Interesting......I wonder if this report is going to be more on a positive note...or playing "devils advocate"? I can assure you that I will be watching it... It would be nice to see everyones feedback on this issue/episode here when it is finished airing?
From what I could gather from the quickie teaser clip, the focus appears not about the legitimacy of online colleges as a whole but, rather, how to separate the legitimates from the mills.
Here's the link to the not so informative piece that ran tonight. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22455538#22455538
I would have to agree with your assessment of the segment; very uninformative. Why do these news organizations insist upon covering this topic with such bias?
Thanks a lot for the link, Clapper! For those that haven't seen the video yet, don't be afraid that it will "steal" time from your schedule: the video duration is only 2 minutes and 22 seconds. Happy New Year, everybody!
They tell us that the government "no longer accepts unaccredited online degrees" so can we take that to mean that the government accepts unaccredited not-online degrees or that they did, at one time, accept unaccredited online degrees. What exactly does that statement mean? Does it mean "I didn't do my research for this story and don't know what I talking about here..."? And, about the fake diploma factories; are people buying fake diplomas from fake schools? from online only schools? The fake diploma sites I've seen are selling fakes from real (or very nearly real sounding) traditional schools. That's not about "online degrees" - that's about document fraud. Another story, another day maybe. The only SME on distance ed they could find to hear from is from UoP? Even after claiming that "35% of all .... offer online degrees" (wondering where that stat is from, it's pretty high IMHO. Also wondering why that's not the foundation of this story - if that stat is true then this is significant) This is a very poorly done story. Of the "6.2 billion dollar industry..." we concentrate this story on the significance of a .5 billion segment as the most significant 'news' but throw in there some 'wishy-washy' about the idea in general. If I were grading this for a journalism/comms class (even an online class) it would go back ungraded and she'd be told to rewrite the story. It might even have a note saying what's this story about - really?
I agree. It's time to de-sticky this thread and hope that it quickly fades into obscurity among thousands of other threads.
Horrible, uninformative, and the SHRM guy made it sound like employers just dont buy into online programs. (I think people like him are part of the problem.) Lame filler on an off night.
Since it could have mistaken for a 2-minute promo for the University of Phoenix, I wonder, skeptic that I am, how much the U of P spends advertising each year on NBC and MSNBC?
I've only seen a few TV ads for UoP and can't recall them ever running on MSNBC -- at least not in my market (New York).
Clapper: "I've only seen a few TV ads for UoP and can't recall them ever running on MSNBC -- at least not in my market (New York)." John: As of fall 2006 (much higher now, I'm sure), Phoenix was spending more than $20 million a month on advertising, and said they were budgeting at least $30 million a year on network television 30- and 60-second commercials over the next 8 months. Plus, of course, paying more than $150 million for naming rights to a football stadium. While New York is one of the few states in which they don't have an office or campus, I believe they handle NY students through their New Jersey campus. (I get their 'pop-ups' constantly on MSNBC (in California).)
The New York Regents won't let them in; they're hoping the New Jersey campus snags some people in NYC. New Jersey was tough on them, too. They weren't allowed to offer grad degrees (at first), and the state required that UoP's infamous student-led team sessions be supervied by faculty. That was 3 years ago; not sure if anything's changed. (They seem to be offering grad degrees on the Jersey City campus now.)
This sort of poorly informed, superficial coverage is exactly why it's been so long since I wasted time on American commercial news. -=Steve=-