Hi everyone, I am pretty new to DL (spent the last couple weeks looking around the internet) and am interested in everyones personal experiences with DL (specifically CS / IS oriented). On the internet you can find out what the schools say, but I am interested in what the students say. What I am interested in is the basic details/observations you have had. What school did/do/will you go to? Which degrees did/will you complete? How long did/will it take? cost? How is it? Are the courses interesting? Teachers good? support sucks? etc. I would just like to learn a little about YOU and YOUR experiences with DL. Thanks Brandon
You don't have to be scared... I will not stalk you or anything.. promise!! I am contemplating DL and there are a whole lot of schools out there. I figure that some of them are not as good as they say while others might be better. But the best way to find out the truth is by asking you, the students. Thanks again Brandon p.s. it does not have to be a 200 word essay, just a few points will suffice. Thanks
Howdy! If I haven't bored anyone to tears with my story yet, here it is... Until 1994: Homeschooled, K-12. 1995: Mix of homeschooling, correspondence courses, and exams. Correspondence courses were: English 101 and 102 (Ole Miss), Creative Writing 050 (Penn State), and Anatomy and Physiology 213 (University of Alabama--didn't use it because I didn't need the credit, and the B would have thrown off my 4.0). 1996: B.A., Liberal Arts (Psychology and Literature), Regents College. Of the 123 semester hours represented by the degree, 114 were via pass/fail exams, including two subject GREs (psychology and literature, oddly enough). Diploma arrived the day before my 18th birthday. In October, I applied for direct admission as a DLitt et Phil student in Philosophy at the University of South Africa. 1997: In February, UNISA rejected me (I later learned that applying for direct admission to a research doctorate in philosophy with a B.A. in Liberal Arts, and no substantial undergraduate philosophy credit, is not very practical). I signed on with California State University, Dominguez Hills's HUX (Humanities External Degree) M.A. program in August, and took a residential graduate course in counseling at Mississippi College. 2000: Thanks to John and Mariah Bear's willingness to take a risk on an untested young aspiring writer (thank you), I co-wrote Get Your IT Degree and Get Ahead for Osborne/McGraw-Hill. I later did the subject index and some light research work for the 14th edition of Bears' Guide, and co-researched Bears' Guide to the Best Computer Degrees by Distance Learning. In my spare time, I took two graduate level theology courses by extension through Spring Hill College. I graduated from the HUX program in December. 2001: Co-wrote Bears' Guide to the Best Education Degrees by Distance Learning, co-researched the 8th edition of College Degrees by Mail and Internet, and applied to an external Ph.D. program in October. I was accepted in December, but am still in the process of negotiating myself into (or out of) full nonresident status. I have other prospects if this program doesn't fly, but obviously it's my first choice, so I'm trying to make it work out. Cheers,
CS /IS DL education experiences Tom I have taken a number of CS/IS related DL courses over last year and find that the two best places I found were UMass - Lowell and RIT. Both of the schools provide good support for the DL education and are knowledgeable about it, plus the instructors seem to actually know what they teach. While UMass courses are easier (from my perspective) to take, as they require less interaction - you need to only submit assignments and exams, RIT offers DL format much closer to actual college experience. Plus, RIT has a large number of people who have been teaching DL courses for awhile. However, you would need to check the instructors when registering for classes to check whether you would feel comfortable with the style/format of the class.
Most of my education has been of the traditional, on-campus type. I also have some education that was not DL, but was nontraditional (mostly military training). My DL experience so far is limited to four schools: 1) National Cryptologic School (Ft Meade, MD)--This school offers courses to service members within certain job specialties, and is not open to the general public. They offer resident courses as well as a significant number of self-paced, independant studies courses. Exams were proctored by trained adjuncts within their respective military units. Based upon ACE recommendations, Charter Oak accepted a technical report writing course I took from them towards meeting my degree requirements. 2) Bemidji State University (MN)--I took four independant studies courses from this school in the early to mid 90s. At the time, they were all paper-based. The statistics class I took also used audio-taped lectures. I believe that they offer a significant number of courses on the web now. When I took these courses, I was still a legal resident of Minnesota, on active military duty in Texas, so I paid the $70/credit state resident rate. I beleive tuition has gone up conserdably since then, and for non-residents of Minnesota, tuition is over $200 per credit. Good courses and a good first civilian DL experience, but it is possible to find good schools with lower tuition. http://www.bemidjistate.edu/cel/html/ 3)University of Iowa--I took a creative writing class by independant studies from U of Iowa the year before last. Great course and good instructors. The preferred method for submitting work was snail mail, so if that bothers you, you might look elsewhere. They do also offer some internet-based courses. If I remember right, I paid $80/credit, which was the same for residents as it was for non-residents of Iowa. http://www.uiowa.edu/~ccp/gis/ 4)Louisiana State University--These guys offer quite a few independant studies courses as well. I took a physical science course. Once again, it was paper based and assignments were sent by snail mail. Like Iowa, they also have some Internet-based offerings. Tuition runs at about $70 per credit, plus a $10 fee per course. So, a typical three-credit course will cost around $220, plus books. Tuition and fees are the same for Lousiana residents as for non-residents. http://www.is.lsu.edu I received my bachelor's degree from Charter Oak last November entirely by transfering credit from other schools. I found them easy to work with and affordable. http://www.charteroak.edu I have really enjoyed the DL experience I have had so far. I think it appeals to my learning style and fits in well with my family life and work schedule. The Touro U. International program that will begin in just under two weeks from now will be a slightly different direction for me, in that it has a significant Internet-based componant. Also different will be the fact that the Touro degree will be entirely DL, while my B.S. was almost entirely either on-campus civilian college or in-resident military training. Something else that will be different from my undergraduate experince is that my Touro degree will cost me only the $75 application fee. TUI is picking up whatever costs military tuition assistance doesn't cover. Tracy<>< B.S., Individualized Studies, Charter Oak State College, Nov., 2001
