit residency)
http://www.eiu.edu/~adulted/bot.html

Western Il U. Board of Trustees BA (30 unit residency)
http://www.wiu.edu/SES/BOT/

Tony Piña
Coordinator of Learning Technologies
Northeastern Illinois University
Chicago, IL

 

I agree. From a practical viewpoint, the Stanford academic DL programs are accessible only to employees of participating sponsoring companies. (There are some non-academic DL programs accessible to all, but this doesn't seem relevant.)

I think this limited list of 101 schools should include only schools that are accessible to most readers.

 

Re: Re: Why is everyone so quick to eliminate Stanford?

Stanford tuition does leave out a large segment, but there are 100 other schools to fulfill this segment. Stanford is the ONLY top ranked school, thus the only choice for its niche.

My impression, as another prospect, is that the book would be about the best (TOP)100 DL schools. To the market, Stanford is probably number one. Maybe its not about choosing the best, but Stanford is the number one to fulfil some criteria, and I think it is important to keep this segment aware of the choice.

When on ereads top 100 schools I think the first inference its that they are the 100 best. If not people mght think that they are the bigger 100. People who wants an inexpensive degree might prefer to choose one inexpensive among the best 100 schools, as opposite to one inexpensive among 100 realtively cheap schools (that may not be the best ones, and people will have to find another book/source to find those). All my opinion, of course.

Harvard Extensions Master's need at least one semester there, or else I would advocate for its presence as well. I don't know about the others.

 

You have 101 schools. I don't think its too much to ask for one that might be the right fit for a niche that is buying the book anyway. They may think differently on the next time

 

Request from the Bear's

Request from Dr. Bear!
Sir, I just bought your most recent book and it fails to address the following institution. Would you please give me your opinion of the Robert de Sorbon University.

http://www.sorbonedu.com/sorbonengl.html.

I value your opinion and I have an ongoing discussion on another thread.

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showth...?threadid=13336

Thank you very much for your consideration and answer in advance.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Reverend Robert Ray Hill
Ordained Minister
http://www.CivilAirpatrol.biz/Resume.pdf


__________________
Ray Hill

 

I agree that Stanford should be removed, mostly because (as Oxpecker says) it only accepts employees of selected corporations. See (Here).

If you want to include a "top tier" engineering program, consider the University of Southern California. (Ian Anderson just recommended it in another thread.) It beats Stanford by offering DL degree programs in more engineering specialties, and it has the same entrance requirements as the on-campus USC engineering school. (Very selective, but not restricted to employees of particular corporations.) See (Here). USC just seems more committed to DL.

Besides that, I guess that my suggestion is simply that you try to provide your readers with as broad a mix of major subjects and program types as you can.

I'm not really sure what "best" means in "100 best". But even DL programs that are clunky in some ways might be "best" in their particular space, if no other program offers what they offer.

 

Columbia is in the list. It's a top tier school. And it offers DL engineering degrees.

 

I spoke to Mariah today; she is very pleased by the response.

I am fairly confident that we removed the word "best" from the book, and the promotion for the book, several editions ago, and substituted "good" -- as in "100 good schools that . . ."

 

Re: Florida State

I second Mark's recommendation of FSU. The Information Studies program is an American Library Association accredited Library School (one of only 49 in the nation). Of course it is RA too.

 

Even if Stanford offers courses only to specific companies. I think the employees of all those companies are still a considerable niche, specially when you take into account that you're offering them just 1 school in the book. I do agree that this argument makes my initialinterpretion of the urge for Stanford to be there less urgent.

The other is the presence of Columbia, having really strong name recognition and probably quality as well. However, in my impression, all facts being equal, people would only pass Stanford if they can get in Harvard (in this case it would be MIT).


I agree with your strong points, but I still thin Stanford deserves its single place. Although my first reasoing is weakened, I still believe it is strong enough to get one of the 101 positions in the book.

 

You may want to add Southwest university to the list.
www.southwest.edu
good school

 

Is there some reason you would consider it one of the top 100 DL schools? I couldn't find anything outstanding about it.

 

Dave;

I know everyone has an opinion, this is mine I have attended several schools ( being a member of the military and me being career military guy it forces you to do that ) I have found this school one of the most friendly, reasonable priced schools that I have attended.

They are certified to use government TA and this is a good thing for vets and active duty types. They offer several degree paths including the below listed and will have an undergraduate Business degree after the 1st of the year.
Associate of Science in Criminal Justice

Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice

Master of Science in Criminal Justice

Master of Business Administration

Master of Arts in Organizational Management
They are totally self paced as long as you complete them in the designated time (it is more than adequate) this is for adult learners that work.

Thanks

Clay

PS: you don’t have to be tied to a computer...

 

The following are DL courses offered by Sheffield Hallam University. I recently completed the History: Imperialism and Culture M.A. It was less than $5000 US. I also found them very easy to deal with.
Roy maybery


Applied Statistics, MSc/PgDip/PgCertApplied Statistics with Business Statistics, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Applied Statistics with Statistical Education, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Banking, Insurance and Risk Management, BA (Honours)
Communication Studies, MA/PgDip/PgCert
Corporate Communication, MA/PgDip/PgCert
E-Communication, MA/PgDip/PgCert
Environmental Management for Business, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Food Management, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
History: Imperialism and Culture, MA
Hospitality and Tourism Management, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Hospitality Management, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Hospitality Management, BSc (Honours)
Information Technology and Management, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
International and Travel Health, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
International Hospitality Management, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
International Tourism Business Management, BSc (Honours)
International Tourism Management, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
IT Professional, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Local and Regional Economic Development, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Management, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Managing Diversity in Europe, PgCert
Networking Technologies and Management, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Outdoor Management Development, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Professional Communication, MA/PgDip/PgCert
Public Rights of Way and Countryside Access Management, MSc/PgDip/PgCert
Technical Communication, MA/PgDip/PgCert
TESOL, MA/PgDip
TESOL, Trinity College Certificate
TESOL, PgCert
TESOL, MA/PgDip
Total Quality Management and Organisational Excellence, MSc
Tourism Management, MSc/PgDip/PgCert

 

I would keep CCHS (California College for Health Science) on your list. I have been attending for the past couple of years and have done it both the old and the "new" (on-line) way and the quality of the courses are excellent just some bumps with all the changes however they are very willing to make things right with the students. Overall an excellent education

 

Re: Capitol College

Thanks very much for the recomendation, rayjc! As a representative of Capitol, I'd like to clarify a few points.

• Capitol's masters degrees are offered 100% online but at this time the undergraduate degrees are not.
  
• Our online course delivery is an innovative blend of live webconferencing (Centra) for synchronous lectures and Blackboard for asynchronous learning.
  
• Our MS in Network Security is our most popular degree. It has earned us the National Security Agency designation of Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education.

Mariah, if you'd like to learn more about our programs, please feel free to send me a private message. I'll be happy to put you in touch with folks here who can answer your questions.

Julie Cooke
Web Manager
Capitol College

 

Just my humble opinion.

This year, I found your guidebook, this website and finished a degree I started over thirty years ago, so, from that experience I have the following suggestions and comments:

1) Your thorough and easily understood discussion of accredidation is GREAT and really needs to be the first chapter in any guide to alternative learning. It should be sub-titled "If you don't read and understan this, YOU'LL BE SORRY!!!"

2) The big three need a more thorough and detailed chapter of their own. I would suggest anecdotal accounts from a variety of satisfied graduates to illustrate their various starting points and how they acheived their goals using one or more of the big three. The big three are the MOST innovative, open and cost-effective option out there for the most people. The chapter should be entitled "Three VERY special educational opportunities."

3) I stongly urge a dedicated, thorough chapter discussing the earning of credit by testing. Again, the inclusion of individual experiences would be very helpful. Follow Lawrie Miller's outline!

4) A reference to this website and Lawrie Miller's along with a brief discussion of what to look out for the dark side on the web would be very helpful as well.

I hope this helps! Keep up the GREAT work you do, good luck and God bless!