Ranking DETC Schools - Doctoral Business or Finance

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by morganplus8, Dec 2, 2009.

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  1. Randy Miller

    Randy Miller New Member

    This reminded me that Taft offers an EdD program. It's priced on a monthly basis rather than a per unit basis. Since the program can be completed in 27 months the total cost would be about $11,340 IF I could complete it that fast.

    They were also approved by DETC to offer a DBA program many months ago but its still not listed on their website.
     
  2. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    I assume you are talking about a non-DL doctorate here.

    NJIT is a great school and I was unaware that they had DL degrees
    http://online.njit.edu/programs/degrees/index.php
    But $961/credit puts a DL masters at around $30,000 for non NJ residents.

    NJIT is one of the very few schools that does research in my technical specialty. NJIT also has a major solar observatory here in So. California.
     
  3. sshuang

    sshuang New Member



    I got an e-mail from Taft that DETC made a mistake on its website. Taft was approved to offer EdD, not DBA.
     
  4. Redlinesoldier

    Redlinesoldier New Member

    Columbia Southern just makes the most sense

    I chose Columbia Southern for these reasons:

    self study, I dont have to deal with some idiot not pulling his weight in a group project

    affordable-keep ALL tuition below $750 a class for military, so I don't have to dip into my GI bill

    self paced-no set login times, just finish each class in at least ten weeks

    free books

    no entrance exams

    recognized by dept. of education and dept. of defense

    NOBODY else can claim all of that.
     
  5. sshuang

    sshuang New Member



    Hi Redlinesoldier,

    Do you know how the dissertation process is going to be like at Columbia Southern? Does the school help you form the dissertation committee?

    In addition, how is the Comprehensive Exams like?

    Thanks
     
  6. J. Redman

    J. Redman New Member

    found this, it looks pretty cool and 'unique'

    http://www.aspen.edu/programs/BSAE/index.htm
     
  7. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    What RD is stating has merit but watching DETC as they are heading to a higher academic recognition I can see their schools achieve higher academic value some day. Not to long ego they accredited vocation qualification and began accrediting AS degrees.

    Now slowly they are accrediting up to doctoral level.

    Today B&M RA's are providing excellent DL degree programs so there is a lot of challenge for the DETC to so to speak compete.

    The DBA degree accreditation is very new, how can one compare hundreds of years of RA universities providing academic degrees to more vocational accredited schools who are just beginning to award Doctoral degrees in limited philosophies.

    DETC schools were always more Industry oriented so its not a bad thing, now they also provide academic degrees.

    There is also a political and job protectionism portion to all this RA vs NA debate.

    I see the competition as healthy process and a constant need to improve.
    DETC will have to reinvent it self and RD may have some advise that if I was M.Lambert I would listen and encourage dialect between DETC and veterans as John Bear, Rich Douglas, Steve Levicoff and many others to engage in some board like consulting activities for DETC.

    Maybe there is such activity but I'm not aware of it.

    WHy not invite Mr. M Lambert to visit this board and participate in our discussions?
     
  8. morganplus8

    morganplus8 New Member

    Lerner,

    Your posts are the best on the board, I always rush to see what you have to say. I will challenge this one statement if I may,

    Lerner suggests:
    <<Today B&M RA's are providing excellent DL degree programs so there is a lot of challenge for the DETC to so to speak compete.>>

    I would like to point out that there may be a surprisingly large number of RA B&M schools that has some of the worst DL programs you can imagine. Why would anyone want to spend all of that money on a course that is completely useless and without merit or value? They do it anyway.

    An example is the University of Guelph's third year, Recreation and Tourism Planning 3500DE ,

    http://www.open.uoguelph.ca/offerings/offering.aspx?hold=y&id=2735

    This course has been offered for many years now, and the best they have been able to do is to split the assignments into 4 sections of various weighting. You don't talk to fellow students, you don't talk to a Prof, you are left to guess at what the assignment is all about and hope you remain on topic as you write and submit your assignments. They are graded and sent back to you for review and the cycle continues. There is no guidance available at all in this course and no one there to gain any insight into the requirements of the course. I might add, this is a huge improvement over previous years when you were only required to complete 2 assignments and you're done. The failure rate is very high as it is an RA school and marks are subject to the curve.

    This isn't the only course that requires zero participation from the Prof. There are many of them with nothing to offer. You write assignments, hope you have it right and move on.

    My experience over the years is exclusive to RA schools, I haven't studied at a DETC school to date, but it can't be any worse than this program from a school that ranks, over the past dozen years, in the top 4 position(s) for comprehensive universities in Canada, many times, number one.

    I would argue that it is possible that DETC schools are far more capable of presenting online learning than RA schools "because" it's all they do. They are experts at presenting course material and a learning outcome with some depth.

    Perhaps we should begin a thread on RA online courses that suck big time. We might be surprised at the size and depth of the list! :)

    Keep up the informative work.
     
  9. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    Thank you for the kind words.

    I'm an amateur when it comes to DL.
    I'm sure that there are all ranges there some bad and some very good DL programs, and agree that DETC specializes in DL delivery and has accumulated wealth of experience doing so comparing to new comers.

    I also looked at what RD suggested and can categorize it more experimental category of DL delivery in my opinion.

    I think the burden of providing challenging programs and earning reputation is upon the DL providers, colleges, institutes and universities.
    The mark of excellence such as DETC accreditation alone is not sufficient.
     
  10. morganplus8

    morganplus8 New Member

    <<I think the burden of providing challenging programs and earning reputation is upon the DL providers, colleges, institutes and universities.
    The mark of excellence such as DETC accreditation alone is not sufficient.>>

    And so it should be, all educational institutions should be regulated/required to at least produce a baseline quality of education. This should apply to RA schools in particular, who might try to fly under the radar with their elitist status, while failing to offer even a basic level of education.

    Again, I haven't taken a course from any DETC school to date, but I have to wonder if the simple fact that they exist, with enrollment growing, resulting in potential student/parent populations spending their hard earned funds for the perceived reason that they see real value in some of these schools, speaks volumes of the success DETC is enjoying.

    RA schools have been forced to provide DL courses, but in some cases, they are doing it kicking and screaming because, "it not the proper way to gain a superior education". Yeah, ... right. Hopefully some day day we will see an accrediting agency form, to set the long overdue minimum standards that RA schools need to abide by, if they want to compete with many of the better DETC schools.

    One misnomer is the suggestion that we need first class, long tenured, professors to teach in RA schools otherwise our poor students can't learn and/or they won't benefit from their professors' expertise. In fact, it is quite likely that smart students will, in many cases, carry the class and provide far more insight into certain topics than their temp/lecturers can provide. Far too much emphasis is placed on the professor (by the educators themselves?) and not on the bright student. God knows there is more information out there than any professor can ever hope to remember, students from DETC schools are just as capable of tapping that knowledge base as any other human being alive today.

    DL is here to stay, let's regulate RA schools and not let them sell sub-level education under the disguise of RA accreditation.
     
  11. raristud

    raristud Member


    "DL is here to stay, let's regulate RA schools and not let them sell sub-level education under the disguise of RA accreditation."

    -- I have experienced what I believe to be sub-level course content delivery ( no instructor support, lax assignment requirements, lack of student participation) at both RA schools and DETC schools. Would you propose an independent evaluator of distance learning curriculum and instruction? How would you define sub-level education?

    "RA schools have been forced to provide DL courses, but in some cases, they are doing it kicking and screaming because, "it not the proper way to gain a superior education". Yeah, ... right."

    -- In my experience managing a distance learning production studio for many years for a large RA university, I disagree.

    "The mark of excellence such as DETC accreditation alone is not sufficient."

    -- To Lerner: You are entitled to your opinion. I don't know if you have. I encourage you to enroll at a DETC accredited school if that is what you are looking for.

    "Hopefully some day day we will see an accrediting agency form, to set the long overdue minimum standards that RA schools need to abide by, if they want to compete with many of the better DETC schools."

    -- What DETC schools do you consider to be better? Better than what institution? What is your definition of an overdue minimum standard?

    "I think the burden of providing challenging programs and earning reputation is upon the DL providers, colleges, institutes and universities."

    - I do agree with lerner
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 10, 2009
  12. raristud

    raristud Member

    One school that I'm eyeballing is Columbia Southern University. Their DBA program is attractive given the cost and course content/offerings. I have heard positive things about this university. Any opinions on this program? It does not matter if the university is NA. The NA/RA debate is very familiar to me. :D

    http://www.columbiasouthern.edu/degree/business/doctor/business/
     
  13. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    I just read a post on another channel about the Youtube university lectures available free of charge to all of us.

    I think this is a good opportunity to "participate" in a real lecture as if you are
    attending this university.

    I have access to study guides from DETC accredited college and made a comparison to one lecture so far.
    Conclusion is that its nice to combine both :).

    Personally for me I retain material better when I read the material in self study format and use a text book with test questions to check what was learned so far.
     
  14. morganplus8

    morganplus8 New Member

    raristud,

    I just have a moment but I did want to stress two things:

    There are a number of so called quality schools out there who have not lived up to their responsibility to provide first rate education through DL. I have taken numerous courses and I can attest to this personally as well as the firsthand knowledge I have gained from fellow students taking courses at the same institution as me and expounding on their feelings of being let down.

    The second point is that we already have accrediting organizations who are responsible for the academic rigor of these RA schools and it is and should be their responsibility(s) to review DL programs withing these institutions and take corrective action. We need to drive those organizations that exist today, to do their job and live up to their mandate.
     
  15. EGJ

    EGJ New Member

    Sorry 03310151. I beg to seriously differ.

    I recently completed the doctoral program (DBA) at Calif InterC Univ a "NA" school and found both the rigor and depth of each course easily match courses in other programs in what is referred to as regionally accredited (RA) or brick and mortar schools. I hold masters degrees from University of Virginia in Charlottesville VA a highly rated "RA" school - go CAVS!), an MBA from Marymount University in Arlington VA (Georgetown Univ affiliated school), and finalizing my doctorate of engineering at George Washington University, also highly rated and all are RA schools. I also did my undergraduate degrees from "RA" schools. However, to indicate that all RA schools are better than NA schools is really blowing smoke. The CalU program easily supports a rigor to match the other graduate schools and utilizes the Harvard case study approach, which provided a much better foundation than most of the courses I took elsewhere.
     

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