Short online non-credit courses

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by philosophicalme, Jan 9, 2006.

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  1. philosophicalme

    philosophicalme New Member

    Hey everyone,

    I just wanted to let anybody know that is interested, that the Community Colleges in Maryland offer cheap ($60-$99) online courses through their non-credit program. Most courses have 2 classes per week for 6 weeks. I've taken a Business Communications course and an Editing and Proofeading through the program and can attest to its high quality. These may look nice on a resume under additional training.

    Just wanted to let those know that may be interested!

    Harford Community College
    http://www.ed2go.com/cgi-bin/oic3/newcourses.cgi?name=harford

    Community College of Baltimore County
    http://www.ccbcmd.edu/ceed/online/online.html

    Rhonda
     
  2. philosophicalme

    philosophicalme New Member

    And I spelled 'proofreading' wrong! Ha!
     
  3. eric.brown

    eric.brown New Member

    Thanks for the links...I've been looking for some cheap non-credit programs (writing, etc).
     
  4. DesElms

    DesElms New Member

    But you caught it... which is what proofreaders do. The only reason it got away from you is because of the 10-minute editing timeout. Had it been longer, we never would have known because you would have corrected it before most people saw it. So, see, the proofreading course worked!!!

    ;)

    Then Ed2Go is probably your best choice; and the trick would be to find colleges/universities that offer them the cheapest.

    I had not paid much attention to the Ed2Go courses until relatively recently. I did some checking around and made some inquiries and had Ed2Go send me some sample course materials, etc. I was astonished at how good it was for non-credit coursework.

    Ed2Go allows most any college/university to sell a full complement of non-credit distance learning courses by just paying an annual fee; and it lets the college/university set its own prices and keep the profits. It's kinda' slick. If I were running the distance/continuing education division of most any school, large or small, I'd offer the Ed2Go package (which is by Thomson Learning) as my non-credit/continuing-ed product, and not even mess with trying to do my own. They have to be cheap in order to sell, and there's no margin in it if you try to do it yourself for that kind of money. Ed2Go, as far as I can tell, is the only way to go.

    From the consumer's standpoint, though, one must do some shopping around. The prices can vary widely. For example, a couple of private colleges in Northern California are offering the complete Ed2Go package, and the lowest price for any course, I noticed, was $109. That same course at a tiny community college in the Midwest was $79. Other course price differences were of similar scale. Since it doesn't matter, it seems to me, where one takes the course (since it's all the same, identical Ed2Go courses no matter where you purchase it), it pays, obviously, to find the $79 pricing rather than the $109 pricing.

    California State University, Stanislaus used to charge $79 for most of its Ed2Go courses, but I see that it's up to $85 now. That, from what I can tell, is about average: $79 to $89 for most Ed2Go courses. I've never seen Ed2Go courses as low as $60... at least not recently. If some colleges/universities are offering them at that price, then that's cheap!

    One of the lowest prices I've seen for Ed2Go courses is at Hartnell Community College in Salinas, CA, which charges $74 for what most others charge $79 to $89. There may be lower-priced Ed2Go providers, but $74 for an Ed2Go course is about as low as I've seen. I just checked the two links in the thread-starting post and one won't let you see the price 'til you fill-out an "orientation" form; and the other charges $89 for that for which Hartnell only charges $74.

    Just about the only reason to pay more for an Ed2Go course than down in the $70s or maybe $80s would be if one were more interested (or at least as interested) in the prestige of the school name and were willing to pay said more-impressive-sounding-school's higher price; or if the course is simply one of the more expensive Ed2Go courses. Even some places that only charge $79 for a basic Ed2Go course can still have some that are up around $200. Some just cost more; it just depends on the course.

    The Ed2Go site is here. One may only purchase an Ed2Go course through an affiliated college/university. The feature on the Ed2Go site which allows you to search for a college/university that sells its courses is zip-code based. If one would like to search a different way, this Google Search might help.
     

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