THECOLLEGEDEGREES.COM BLOG

If you are considering starting a PhD program, you’re probably a busy professional with a full-time career. If you are also juggling the demands of a family or social life, the idea of getting your doctorate degree may sound desirable, but overwhelming.

Before you hit overload, stop. Do a little checking online to see whether the university degree program that would help you most is offered as a distance learning degree. Many distance education PhD programs have been created especially to meet the demands of students just like you. Don’t jeopardize your education because you don’t take the time to learn whether you can benefit from these degree programs.

A wide variety of online business degrees, online computer science degrees, and even doctorate programs in education are now being offered by many online degree universities. You can even enroll in an online PhD program in nursing or healthcare management. What’s more, these college degree programs offer their students a unique opportunity to take online degree courses with students whose lives are very much like their own.

University degree online programs are usually taught by professors who are very familiar with the unique needs and highly motivated personalities of distance learning students. What’s more, they are used to working with students to optimize the learning process. If you are considering finishing your university education with a doctorate degree, see if these learning programs will work for you. If you don’t, you have no one to blame except yoruself.

Today, Wall Street was a disaster. The biggest disaster since 1929, the news headlines screamed. People have been talking about avoiding major purchases, and arguing about whether to purchase or sell more stock. Corporations are closing, and cutbacks in businesses are happening everywhere.

Many people are turning to college degree programs to help them gain new skills and become more competitive in a rapidly dwindling job market. Online university degree programs are available from a wide variety of online degree universities. But will the economy make people stop and think - before spending their money for school?

Surprisingly, people are more likely to invest in education when jobs are scarcer. They recognize that degrees are essential to demonstrating that they have the skills and knowledge to survive in today’s business world. And most people, especially now, just can’t afford to quit work and go back to school.

Distance learning is still the best option for people who need to further their education while working full-time. The wide variety of distance learning degree programs and majors makes this possible for almost everyone. Practical people everywhere are turning to distance degree education programs to help them get - or keep their jobs.

If you are looking for work, or if you are concerned about keeping your job, consider taking some online degree courses to help you gain or maintain that competitive edge. In today’s job market, that edge may mean the difference between working in a career you enjoy - or not working at all. Is it worth the risk?

Did you know that you can earn a degree online in Elementary Education without ever setting foot on a college campus? Whether you want to earn a Bachelor Degree online, or get your Master’s Degree, these distance learning opportunities are now available to motivated students. If you need the flexibility and convenience offered by online degree universities, this is your chance to get the degree you want - and study when you need to study!

Elementary education is a rewarding, exciting career field. Students learn techniques that help motivate young people to learn to read and to excel in school. For those who believe that children are the future of the world, motivating them to learn and to grow and to develop is essential to the continued growth and development of modern civilization.

Recently, college students ranked degree programs in elementary education as the second most popular choice for a college major. Numerous distance learning degree programs listened - and responded, with education programs that offered online degree courses and diplomas in elementary education. If you’re interested in a degree in elementary education, find out more from one of these top online schools today!

Thanks to technological advances, online university degree programs now make it possible for students to access their classroom from nearly everywhere - from work, home, or even the local Internet cafe. You don’t have to spend hours commuting to and from college, or live in crowded dormitories, to finish the college degree program that will help you get where you want to go. Find out more about distance degree programs available now!

Finding an appealing online degree program isn’t difficult. More colleges and universities are offering distance learning degrees in an ever-increasing variety of fields. Sometimes, though, knowing which programs offer the degree that will most benefit you can be difficult.

One of the issues concerning distance degree programs involves accreditation versus state licensure. Some online university degree programs seek regional accreditation from organizations that were established specifically to accredit institutions of higher learning. These agencies are ultimately administered by the U.S. Department of Education. A degree from a regionally accredited college holds the same validity anywhere in the U.S.

Some associations, however, have refused to recognize the degrees held by graduates from certain distance learning degree programs. For example, the American Bar Association refuses to recognize certain Juris Doctorate (J.D.) programs, and refuse to allow graduates to take state bar exams. In these cases, some states have stepped forward and offered licensure to these individuals.

The problem with state licensure, however, is that it’s only recognized by certain states. This doesn’t affect degree holders unless they decide to move to a state that does not recognize the education previously obtained. Then, graduates are left with a meaningless degree.

Ultimately the choice is yours. Stay informed, and decide what type of degree and program will best meet your needs. Then look for the university degree program that will meet these needs. Now good luck, and get back to school!

Online university degree programs face challenges that are unique to distance learning universities. Most people don’t take time to consider the unique difficulties faced by professors teaching online degree courses. These problems, however, are real, and often play a significant role in the design of university online courses.

First, academic honesty can be a problem. Because students log in from home and complete their homework assignments online, it is impossible to ensure that the person who is enrolled in the course is actually completing the assignment. Occasionally, a student who is pressured to complete a distance degree course for employment or professional reasons may not be strongly motivated to do so on his or her own accord.

Often, online degree universities try to solve this problem by having the student take examinations at a testing center, in the presence of a proctor. A proctor is someone who verifies the identity of the test taker and watches to ensure that the person taking the test does not cheat.

Another issue faced by professors at many top online schools is how to offer learning opportunities using a variety of teaching styles. Each person learns differently. Some learn primarily through visual methods, while others learn mainly through listening. A number of people learn through hands-on activities. 

Because most people learn best using a combination of these approaches, the professor must learn to utilize technologies that incorporate all of these methods. Although rapidly evolving technological advances can make this difficult, being able to do this is critical for many students to the successful completion of an online college degree program. Even the best professors will find themselves constantly challenged to meet the wide variety of educational needs experienced by students who want to earn a degree at home.

by Boyd
A FEW WORDS ABOUT DISSERTATIONS AND DISTANCE LEARNING

The most rigorous part of the dissertation includes the

Methods Section

• Study Design
• Research questions and hypothesis formulation
• Development of instrumentation
• Describing the independent and dependent variables
• Writing the data analysis plan
• Performing a Power Analysis to justify the sample size and writing about it

Results Section

• Performing the Data Analysis
• Understanding the analysis results
• Reporting the results.

When you enter this phase of the program, you are nearing the end of the journey. Given the difficulty of this phase, one often wishes they had previewed what was to come.
Many Ph.D candidates seem to hit a brick wall and feel disarmed when called upon to work on the methods and results section of their dissertation.
This is the point where many students diligently search for help calling on their advisor, peers, university assistance and even Google.
This is also the time when the student asks themselves the question” HOW MUCH HELP IS TOO MUCH”.

Surely no one will deny that having your dissertation written for you is very wrong. On the other hand, it is not unusual for doctoral students to get help on specific aspects of their dissertation.(e.g. APA formatting and editing) It also is not unusual for advisors to encourage students to seek outside help.

If you are a distance learning student it is almost essential you seek outside assistance for the methods and results section of your dissertation. The very nature of distance learning suggest the need for not only outside help but help from someone gifted in explaining highly technical concepts in understandable language by telephone and e-mail.

Distance learning, and the availability of programs, has increased exponentially over the last few years with some of the most respected institutions (Columbia University, Engineering; Boston University and others) offering a Ph.D in a variety of fields. If you are enrolled in a distance learning program, or considering one, you will be interested in reviewing the reference sites listed at the bottom of this page.As stated above, many students hit their dissertation “brick wall” when they encounter the statistics section. Frequently, a student will struggle for months with that section before they seek a consultant to help them. This often leads to additional tuition costs and missed graduation dates.If I were to name a single reason why a PhD candidate gets off track in their program it is the statistics and their fear of statistics.So, the question is whether or not it is ethical to get help at all. If so, how much help is too much.I don’t know if there has ever been a survey of dissertation committee members who were asked this question, however, I know many advisors take the following position when they suggest or approve outside help:To a large extent the process is self controlling. If the student relies too much on a consultant, the product may look good, however, the student will be unable to defend his/her dissertation. It takes a committed effort on the part of the student and the consultant (resulting in a collaborative/teaching exchange) to have the student responsible for the data and thoroughly understand the statistics. The day the student walks in front of the committee to defend, there should be no question as to his/her understanding of statistics.When their defense is successful, the question “was the help too much” is answered.

If you are a Ph.D candidate and would like additional information, please review the referenced sites below:

Boyd

Reference sites:
http://www.usdla.org/
http://www.cgsnet.org/
http://www.statisticallysignificantconsulting.com/

I was very surprised when I first learned how many fake college degree programs are preying on people who want to get a distance degree. In fact, when I began to look around at all the university programs advertising on the internet, I began to wonder how anyone could tell whether the degreees were real or whether they were products of disreputable diploma mills. I became curious about how a future student could tell a scam from the genuine article.

So I started doing a little bit of research on my own. I started looking at the online programs that were offered to students, and visiting online degree university’s websites. I quickly learned a few things about separating fact from fiction when it caming to earning a distance education degree.

First, if a university promises to grant a degree within an amazingly short time frame, don’t be fooled. If you are trying to get something for nothing, you are probably going to end up with nothing instead. So don’t trust the programs that tell you you can complete a PhD online program in less than a year even if you don’t already have a Bachelor Degree. It just isn’t going to happen.

Second, if you have never heard of the type of diploma being offered, it probably isn’t real. Don’t fall for a scheme that promises you a degree in holistic law practice - because there is no such degree. And don’t try to earn a college degree at home without taking taking a number of online degree courses.

Finally, websites such as Thecollegedegrees.com offer reliable information about top online schools. Don’t be misled by another scam artist who wants your money. Ripley once said that “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Don’t let it be you. Make sure the college is regionally accredited and has a good reputation before you send them money or apply.

I remember thinking when I went to college that I was so glad I had left high school behind. No more catty comments, no more focus on whose designer jeans were classier. No more nasty comments based on the color of my hair or someone else’s skin. I imagined that everyone would be focused on which college degree programs were best for them, and what courses would help them accomplish their life goals.

Then I walked into the student commons and heard one girl comment, “He’s such a geek!” She was talking about the guy with the thick glasses and scruffy jeans across the room. I saw students from different ethnic and racial backgrounds in small clumps against the wall, and was disappointed to see that nothing had really changed. We might all be getting a degree, but the same issues with which we’d struggled all through high school were still before us.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to be involved in online degree courses while teaching at a local university. I was amazed at the free interaction between students. Many spoke openly of the struggles they had encountered before they decided instead to earn a college degree at home. They talked about how much more rewarding and painless it was to get a college degree online rather than by attending a traditional college campus.

In the last few months, I saw an interesting article stating that the majority of students from minority backgrounds were flocking toward online degree universities. I was puzzled by this, until I thought of the free interaction I had witnessed between students in the online class with which I had helped. Students were able to share their thoughts and feelings and ideas openly - and no one ever behaved with disrespect toward another.
It made me wonder - do we lose our prejudices when we don’t see our differences, or are distance degree students just more enlightened in that regard? Are they people who have the ability to focus on what really matters, and grow beyond the “high school” behaviors of labeling and discrimination? Are distance education students more mature than traditional college students, or are their priorities more focused?

I was reading the other day that graphic designers will have the most job opportunities of any design profession in the next six years. I’ve always been interested in graphic design and what it might take to get a degree in this field. It made me wonder about how difficult it would be to get a graphic online design degree. I decided to investigate to try to find the best online degree university to obtain an online graphic design degree.

I did a web search and found 21 online universities that offer graphic design programs. Fourteen of them offer a Bachelor’s Degree online and five even offer an online Master’s Degree program. I had no idea that there were so many universities out there offering an online degree or that they would have graduate degree programs.

I was surprised to find that all of these were very reputable and accredited universities. Some I had heard of before and others were new. I learned that an online degree takes about the same amount of time to earn as does going through the traditional college class work. What I like is that I can work at my own pace, control my class and study hours. Also, I am not limited to where or how far I can travel. I can do some real distance learning by attending an online school anywhere in the country.

I also learned that I’m not limited to a graphic design degree. There are literally hundreds of distance learning and online degree programs available.  It’s working for me. If there’s something you always wanted to learn about, it’s possible now online. Check it out and see if it works for you.