Thursday, September 27, 2007

Meeting Women's Needs Through Distance Education

Educated, hard-working women are a valuable resource in the workforce today. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the number of women in the workforce will increase by about 25% in the next eight years! However, the ability to stand out from the crowd has always been a challenge. With the recent growth in distance learning, the number of women taking advantage of what online education has to offer is increasing. More importantly, these proactive women are using their online degrees to show their employers what they can do. If you are interested in upgrading your education, here are five reasons why distance education can help you take that next step.

1. An Edge:

Earning your online master's accredited degree can not only give you an edge over the competition, but it can also attest to your dedication to the field. When you are up against someone with a bachelor's degree in a job interview, your prospective employer is typically looking to hire the person more qualified for the job. A graduate level degree proves you have the commitment and drive to refine your knowledge of the profession, as well as the experience needed to be a beneficial asset to the company.

2. An Easier Time Progressing in the Company:

Whether you are a stay-at-home mom seeking to break into the workforce or an administrative assistant hoping to climb a few rungs on the business ladder, an online degree can grant you the additional boost necessary to succeed. By going back to school to earn your bachelor's or master's degree online, you will prove to employers that you are committed to your own line of work, as well as to the prosperity of the entire company.

3. Long Term Savings:

There are many reasons distance learning requires less of your savings than a traditional college education. When it comes to a cost comparison of tuition rates, there is no definitive answer as to which route is cheaper because tuition fees vary widely from program to program. However, what online education can offer is a large variety of potential online programs, making it easy for you to find the most cost-effective program. Secondly, many online courses integrate their course work and even their textbook directly into classroom material, thus, cutting down on high book costs. But for many online students, the money saved from not having to drive to a physical campus is the greatest selling point of all. Think about it this way: the money you save can be put toward your children's college funds, a family vacation or a nice reward for yourself.

4. Freedom of Expression:

In a recent report produced by University of Wisconsin-Stout, 62 percent of women shared that they felt more comfortable expressing themselves through an online format versus a face-to-face situation. Alongside convenience and greater job satisfaction, the ability to more openly discuss opinions and ask questions ranks high among women's reason to enroll in distance education.

5. More Options:

If you have a bachelor's accredited degree in business but would rather pursue a career in graphic design, earning an online bachelor's degree in graphic design would be very beneficial. In fact, a prospective employer looking for a graphic designer would undoubtedly see your background in business and your graphic design degree as a winning combination that could benefit his/her company.

6. More Money:

Let's face it; we could all put more money to good use in our lives. As mentioned above, the more experience and knowledge you have to offer your company, the more chances you have to grow and progress within the company. This means an increase in salary. Earning an online degree takes money, but the benefits it provides make it worth the initial monetary investment.

7. Convenience and Flexibility:

To receive the aforementioned benefits in your career, you have to earn a degree. However, earning your degree online offers benefits in itself. For example, you can continue to work in your current position while you take classes when it is convenient for you. Online courses provide you with information you can use in the workplace, as well as ease in balancing your sometimes hectic life. Through accelerated online degree programs, both working and stay-at-home moms can get educations in less time, without having to sacrifice time with their families.

It is easier and more beneficial than ever before to earn an online degree. Whether looking to begin a new career or grow within a current position, women everywhere are taking advantage of the benefits distance education has to offer. Now is the time to think about where you want to be and use your resources to get there.

Furst-Bowe, J. (2002). Identifying the needs of adult women in distance learning programs [Electronic version]. Educational Resources Information Center. 82-89.Retrieved August 28, 2007, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1a/60/8a.pdf

elearnportal is an information resource center for finding high quality, online college courses and degrees.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Find The Best Accredited Online University And Improve Your Career Prospects With An Online Degree

There are many universities online, and many of them have unique advantages. With an online university popping up all over the net, it becomes hard to decide which university online school offers the best package for each individual so they can find the top online university.

Online Universities have grown to be a place for many busy individuals who lack time and have family responsibilities to continue their education. Here are a few important tips that you can use when considering your university online.

Accreditation

Almost all education guides will ask you to make sure that the online university of your choice or the online degree program that you are going to enroll on must be accredited by any of the agencies that are accepted by the US Department of Education. In fact, it is the main factor to be considered when you select your university online course.

In simple terms, accreditation is an official evaluation procedure on school programs and policies by one of the agencies that are accepted by the US Department of Education to see if they meet certain criteria. When a school meets the criteria, it is granted accreditation. If your degree is from an accredited online university, your degree will be accepted by most employers, eliminating the risk of unrecognized or fake degrees.

Get university online degrees that Will Look Good In Your Resume.

With so many online universities and online colleges available, you may find it hard to decide which school to choose for your degree. Put yourself in the shoes of the employer for just a minute, a degree from well known state university online like the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University would look far more appealing than a university like the University of Joe Bloggs right?

A degree from a renowned & prestigious online university will make your resume be worth its weight in gold. An applicant from a renowned online university will definitely make an impression on the hiring manager, over a graduate from Joe Bloggs university. Its easy to do some analysis and get some feedback from any of online degree forums about the online to see which is the best known and best acceptable university before you make your decision.

Lab Works Near Your Location

Some university online courses require you to complete a stipulated amount of lab hours work before you can earn your degree. If your busy working schedule will not allow you to travel far, then, you need to consider an online university that has a local facility or agreement with a local institution for you to carry out your lab work.

Credit Transfer

There are many universities online that allow you to transfer your credits earned from your previous degree to save you some credit hours and credit cost. Always check out this information from the admission officer before you enroll into the degree program.

Selecting a university online for your online degree program can be a hard decision: so many options available and too many degree programs. As long as you follow the above guidelines and do your research, you will find university online degrees to suit your needs.

Choosing an accredited online university means you are getting the very best degree.

There have been so many online universities that have started to offer online degrees very recently and more are coming. So the question remains, which university online is trustworthy? The answer is easy: it is trustworthy if only if it's an accredited online university that has a good quality, venerable reputation.

Accreditation is almost a benchmark given by the US Department of Education. It shows that a University has met academic standards essential to give its students a precise and inclusive education.

So what does that mean for you?

As most students go into an online university to progress their chances for future jobs, accreditation is vital. Many employers look at accreditation as a validation of your degree. A degree by itself is just a piece of paper, but accredited it gives the employer a sense of security, knowing that you have acquired from an online accredited university that has met all the top standards. The second reason it is important is that you are paying for a degree online and you want to make sure that you get all the credit you deserve for all that hard work you put in.

Online universities accredited by the government standard will give you degree programs that other universities who do not offer accredited online university degrees just can't compete with. Having a degree from a nationally accredited online university is like having the president going live on air and saying you can enter the whitehouse anytime you like! Because the university is accredited online you have far more clout and pulling power when you send your resume off to prospective employees.

Now you understand what exactly makes an online university trustworthy, for you to make the most of your investment in your education, you must choose an accredited online university degree program with a good quality reputation. Even though there are many universities out there that have accreditation, at least you have shortlisted your choices down to the most reliable.

Kalwant Rana is A Freelance Writer For http://www.AnyonlineDegree.com. Find The Best Accredited Online University offering distance learning and adult education towards an Online University Degree or certification.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Are Online Degrees Valid to Prospective Employers?

Online distance learning has gained rapid popularity with the advent of the internet, which has proven to offer great supporting facilities and convenience for online education. However, just like everything else with pros and cons, the internet has also opened doors for the widespread sale of bogus online degrees. According a report by USA Today, there were already 400 diploma mills in the year 2003 and the numbers are rising. In fact, many of these unscrupulous operations are run by organizations in an industry that is worth $500 million a year.

However, amidst the negative hype about online education, there are actually many distance learning colleges offering valid degrees and diplomas. These institutions do not sell bogus certificates, but actually aim to provide quality education as alternatives for on-campus higher education. Valid online courses with online video lectures as well as online library facilities and test examinations conducted are often deployed to ensure that students truly qualify in their areas of study and graduate legitimately. Sadly though, many employers only see the negative side of things, and easily brush off online education degrees as equivalent to bogus degrees.

In view of the confusion, the National Education Board of the U.S. government has authorized 6 accreditation agencies to provide institutional accreditation to education institutions, as a measure to differentiate legitimate universities from the crooks. This means that students choosing their universities will be assured that these universities would have met minimum criteria set forth by these agencies for learning institutions. Additionally, there is also The Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) which provides accreditation specifically for distance learning institutions. The DETC is an accreditation agency that is recognized by the US Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Furthermore, there is also specialized accreditation for specific programs of different areas of specialization. These programs which are found to have attained excellence will be awarded accreditation by various professional accrediting agencies depending on the area of specialization. For instance, the International Association for Management Education (AACSB) gives accreditation to accounting related programs while health programs are accredited by the American Health Information Management Association. It is also important to know that only accreditation agencies recognized by the Department of Education or CHEA are considered accreditation agencies which are acknowledged.

What does accreditation mean to a student? An institutional accreditation agency evaluates the various aspects of universities or colleges against minimum standard criteria to determine if the particular institution meets their list of basic requirements and quality of education. College accreditation is necessary to ensure that the education, facilities and support provided by a college or university adheres to basic levels. On the other hand, specialized accreditation evaluates excellence in individual program regardless of which institution the program is being delivered within. In this type of accreditation, course content and program curricula is evaluated against pre-set standards of the institution.

All accreditation does is to assure employers, students and parents that the graduates who are awarded degrees from accredited colleges have undergone quality and adequate training in their respective areas of specialization. This also means that colleges that are not accredited by the proper accreditation body would not have met the standards imposed by the agencies. However, courses taken by prospective employees that are accredited by the respective agencies would have met standards imposed on the respective specialized areas.

It is totally up to the judgment and decision of the employers on evaluating the validity of an online or on-campus degree. With the recent hike in bogus degrees, employers can't help but be stringent in their applicant screenings and consider those with degrees that have been accredited. This may prove tedious and sometimes employers may get confused. Therefore, if your accreditation is provided by an agency recognized by the US Department of Education, then you will need to explain to your prospective employers on the background of the accrediting bodies. This way, you can avoid employers from sidelining your application based on something that they may be unclear about and increase your chances of being short listed for a job interview.

Rose Musyoka is the editor of http://www.distance-learning-college-guide.com where you find answers, information and advice on distance learning colleges, accredited online degrees and online courses. See more related information on distance learning colleges and why college accreditation is important.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Big Name State Universities - 5 Relatively Cheap Online Bachelor's Degrees

Let's face it. With so many options available on the internet, choosing an online bachelors degree program can be a daunting task. Try a little test. Type "online bachelors degree" into Google and glance at the results. Many "featured" programs on various degree websites usually include names like University of Phoenix, Walden University, Kaplan University, and Capella University.

Based on the test mentioned above, it should come as no surprise that these for-profit universities also rank in the top twenty of the largest online student bodies in the United States. According to the latest data from U.S. News & World Report, University of Phoenix served over 187,000 online students during the 2006-2007 school year. Significant online enrollment figures were also reported by Walden University (22,138), Kaplan University (22,000), and Capella University (13,726) for the same time frame.

But other non-traditional students take a slightly different approach to earning their degrees via online college courses. Instead of completing a 4-year degree through a for-profit online school, degree completion programs offered by well-known state universities are attracting considerable attention. To meet graduation requirements, many non-traditional students with little time for on-campus classes use inexpensive local community colleges as stepping stones to state universities. The reason: more public two-year colleges now cater to working students than in previous decades.

Three factors appear to be driving students back to long-established public and private universities, some of which are represented by a few big names. For starters, several institutions have adopted special tuition rates for distance learners that are not only less expensive than those for on-campus classes, but also considerably cheaper than the big for-profit universities. Comparable fees for in-state and out-of-state residents at these big schools are becoming more commonplace.

Next, to meet rising demand, more traditional universities are responding by increasing the variety of online classes and degree programs. For example, the Cincinnati Post recently reported that enrollment in online-only programs at the University of Cincinnati is up 257 percent over the past 4 years. In another recent article, the Tuscaloosa News cited enrollment figures from the University of West Alabama for the 2007 Fall semester. A staggering 47 percent, or almost one-half the entire student population at the Livingston, Alabama university take only classes held onlne.

Finally, the thought of having a resume tossed by corporate human resources staffers because the degree was earned through an online-only university may simply be too much for some students. In 2006, career information provider Vault Inc. surveyed hiring managers about how they view applicants with degrees that were earned online. A whopping 77% responded that they believe an online degree granted by an accredited institution holds more credibility than one from an internet-only school. As one unnamed HR professional confides, an online degree obtained from a well-established, traditional university stands a much greater chance of escaping the "correspondence school" stigma.

A related factor, branding, appears to heavily influence school choices as well. Listing a highly-respected, name brand college degree on a resume usually proves advantageous when competing for positions, especially in tight job markets, according to some career coaches. Similarly, nearby lesser known universities are also thought to carry considerable name recognition among prospective employers.

In other words, when choosing an online degree program, choose wisely. The opportunities to earn college degrees from highly-respected schools are many. Spend a little time and do some research. Yes, the larger online-only colleges and universities appear more often in Google searches. But it is highly unlikely that their exposure level is close to what the major state universities receive on those memorable autumn afternoons during college football season.

Below, you'll find five solid bachelor's degree completion programs that are fully capable of sprucing up many resumes with eye-catching credentials. Each degree is attainable through numerous options that can include CLEP exams and liberal college-credit transfer policies. Tuition rates, except where noted, apply to both in-state and out-of-state residents. For more information, please visit the respective university's Continuing Education or Extended Learning website to learn more.

Colorado State University - Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts - $223 per semester hour

Indiana University - Bachelor of General Studies - $145.06 (in-state)/$164.22 (out-of state) per semester hour

Texas Tech University - Bachelor of General Studies - $189 per semester hour (includes fees)

University of Iowa - Bachelor of Liberal Studies - $224 per semester hour

University of Missouri - Bachelor of General Studies - $247.60 per semester hour (includes fees)

Saturday, September 08, 2007

How To Get An Accredited Online University Degree Fast?

This information is very important if you need to get a truly accredited online university degree. This is because many people make the mistake of embarking on getting a degree online without making sure their degree is truly accredited.

I will show you here, how to make sure whatever university degree you choose is accredited by the relevant government educational agencies.

It saddens my heart as a educationist and student adviser to hear of students completing their studies and later finding out that, their years of studies mean nothing, just because their degree program wasn't accredited.

Many times these students actually felt their degree programs were accredited. They listened to just anyone recommending different online schools to them, without getting the correct information they require from qualified sources. This amazes me because there is any online service which will help match you with the best accredited online schools at no cost to you! I will tell you about that service here after giving you more information about online studies.

It's my hope that you will avoid the mistake of choosing an unaccredited online degree program by reading this article and following the advice given here. My goal is to help you make the right decision regarding getting an accredited online university degree.

Now, an online college degree is just as valid as a degree you receive at a regular college campus offline. In fact a lot of people prefer getting an accredited online university degree instead of the normal degree from a physical university. One of the major reasons they prefer the online way is because, you can get an online college degree from the comfort of your own home. It's very flexible.

You don't have to go anywhere to get an accredited online university degree. You can register for any course for your online college degree at home. You don't have to commute to a physical school, which in turn saves you the money you would have spent on gas, transportation etc. An accredited online university degree program will fit into any busy schedule and is convenient for anyone.

Accredited online university degree programs also offer financial aid and assistance just like regular, physical college campuses do. Generally, most accredited online university degree programs also offer job placement opportunities to anyone who completes their courses and obtains an online college degree.

Accredited online university degree programs often claim that you can get your degree in just about half the time it would take for a normal on campus course program. This is real and true because an accredited online university degree program allows you to take the courses at your own pace.

Now, that you see the advantages of getting your accredited online university degree through the Internet lets look at some of the degree courses offered online. To list the range of courses offered online nowadays would take forever.

Some of these include; accounting, teaching, business, computers, criminal justice, legal and paralegal, dental assistance, travel and tourism, and many more. If you can think of a degree or course, then there is most probably an online alternative. There're even master degree programs offered online so you can further your education without having to quit your job.

The cost of getting an accredited online university degree varies from school to school. You can check with the school of your choice to find out what their tuition fee is. You will be making the right decision to get your degree online. The advantages outweigh any disadvantages.

Now, you need to be very careful when searching for an online school. Many schools claim to offer accredited online degrees, but this is far from the truth. It breaks my heart to continuously hear about students who after studying for years discover that their degree wasn't accredited.

The only way to prevent this happening to you is by carrying out a lot of research. I know this can be time consuming, but it's very important your do this. You don't want to harm your career or future do you? Get the necessary information.

There are ways of finding out if a degree program or school is really accredited. Do not make the mistake of choosing an online school just because you have heard the name of the school somewhere and everyone is talking about it. Their online degree program might not be accredited.

In conclusion, I want you to know that getting an online degree is very advantageous and should be part of your education and career plan. Getting an accredited online university degree will boost your earnings and career. It will save you money. It offers you the flexibility of working and studying. Just make sure it's truly accredited.

Make use of services available online to choose the best accredited program for you. There is even one service which will do all the work for you and match you with the best and most cost effective accredited online school without you spending a dime. Its rated as the best in matching students with the appropriate schools.

You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain! Why not give an accredited online university degree program a try? You will find it is truly worth it. Good luck!

Nelson Powell is a Researcher and Writer for the online degree Advice Blog.

Discover the "FREE" degree matching service to help you find the best Online Accounting Schools for your educational and professional needs at The Online Degree Advice Blog at: http://online-degree-advice.blogspot.com

While there, also discover The Best Real Scholarship Sources & Other Free Resources to help you chose the right "Accredited" online degree program and online school.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Get That Higher Degree That You Always Wanted Through Online Education

Online opportunities are quickly becoming one of the most popular options nowadays in gaining a higher education. It's the cost effective aspects and the user friendly features of online learning appeals to the average working adult. The benefits of online learning go beyond time and cost to offer a sense of accomplishment once the new Associate's, Bachelor's or Master's degree is in hand.

The history of e-learning has evolved and continues to evolve into great legitimacy in the world of education as with technology consistently changing the shape of the landscape of nearly everything. More and more online schools are offering accredited courses at more affordable cost compared to conventional schools. This attracts more people and also the opportunity to have career advancement is also an advantage for online education. The virtual classroom is seeing more and more students each year while conventional classrooms still have their place.

For some students, online education can offer a chance to either broaden horizons or narrow down career options. It is because a student can select the right courses they need in every subject. And these online credits are also considered transferable and help them achieve their respective degree.

Distance learning is now very effective with the help of the internet and collaborative software like chat, discussion boards and audio-conferencing. Now, students can take a few seconds to log on to their virtual campus to get assignments.

These online programs are generally consisting of CBT (computer-based training), WBT (web-based training), interactive media, educational animation and a whole slew of other types of educational technology. These technologies make online learning more efficient and even more efficient as it improves. This can also allows students to take control of their education and organize their career plan with the help of e-portfolios.

Online and distance learning continue to make their appearance at the very top of the list of the usefulness of the internet. New technological enhancement ensures continuing education among people.

If you like this article... you might also like my other must-read articles about Online education at http://online-education-secrets.useful-tips.com/