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Liberty University Online offers degrees ranging from Certificate to Doctoral programs and ranks among the lowest in the nation for overall tuition costs.

As a non-profit institution, Liberty University will never charge a high tuition rate in order to earn a profit from your educational investment. Instead, our tuition is kept at a reasonable rate, and is used to cover the state-of-the-art, accredited Christian instruction you will receive from our world-renowned faculty, along with a multitude of valuable programs and personal services we offer—all designed to help you succeed, both as a student and in your future career.

“We want to encourage prospective students and our current online students to finish their degree — or begin earning their first degree,” said Chris Johnson, VP for Enrollment Management. “Now is the time to do so and this is just one way we can help them earn a quality education from the World’s Most Exciting University.”

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Richard Shelmerdine presents Advanced Memory Series: The Link Method posted at Richard Shelmerdine – life views from a student of life.

Peter Kimmich presents Online MBA vs Campus MBA: Pros and Cons posted at Business Schools Blog, saying, “Thanks!”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of distance education carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: distance education carnival, blog carnival.

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Distance Learing Requires Doing a Thorough Research

For whatever reason, when deciding to continue education through distance learning or online colleges, the most important requirement to check out first is if the establishment is “accredited” by accrediting institutions that are recognized by the federal government through the Department of Education. Otherwise, students could end up paying their money for a qualification paper that will not get recognition by almost all traditional establishments.

The downside of distance learning or an online degree is, even if the learning establishment that is giving the qualification has the required accrediting, it is not yet widely accepted by employers. It could also be difficult when trying to transfer the credits obtained to other programs run by those that do not recognize the particular learning establishment. This attests to the fact that it is a mutual recognition among the educators and their partners, so that the quality of the education given will be at a higher level, and there are no sets of rules to follow.

The accreditation is a process where other learning institutions, through a peer group setup, ascertain that a given learning establishment has what it take in terms of the education quality it is availing. The essential issues they would be looking at could be the school’s mission, goals, objectives, available resources and how they are utilized, enrollment requirements, and the overall quality of the education.

It is important to pay attention to the accrediting of a learning establishment because the acceptance level is very much dependant on the assessment done and the kind of recognition given by these groups. Not finding the name of the establishment a student is planning to attend in the listing of National and Regional Accredited Agencies could mean whatever qualification a learning establishment is availing to the public will not be recognized by a wide margin, which will include those who are in charge of hiring or admitting student to the many higher learning institutions, because the peer group that is doing the accreditation is made up of this group. It has nothing to do with the government and what the government does is to assesses the recommendations to see if there are irregularities and whether the process meets certain criteria.

There is also an agency known as Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) that carries its own list of those that had been validated as accredited establishments, and not finding the establishment a student wants to join in these two lists could mean a red flag. However, still there could be establishments that cannot make it into the list, yet they could avail quality education or they are not necessarily illegal, but the downside is there will always be a recognition problem.

There are certain establishments that are offering professional training that might not need the accreditation, because the profession itself might be a hands-on training where there is a high demand for it in the job market, or the establishments are recognized by a given sector as professional organizations. For example, most short-term computer training courses fall into this category. 

As a result, the two essential concerns students should pay heed to are employers and other higher learning establishments where the students might be planning to further their studies. Because their not recognizing the certificate might reduce the value of the education that is attained by incurring a lot of expense and time investment. If students are doing it just to satisfy their learning drive, there will not be a problem.

It is also possible that there is a better chance that the certification would get recognition by a current employer for advancement, raise, or the like. But the bottom line of the accreditation is a certification obtained from any learning establishments will be as good as the traditional learning establishments if it is from an accredited school, and that definitely will go a long way and would be worth the investment. In addition, more and more employers have started recognizing the distance learning education.

The expense more or less would be the same with students who attend regular classes, because there is always room and board, whoever is covering it. The cost involving learning material will also be the same except that students can opt to buy used ones. One expense that is possible to eliminate could be the cost of commuting to a school, but again most distance learners are working people who have to commute to work. Cosnsequently, the only advantage it avails for the most part is doing it at one’s own convenience and pace.

If there is one thing lacking in the process, it is live interaction that usually takes place in a classroom environment. However, there are teleconferences, videos, email, message board, and chat rooms that will help the students to interact with other students and the faculty members, including the instructors. That might be the only area that will be different. Other than that it is possible to listen to a recorded lecture that could take the normal class room hours at the comfort of one’s home or if the workplace environment allows it.

There are what are known as diploma mills, establishments that are not striving to avail a high standard of education that students have to watch out for no matter what kind of incentives they are offering. Some of them could also be unnecessarily expensive and comparing price and doing a thorough research about the stand of the learning establishments is very important.

As it is, distance learning is not yet fully accepted even if the acceptance rate is on the rise and incurring a huge expense will not make things any better. Going for those schools that have the accreditation and offer an affordable tuition fee is a wise decision for the long haul. Because it is always possible to borrow money for the distance learning, which means paying back the money could be difficult, and might take a long time if some kind of planning is not in place in advance. 

Hence, especially adults who were procrastinating going back to school because of work, family, lack of time, and drive will find the latest development of distance education very attractive and accommodating, as not only the quality of the education has been augmented, but the number of the establishments is on the rise. The fee and the amount of time it takes to complete a diploma or a degree is also shrinking making it the best time ever to look toward the direction of furthering one’s education level, not to miss out from the advantages that could be had, as the demand for higher education in the workplace is not letting up.

About The Author

Bill Johnson is a freelance writer and Internet entreprenuer where he promotes and sells ebooks and e-serials.

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If you would like a free copy of this research paper on post traumatic stress disorder in children, please email webmaster@galtmilemedia.com.

• Choosing The Right College

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As long as you have no problem using the Bible as a reference in your class assigments, you should not have any problem with attending Liberty.  Many of the class assignments require the use of the Bible. For example, in a week 7 discussion board assignment for PSYC 341, Psychology of Personality, there were two questions that needed to be answered.

1.  
   1. What does God’s word teach us about these factors within the life of a believer?
   2. How does the Holy Spirit work within us as believers regarding self-regulation?

If you are pursuing an undergraduate degree program, there are religion courses that are part of the required curriculum. The religious courses are only taken a few times, after that even some of the other courses are somewhat religious in the way they are taught, it is not bad.  I mean the professors I have had since I started are the best you can ask for.

Everyone at LU is very understanding.  I have had some problems like I ordered the wrong books for a class and one time the paper I sent to them via the Internet did not come through and both times they were very understanding.  Compared to the other colleges that I have attended, I could not be happier.  To be perfectly honest, my only regret is I did not start with Liberty University first as an undergraduate.

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PBAU stresses small class sizes to ensure you get the personal attention from your professors you’d expect from an in-person class. And best of all, the school is really committed to helping students out when it comes to financial aid.  From the moment you apply, you meet with an admissions counselor where they will work with you to develop the course of action to achieve your educational goals.

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Asynchronous learning is based on constructivist theory where it places an emphasis on peer-to-peer interaction. Learners log into the learning platform at different times from different places all with the same goal in mind. Courses such as those a Liberty University use asynchronous form of learning. My group presentations last semester were an example of asynchronous learning. All members of the group logged into the discussion board of Blackboard to post their comments and their part of the project. This type of learning has been most prevelent at the graduate level, but now can be found at the undergraduate level and even in high schools with the emergence of homeschooling.

Synchronous learning is where there learners log in and are interacting with one another at the same time, although from different locations. Typical applications for synchronous learning includes problem-based learning, or learning through case studies. I could take that group presentation and make it synchronous in nature by asking my group members to login to a chat program that I ask them to download. We are now using the chat room as an online place to meet. You can liken this to meeting at Starbucks with your group members in the residential program. This type of learning has been prevelent at the undergraduate level, but the undergraduate level is becoming increasingly asynchronous.

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The Internet is changing that. Training and education has always been a primary strategy for career advancement, and the Internet is becoming not just a supplement to traditional academic programs, but an alternative to them as well. It brings learning to people’s fingertips, without regard for how far someone may be from a school or how many other people are interested in the same class. Distance education, while not completely replacing the traditional college experience, is an excellent way to take college courses because of the time constraints facing many people today.

One example is Farzad Naeim, an earthquake engineer from California. He decided to go to law school, but didn t have time for campus meetings and classroom lectures. When he found out he could get his education through the Internet, he enrolled. Explaining the convenience he said, “I figure if I go to a standard school four nights a week, that eliminates the chance for me to see my kids grow up. I get my assignments off the computer, and I can study after the kids go to bed” McQueen . Naeim is not the only one taking advantage of this opportunity. Many are taking advantage of this option over traditional classroom learning. Most adult learners, who every year make up a larger proportion of the college population, have busy schedules to juggle with family responsibilities and demanding careers. Speaking about this group of adult learners, Kathy McGuire, the director of Distance Learning at the U.C.L.A. Extension, a continuing education program affiliated with the University of California in Los Angeles, explained, “They re not going to stop learning, but they re not going to want to drive all over the place to do it” Newman . The appeal of using the Internet to pursue an education is its flexibility and convenience. Right now, about 26,000 courses online teach approximately 750,000 students McQueen . But is a seat in front of a computer as good as a seat in a college classroom

According to a report by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, colleges still lack enough knowledge about Internet-based education to justify its rapid growth McQueen . Ed Neal, the director of Faculty Development in the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, noted a difference between adult learners, who form the traditional market for distance education, and adolescent learners. These two groups differ in motivation, purpose, learning styles and preferences, and intellectual skills Neal . A web site at Western Governor s University http: www.wgu.edu includes a “self-assessment quiz” that is very instructive in this matter. After taking the quiz of multiple choice questions, an explanation of the implications of different responses are displayed. Some comments warn that “if face-to-face interaction is very important to you, think carefully before enrolling in a distance-delivered class,” and “because you won’t be sitting in a classroom on a regular basis and won’t have your instructor or classmates nearby to remind you of assignments, you must be fairly self-directed and conscientious about completing assignments to succeed in a distance-delivered class” Neal . Not many students coming out of high school may be “self-directed and conscientious about completing assignments” and many traditional aged college students still require ample and frequent feedback on assignments. It is clear that this type of learning environment may not be for everyone.

Another matter to consider, especially for those students and parents of students graduating high school and thinking of distance education is the experience that the traditional college experience brings. Dylan Tweney, a content development manager for Infoworld and writer about the Internet since 1993, explained, “The efficient acquisition of knowledge is only a tiny fraction of what going to college means. Face-to-face interaction with professors, living away from one’s parents, and socializing with a diverse group of people count for a lot in college education — and these experiences can’t be replicated online” Tweney .

In my own personal experience with distance education classes through

the Internet, I have found them to be challenging. I have taken many classes in an actual college classroom and on the Internet. For different courses I have even had the same instructor both in a classroom and online. I have found that much relies on the instructor s organization and planning as well as the readability of the textbook. It is certainly not a read this chapter and take a quiz type of environment. Weekly lectures are typed and postings to discussion groups are required. Some courses even have synchronous “chat” meetings to simulate classroom discussion and interaction. It certainly not a watered-down education by any means. The flexibility of taking classes online helps me to juggle my work, family and other responsibilities without tying up scheduled blocks of time in a classroom.

Using the Internet to take college courses is an option that now allows people to have access to get additional training and learn the skills needed in today s job market. The convenience and flexibility of working on assignments at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning or 11 p.m. on a Wednesday night opens up an opportunity that was, for some people, previously impossible before. In most cases, online courses cannot completely replace the interaction and the experience of traditional classroom learning. But, if the option is either going to college online or not going at all, the benefits of receiving a quality education through the Internet pale in comparison to alternative of doing nothing at all.

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