internet university accreditation

There is many systems of accreditation of learning and degrees. Should there be a system to cover all of learning on the internet: colleges and such like?

I must say that I dislike too many rules, but so long as they were loose enough then people could still be useful.

Perhaps an automatic accreditation on any online learning for a certain amount of credits so that people could get a degree easier: that wasn't a diploma mill. Like what wikiversity could have been.

Yes I know it would get attacked a lot for people getting degrees in tarot and stuff but perhaps one university that really represented the internet- porn, would represent what people really want.

Qualifications need rigour to be worth anything...if you could get a degree in 3 clicks and your credit card and it would be worth the same as someone who did put in the work the educational system would be useless

Theres plenty of distance learning options available but at the end of the day theres no point buying a degree in ancient history if you cant even spell the words "Ancient Greece"

Check Out:

Edx

Coursera

Mooculus

and

Udacity.

Most are free online courses some with accreditation.

Self Discovery is the greatest journey. Its way better than riding the gravy train or brainwashing bus!

Yes, there absolutely should be and needs to be regulation. Absolute, unforgiving and merciless regulation to hold higher education to equal standards, across the board. Academically equal.

I cannot even begin to form the words for how furious I will be if I run into someone 10 years from now, sporting the same Masters degree I'm chasing right now, who did NOT have to go through the damned Algebra courses because his school decided the generally accepted level of credit required for the degree didn't suit them ...and his degree is taken as equal to mine.

Oh No. No No No. NO way am I paying what I'm paying to do this the hard way and the right way for some jackwagon with a sense of warped social justice to go out and issue degrees like toys in a crackerjack box.

I think it's interesting...the proliferation of online schooling. Some looks very promising. What I've had contact with so far was a joke and bordering on silly if not taken with PERSONAL desire to excel in the course. (If the drive is personal, they can be golden) If only for the credit required? Oh...how many different ways to pass without learning the material? I don't have enough fingers.

Are you referring to something like Open University? More "physical" universities are offering online courses and in Canada the Toronto District School Board recently offered online courses to students interested in catching up or getting a head start.

See screenshot below

I actually have a degree from the open university and so had to go through the same stuff you did to get a degree. It is just that so long as people want to study something and that there is rules, then why should someone not study ufology? I mean people study golf managment. I just think that people want accreditation but also the freedom to study whatever they want without judgement. If it is ok to study theology then why not ufology?

reply to post by AbleEndangered


Don't forget Alison.com on that list. It's better than Coursera in some ways for being far less particular about who contributes course material. Alison has a whole section, free and complete, developed by Google and at the respectable course level for depth. Everything from searching to analytics to coding with their API's.

reply to post by MysteriousHusky


Yeah Open Source University like Mooculus did with their Calculus course..

Can't get any better than that!

Where they even give all the sources and source codes, to do with whatever you want. Even make your own courses.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


thank you, adding alison.com.

Lynda.com is really good for technical visual learning as well. Not really courses, but in-depth tutorials that can be better than courses.

Lynda might have added courses tho, unsure. I remember companies I worked for having business accounts with Lynda.com for employee training.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Nice find on alison. I wonder though if these free course providers on the Internet get into lawsuits for copyright infringement or infringing on patents etc for their learning modules? Perhaps they already take steps to prevent such lawsuits from arising using creative commons content etc. This also raises the question regarding copyrighting education and by association, knowledge.

A lot of these places don't offer degrees. I know many people feel that the knowledge is useful, and is what is important, but I like to get something for it: a qualification. Wikiversity seemed scared of offering degrees? They came so close but wimped out. They were scared they would be criticised. But if everyone knows what is required and how it wad done, then what is the problem?

People want a non judgemental university: non judgemental in terms of what people can study and believe: that offers degrees.

Maybe it is just me but I would love a wikiversity ma online communication. Or from a similar type of uni.

reply to post by werewolf99


I think online education is a real positive thing, don't get me wrong... It's the degree side. So, regulation prevents degrees from being minted based on purely from online performance? It solves the problem, I'd say.

If not chasing a degree or it's a hybrid where you are still physically sitting for proctored exams (Finals at a minimum), I suppose it's still proving the knowledge...if not all the work done. Knowledge matters most though.

I've used Lynda.com every semester except this one. I had no new programs to learn this time. It was absolutely priceless to learning Illustrator, Indesign and Photoshop though. The lessons they include make all the difference and well worth the extra few bucks, too.

I work for the largest online university, and had my doubts about online educational systems before hiring on. However, I have taken advantage of the ability to go back to college 15 years after receiving my first engineering degree. Deciding to flip to another field, I took three 400 level accounting courses, and I can honestly say, they KICKED my arse. We just went through an accreditation review by the department of education's higher learning board, and the review was extensive. I can't speak for other colleges using the online modality, but for us, it is very professional. my three cents.

edit-and like the old hair commercials; my boss has an undergrad and post degrees from a brick and mortar university, she is currently a professor for our school. 75% of my team are all active students, we don't just work for the school, but find it a valuable use of our time off the clock.

I actually did not say purely, on online performance. I think the real issue people have is that they have paid for a degree and so want everyone to have to pay the same amount, and they hate those that may have gotten the same quality of degree cheaper.

reply to post by werewolf99


It's really not the money. I can only speak for myself, but I think I cover the sentiment of many around me at school too. When student loans are part of the package having to be taken for keeping bills paid and a family comfortable? Cost becomes a VERY relative issue. It's actually running me about $1,600 a semester, depending on what I am getting for lab costs to each course. I'm not getting into the details beyond this on dollar figures (sore point..among other things) but to say my loans bring that quite a bit higher than straight school cost.

The point being, by the time I get my Masters and I'm done with my Academic track? Debt load will be such that I won't give a hoot who paid what. We're all in too deep to ever get out if we don't all get very solid paying careers on the out going end of this pipeline. Pretty much every student above AA, I'd say. The numbers are just that stupid for repayment on Burger Flipper wages. Impossible...totally impossible.

So it isn't the money at all. It's the work, sweat and yes, even tears at times...that go into making it through these years of some real fun..mixed with a lot of crap no one would ever CHOOSE to take, if a choice was offered.

Actually some distance learning providers are very inexpensive: at one time a bachelor degree with the open university was £3,600 in total, although it is more in one year than that now. I would imagine there will be some very inexpensive accredited universities online.

The think I found is that when studying by distance learning many of the easier options were not available: such as golf management.....: and although I understand this I still think that many people would actually like to study whatever they want. I work as an occult consultant with a degree from an accredited university. There are also many with fake degrees, and those that are borderline. However I have seen people who have made money from information from a course or degree subject people would think of as spurious.

I know people who have done tarot for many years from the knowledge gained from online. So why not legitimize it? After all there are many media studies graduates who can make no money at all. I you could let people study these subjects, but with some rules, this would mean that peoples degrees would then have to take the required amount of hours. If people want to study it, and can make a career out it: although granted only a few will ever truly make money out of something like tarot: then why not regulate it a little and let them?

I really think that a minor in occult metaphysics or ufology etc... would make many media graduates more employable.

I like what's going on in this thread.

ocw.mit.edu...

MIT offers a mess of courses online, for free.

I suppose lots of people want to keep things as they are to remain in control. The education system gives certain people power, where as an altered system would take away power from some people. If everything was online and accredited but decentralized then those who have control over it due to centralisation would lose it.