Online Universities are a Joke

I've had teaching experience with online universities, including the Univeristy of Phoenix, and from my experience, these institutions are a joke. Many people pay a lot of money for nothing more than waiting out the course and taking some sort of cursory test that eventually results in a "degree from an accredited university."

This has been my experience. There is no quality control, no real test of acquired knowledge, no time spent with someone who actually teaches and explains new concepts to students.

It's part of the dumbing-down of education that continues to get worse. Bachelor's degrees are becoming more and more meaningless. They mean about as much as a high school degree did back in the 1970's.

Again, this has been my experience and my opinion. I am interested to know if anyone else has an opinion on this matter.

Thanks.

How about computer training?

marktheshark wrote: How about computer training?

Well, I really believe that for effective learning to happen in any subject, there's got to be real time communication between people, because good students who care about what they are doing have questions, and then they have questions about the answers they are given. That's what learning is: knowledgeable people exposing others to new ideas and firing up their minds about it so that they begin to have their own ideas and want to discuss them.

Online universities like the University of Phoenix do a serious diservice to their students by promising a substantial education when in reality all they deliver is a few cursory assignments and a bogus diploma (after you've given them a few thousand dollars, of course).

I finished my last two quarters of high school  going to an online school, and I thought it was ok.  It was cool because I didn't have to do math or spanish because I already did two years of them, and I  could sleep, eat, and listen to music whenever I wanted, hahaha.  But I got too comfortable and did poorly in the third quarter, but brought myself together for the last quarter. It was a good thing for me to do at the time though, 'cause it's safer than going to an inner city school and I have social problems.  

I'm currently studying a BSc in Motorsport Technology and in the materials and manufacturing techniques module we have hands on experiance with the equipment (lathes etc) as well as well as an autolab that lets us work with the mechanics of engines and gearboxes. This would be impossible for an online only school and would leave the students withouy first hand knoledg of what it is ther supposed to be designing. Basically the corse would end up unpassable.

I agree with you that online universities are not the best environment for learning. There is a growing trend in the United States for "distance learning," mainly because it is becoming more and more difficult for people to afford going to college, especially with the Republicans in control (note the cuts in Pell grants and lack of education funding causing colleges to drastically increase tuition rates). So in order for people to afford to do this, they work full-time jobs and then do their studies online in the evenings. I believe some universities that offer these online courses do have instructors that can help them in real time over the Internet in chat rooms, and of course there is e-mail. Certainly that isn't as good as person-to-person, but it's better than no contact at all. In addition, friends of mine have gotten their graduate degrees by attending weekend-only classes while they work during the week. Whether good or bad, I don't see this trend ending anytime soon.

As others have already mentioned, this concept would never work when hands-on experience in labwork is needed.

Interesting topic, by the way.