Do You Have Any Content-Article Ideas?

Hello all! I am helping Chip White with the upgrades to the DegreeInfo Web site, and I was wondering if anybody had any ideas about articles on distance education that they would like to see written and published here on DegreeInfo.

Any ideas you might have would be most welcome, and hell - if you have an article or would like to write one, please consider submitting it to us. We just might publish it on the site, assigning credit to you in all your glory!

Please either post your ideas here, so send me a private message. Thanks so much!

Cheers,
Nathan

 

Hey Nathan,
Let's start a university. With all the knowledge on the board we could cover almost any subject or course of study. Wonder if DETC would accredit us?

 

International Open University (IOU.edu)

 

I would be glad to have one of my articles posted.

As part of my Province of British Columbia Instructors' Diploma, I wrote a defense (actually a short article) refuting the course material's contention that 'co-operative' learning did not work (or flourish, is likely more accurate) in distance education.

As I had earned my MBA via distance from Athabasca, and spent about 25 hours per week on my studies, over half of in on-line discussions and group work, I disagreed. I would call my on-line education a positive example of 'co-operative' learning!

My 'little' paper was received positively, and elements of it are being added to the curriculum for the Instructors' Diploma.

My paper has some exposition, but is mostly a table of personal 1-5 ratings and experiences, with explanations. If degreeinfo.com can handle Word 2000 tables, then I'll let you take a look at it. Otherwise, I'd have to re-type or reformat, and I'm not up to that right now.

Michael

B.Arts / Dalhousie / Canada
MBA / Athabasca / Canada
Province of BC Instructors' Diploma
currently enrolled in HUX / Cal State Dominguez Hills
and will start PhD Business at Touro, this coming June

 

article ideas

Hello, I have hopes of a peaceful spring for all. My article idea might seem a little out there. Distance Learning Resource Suggestions for Librarians.* Our county library owns all the current dl books with the exception of Jon Porters Guerilla Guide. The librarians are sadly uninformed in this area. One argued with me that UNISA wasn't a real college. These people should be a resource for dl. I can't wait to share my contemplation of graduate work in chaos with them. Hille

 

Here are some of the things I'd like to see in the content section:

• A decent FAQ, covering the basic questions such as starting points to legitimately pursue credit for experiential learning (TESC/COSC/Excelsior, etc.), accreditation fundamentals, etc.
  
• A picture of me. Perhaps a new one every month.
  
• A list of portals and search engines as discussed in the University Index Sites thread. In addition, direct links to key DL university sites.
  
• Explanation and current status of the Johnny Reincarnation continuum.

 

How to get financial aid

I'd like to see an article on financial aid for distance educaton.

 

Several Ideas:

Why not provide sub-forums which would assist would-be students with an outline of the process:

- forms of earning credits (aside from transfering existing) such as CLEP, DANTES, test-outs, etcetera, along with portfolio assessment and links to test scheduling sites.

- financial aid: dependent vs. independent. Limitations, qualifications and sources.

- degree finder: assistance by members to provide direction to specific schools offering the majors a would-be student may be seeking. This might include Masters and Doctorates, as well.

- a general outline of what's required even before they apply.


Just some random thoughts!

 

Re: Several Ideas:

David that sounds like a great article You should write it!!

Leslie

 

Wow, these are all excellent ideas!

We're already working on some of them, and we have a small handful of articles that will go on the content site when it launches (really soon).

We'll also be in touch with those of you who have offered articles to us. But please keep the ideas flowing!!

Thanks

Chip

 

re: article ideas

I think that many people new to the board would be well served by an article on or even a list of degree titles. Many posters do not realize which degrees are equivalent to one another, or are different stages in a track of degrees, i.e., "What is the difference between an MA, MS, MBA?" or "Which comes first, the MAR, MDiv, or ThM?" These deifinitions would be especially pertinent given how often degree titles from other countries crop up, such as the MPhil. The article could also explain the origin of the degree, and the typical amount of work involved in completing it.

 

Some people have complained that threads on particular topics get lost in the crowd. One possible solution that has been suggested is to divide the board into a a larger number of separate forums. A difficulty with this approach is that people tend to gravitate to the "main" forum. Also, some posts might cover topics of interest in several different areas and therefore have no obvious single home on a multi-forum board.

One possibility would be to appoint (or elect?) editors for topics of wide interest. Each editor would maintain a page with links to relevant threads and a simple narrative to connect the threads. Such pages could be set up for topics such as:

• Religion (theology, divinity, etc.)
• Law
• Computer Science and Info Systems
• Science and technology (excluding CS & IS)
• Business
• Australian programs
• South African programs
• etc.

Note that a thread on Potchefstroom, for example, could be linked from both the Religion page and from the South Africa page.

Just a thought...

 

I would be willing to contribute to (write?) an FAQ for Bar admission.

Nosborne

 

Hi,

I'd like to see an emphasis - or maybe a content site - that discusses the DL delivery systems, eg. Blackboard, WebCT, LearningSpace and any others you care to mention.

Also other tools such as SkillVantage and LearnIT.

Anyone using EMBANet ?

For those that get into DL from both sides of the divide !!!!

Cheers,

Neil

 

Well, if DETC doesn't accept it, Montana certainly will, and if that fails - we're off to the British Virgin Islands !!!

CFr

 

Sorry, haven't read this thread in awhile...
I just want to say that I really like Gert's suggestion (dated 4/2). I think that would make it easier to find exactly what you are looking for, etc.

I notice that some topics just naturally attract more participation that others - and thats totally OK. However, if some "less important" topic is actually very important to you, then you want to be able to interact on that subject and not have it quickly disappear down the list or have the topic get changed to something else.

Of course, someone might find out that they were the ONLY person interested in a particular discussion. Then I suppose they could talk to themselves.
my thoughts on it (and I really appreciate the work you folks put into the site. It has been extremely helpful to me.)
clint

 

I agree with two things here:

1. Yes there should be seperate sections for each subject.

2. Considering the use of DL environments, a really useful comonent would be the WebCT, Blackboard, etc forums. Currently I'm at an institution which uses WebCT and it's been an uphill struggle to use it. A forum devoted to WebCT would have made the start easier.

Whilst the university advocate it's use, very few people actually have started running modules using WebCT. In my school I have 3 and am the only one using the system.

 

I would find it helpful if there were individual forums on ways of earning credits, like a Testing forum, a Portfolios forum, etc.

Sample portfolios.

Information on individual tests: pass rates, recommended study materials, where to get practice exams, etc.

Jacqueline

 

How about an area called "The Big Three" where people can post and view comments on COSC, TESC and Exclesior?

 

Annon.

One of the advantages that a distance learner has is that they may to a certain extent remain annonymous. So say an assignment is due...how do you as an instructor/teacher know that the work submitted has been done by the said person? For all we know a friend or relative may have done the assignment. I would like to see articles that address this issue of Quality in terms of work submitted by the students...Or how quality in distance ed is maintained