Farewell degreeinfo but not goodbye..:-)

What happened to Jerry Alley?

I'm a current Aspen student and curious.

 

Great News!

Congratulations, David!

As someone who joined the board from the beginning, earning two master's degrees and a doctorate--all by distance/research, I share your experience and affinity to the forum community.

I wish you great luck in your new endeavors!

Kenneth

 

David,


Congratulations, it is incredible how much you have accomplished in so little time. All the best and hope to see you back soon.

 

Congratulations Dave,
Did you push for the new web design? All I can say about that is "Is about time!"

Anyhow, I wish you and Aspen every success now and in the future. And, in the future, I may use that open door and make you sorry you offered it .

congrats again!

 

Dr. Lady,

Congratulations on your academic and career accomplishments. As leader of a DETC accredited institution (a regular source of discussion at Degreeinfo), you can provide a much-needed and authoritative perspective that will be of great benefit to all of us who frequent Degreeinfo.

When I began posting, fairly early in the life of Degreeinfo, I was on the faculty at Cal State San Bernardino. I later became an Administrator at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago and will soon complete my first year as Academic Dean over a large online program at Sullivan University. I have been careful not to shill for my own schools (although I answer questions about them and receommend their programs when appropriate). I also regularly recommend programs for which I have no affiliation.

You can provide a "behind the scenes" look from a vantage point different than nearly everyone at Degreeinfo. If you have the time to do so, we would be very interested in what DL looks like from the President's chair.

 

Hi Matt,

The school that you came across was most likely Aspen University. Previously, Aspen offered an MEd with a concentration in Multiple Intelligence, however, I see that Aspen has revamped their MEd and the concentration has been removed.

I was actually in the MEd program for a short time (two classes), until I was told by the registrar that I was no longer able to remain an MEd student, as I did not have an undergrad degree!

After this, I switched back to my original degree program, an MS in IT. However, I was soon removed as a student with the school, as I had a few courses that were marked as incomplete. I did receive A's on the 3 Aspen courses that I did complete!

Perhaps David's first (or 30th) act as President could be to reinstate me as a student! I certainly would like to finish what I started!

 

Tom

First off:

Look at the program now: http://www.aspen.edu/med/index.htm

vs. the old

http://web.archive.org/web/20051214204442/http://www.aspen.edu/med/index.htm

Essentially it's the same concentration just a new name. I will admit that given their Certificate programs and their "grad" tuition program it would be a natural progression for them to offer the concentrations as "certificates" and a student could complete that then move onto a degree if they wished. It could also be used as a bridging to help candidates get into the Ed.D who lack an education background.

Reinstatement? I would think any President (acting or otherwise) that countermands policy of the school would be grounds for disciplinary action from the board; not to mention the damage to the reputation to the school or the authority of the registrar. I am surprised you got in, they made me pay for a degree evaluations and I have two undergrads; one from an AACSB Business School.

 

It appears that Aspen offers a DETC Masters in education. Does any public school system in the United States even accept a DETC degree in education?

 

I don't know if that is there market. Consider Kris Jamsa a great computer text book author and works as a professor at another university. To him the M.Ed from Aspen is a 3rd masters to support his teaching.

http://www.spock.com/Kris-Jamsa

 

You've become a very interesting poster. Would you suggest that NCU also warn candidates of the limited utility of their degrees as well, regional accreditation notwithstanding...

 

A) I was kidding. I would not go back to Aspen if they paid me to do so (no offense to Dr. Lady).

B) I was admitted under a program (since discontinued) whereby an applicant with 15+ years of experience (but no undergrad degree) were given the opportunity to apply certain graduate programs that they offered. Apparently, after allowing me to switch from the MSIM to MEd program, they changed their minds, and decided that I could not remain in the MEd program. I moved to the MSIT program, however, I was eventually dismissed due to incomplete courses. These were independent courses and obviously, I did not practice proper time management. It didn't help that the courses were about as dry as dry could be (IMHO of course).


Best,

 

Absolutely! If a potential student eventually wants to teach at a AACSB university, then he should get a degree from a school that is accredited by AACSB and not by DETC or ACBSP! Naturally, if a university is regionally accredited, along with ACBSP accreditation, then it far exceeds DETC utility. But do potential students know that? No, most don't. Unless someone explains it to them.

Thanks to Dr. John Bear's extraordinary explanation of what regional accreditation is, I was able to avoid going to a non-RA college or university, such as DETC. It would have been a disaster for me to spend all that money and effort to get a DETC degree -- only to find out at the end of the tunnel that its utility is limited in scope. Students who are fully informed about these issues are better off in the long run.

This is interesting indeed!

 

Good. So then, in the interest of fairness, I propose the following.

You either:

A) Add that disclaimer to your signature OR hire someone to follow you around in threads making that post OR
B) Discontinue your current practice of serving as the guardian of the greater good whenever D Lady posts.

What say ye?

 

Your proposal is taken under advisement.

 

You're funny but in a less than self-aware way.

But because you're so active, I have another question.

How do you think the academic world at large views a doctorate earned through NCU?

Pot meet kettle?

 

I've met state university professors with traditional doctorates who rolled their eyes to the back of their heads when the issue of getting an online degree came up. Conversely, other state university university professors with traditional doctorates have indicated that online learning is the wave of the future. It remains to be seen what pans out.

To specifically address your question, I can't give an answer for the academic world at large. As far as my NCU degree goes -- it has been extremely well received for the applications that it's been used for.

It would be a terrible handicap for a young person to unknowingly spend all that money and time on a DETC degree that has such limited utility. If someone wants to pursue a DETC degree knowing it's limited scope of utility, then that's a different story -- more power to them! But the garden variety young student should be warned. If most young students understood the differences in various accreditation's, then they could make informed decisions.

 

Caveat emptor. It isn't the responsibility of a FOR-PROFIT institutions to point out possible short comings in their product. Are they breaking any promises made to their students? How are they responding to potential student's inquiries? As long as they are being honest and direct in the product they are providing and answering potential student inquiries honestly it isn't on the school to define the scope of their diploma's utility.

I would hope that when looking for a college/university the student would do his due diligence.

 

Well, a DETC degree has obviously worked well for D. Lady. Couldn't he have written exactly what you've written above in the 2nd paragraph? His degrees seem to have been well received on the applications for which he has used them.

As for your 3rd paragraph, wouldn't the same apply for a young PhD candidate considering all that money and time on a NCU doctorate? Wouldn't it be of limited scope compared to a traditional Ph.D., which, by the way, typically pays the student and not the other way around? Should there be some campaign of people checking the age of NCU applicants and saying "WAIT! ARE YOU SURE THIS IS RIGHT FOR YOU?!?"

In my opinion, you're being disingenuous. And you're also bringing down the level of discourse a bit. Debates aren't won by someone screaming the same point over and over again but by the points made. You've said your piece. Why continue spamming whenever D Lady posts? You like your NCU degree even though you admit it's of limited value. He likes his DETC degree even though it's of limited value.

Can we move on?

 

Emphasis mine.

Agreed on all counts.

 

If memory serves, Dave Lady earned a doctorate from NCU.

Suggestion: ignore that anonymous NCU shill.