Ah, the joys of classrooms. Who can forget having assigned seats, or seats designed primarily to be affordable to the school rather than provide comfort first? Or how about being told to be quiet, or to not bring food or beverages, or to wear a class uniform? What about having to get to them on time or else be penalized, ? It all kind of emphasized the “experience” in the phrase “learning experience,” didn’t it?
Luckily, these impediments will be of no concern to you if you take your entry-leve…
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Added by Ryan Busch on July 30, 2009 at 12:30pm —
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Technology is a tool that has transformed all facets of our lives over the last few years, including college education. But what good is having technology available if you do not employ it while learning?
Just a third of professors surveyed in CDW-G’s recent
"21st Century Campus" report said technology is fully integrated into their classes. Also, while 63 percent of students surveyed said they use technology to prepare fo…
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Added by Ryan Busch on July 20, 2009 at 11:00am —
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It has been the accepted standard operating procedure for years now for those attending college – you schedule everything else in your life around your classes for that semester, not vice versa. But nowadays, thanks to the convenience of online learning, you can make your class schedule fit your needs and not the requirements of a university.
We at
StraighterLine, a new online solution, believe we offer the best possible options for setting your own p…
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Added by Ryan Busch on July 14, 2009 at 11:14am —
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If you’re considering enrolling in college, you, like many other poor souls, are thinking about getting in the market to buy college textbooks. Take note of these
warnings, courtesy of U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups:
• Students now spend about $900 a year on textbooks and course materials.
• Textbook prices have outpaced U.S. inflation four to one since 1994.
• Publishers are increasing…
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Added by Ryan Busch on June 2, 2009 at 10:00am —
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You know the old highlighter routine you used on your books when you were in college? You remember, the yellow or green felt tip marker that allowed you to put a background over text on parts you felt were particularly important and revie…
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Added by Ryan Busch on May 21, 2009 at 10:10am —
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When you pay top dollar for a college education, you expect your instructors to be high quality as well, right? But some startling data from the
Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that what you anticipate from post-secondary institutions is often not what you receive.
For example, did you know that:
• About 30 percent of college and university faculty worked just part time in 2006?
• Of the nearly 1.7 million post-secondary teachers that year, nearly 10 percent o…
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Added by Ryan Busch on May 5, 2009 at 9:02am —
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How exactly can you measure the success of a college course? For us here at
StraighterLine (SL), a new online educational solution, we believe one method is to show just how many degrees can be completed by our courses.
For an initial survey, we looked at where credits for bachelor’s, associate’s and master’s degrees would apply for only our first four initial entry-level courses, College Algebra, English Composition I, Accounting I and Economics I (w…
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Added by Ryan Busch on April 28, 2009 at 8:53am —
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No one likes to waste either time or money. So why do both when it comes your college education?
For example, if you take the
CLEP (College Level Examination Program) series of tests to gain college credits, you first will have to buy any required textbooks or other study materials needed to prepare in advance, which can easily add $100-$200, or even more, to your expense per course. Study guides are recommended for prepa…
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Added by Ryan Busch on April 15, 2009 at 3:46pm —
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Mention online college education with someone or search for the term in Google, and chances are excellent that the University of Phoenix will be mentioned. As the leading for-profit institution with both Internet and campus-based programs, it has become synonymous in many people’s minds as the top choice to take college programs online. But is it the best choice for everyone?
StraighterLine offers transferable entry-level curriculum courses that, when…
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Added by Ryan Busch on April 7, 2009 at 8:00am —
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College enrollment rates have climbed from 13.8 million in the fall of 1990 to 17.5 million in the fall of 2005. During this time span, the number of people under age 25 enrolled in college jumped 33%, while the enrollment of those 25 and older rose 18%. Based on these numbers, it would seem that the world of higher education was stronger than ever. Unfortunately, getting students to enroll in college seems to be only half the battle.
While…
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Added by Ryan Busch on March 24, 2009 at 9:09am —
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When you walk into an average lecture hall on any major campus, you can find yourself feeling as if you are a spectator in a sporting event or stage production instead of a classroom. You will see rows upon rows of seats going back in the distance, with those people unfortunate to be in the back part having to strain their eyes to see an instructor using a microphone to talk to them, while those up close have to crane their necks to see fully the large letters and images being projected on the s…
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Added by Ryan Busch on February 17, 2009 at 4:33pm —
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The idea of online education was once treated as a novelty. Today, many companies and even governmental bodies regard it more as a necessity. And that applies not just to the United States either.
For example, there are many joint partnerships between computer companies, schools and governments overseas in educating their youth. Success stories have emerged from countries ranging from Chile to Rwanda creating a national learning…
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Added by Ryan Busch on February 13, 2009 at 9:50am —
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Good news: Leading universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Yale now offer their courses online. Bad news: The restrictions under which they are providing them to the general public are so stringent that it is virtually useless to study them online for educational benefit.
Let’s consider what MIT offers first. Its
OpenCourseWare (OCW) Web site allows you to view lecture notes, problem sets, labs and othe…
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Added by Ryan Busch on February 6, 2009 at 6:09pm —
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Online education is becoming a fact of life for many of our youth nowadays, and not just those who are home schooled. Twenty-six states now have statewide virtual schools for children in grades K-12. Total enrollment nationwide is estimated to be 1 million students. The Florida Virtual School, established by the legislature in 1997, is the largest online public school program, with enrollment of 54,000 this year. Clearly, already a substantial number of children in America use online education,…
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Added by Ryan Busch on January 30, 2009 at 10:30am —
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Forty-nine of 50. That’s the number of states in the U.S. with failing grades in higher education affordability, according to The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
The Center published the findings in its “
Measuring Up 2008: The National Report Card on Higher Education” study, which grades states in six categories. But none proved more dramatic than the affordabil…
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Added by Ryan Busch on January 27, 2009 at 5:54pm —
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The figures are staggering.
From 1997 to 2007, the average cost of a college degree has nearly doubled. According to the College Board, consumer prices on average rose less than 29 percent during that period, while tuition, fees, and room and board at four-year public colleges and universities soared 79 percent to $12,796 a year and 65 percent to $30,367 a year at private institutions.
That has left students with the need to borrow more money to cover the rising prices. In turn, those loans ha…
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Added by Ryan Busch on January 19, 2009 at 3:14pm —
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As people worry about America’s current economic system, experts have even graver concerns about the near future. Due to more workers retiring while the number of jobs requiring some college education increases, the United States may face a shortage of 14 million workers with college-level skills. At the same time, only one-third of young adults from poor families get any kind of postsecondary degree at present. These conditions spell trouble for our future workforce if not addressed promptly.…
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Added by Ryan Busch on December 23, 2008 at 12:59pm —
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“Help postsecondary institutions explore creative approaches to attract, retain, and teach students.” That’s one of the strategies listed by the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as part of its campaign to increase by 100 percent the number of current low-income Americans earning a postsecondary degree by age 26. We at
StraighterLine (SL), a new online education solu…
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Added by Ryan Busch on December 22, 2008 at 10:14am —
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As part of an initiative launched by
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to double the number of low-income Americans earning a postsecondary degree by age 26, one effort to achieve this goal is to encourage leaders to commit their time and knowledge to it. The foundation’s Web site states that “We will work with busines…
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Added by Ryan Busch on December 17, 2008 at 11:00am —
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Among its many worthy charitable efforts, the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
has set a goal of doubling the number of low-income young adults earning a postsecondary degree by age 26 in the United States. Postsecondary degrees include any education after graduating high school, and one of the foundation’s strategies involves plans to make obtaining a two-year degree easier, quicker and more affordable than…
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Added by Ryan Busch on December 15, 2008 at 10:30am —
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