Archive for January, 2008

How Online Degrees Have Changed in the Past 5 Years

By Choices on Jan 28, 2008 in Associate Degrees | comments(0)

Students who attended online schools or took online classes five years ago probably think that they have a solid understanding of how online education works. However, if those students went to an online class today, they might find themselves a little bit lost. That’s because the technology that is used in online classes today differs significantly from that used when they attended school.
 
Communication is the biggest area of change for online degrees. Communication online five years ago was primarily by email and included some use of discussion boards and instant messaging. A rare teacher here and there might include a chat room. Today, VoIP technology and video conferencing make it possible to hold online classes in real time with interactive communication happening across dozens of different computers.

 

Other changes have taken place in online degrees as well. Students who used to have to go to local testing centers to complete exams can now do the entire thing online. Students who had trouble finding jobs in the past because employers were skeptical of online degree programs rarely find this to be a problem today. Indeed, the student who went to online classes five years ago would find that it’s a different world today. But that world isn’t so foreign that it’s impossible to navigate so these students shouldn’t fear returning to school to gain some additional skills.

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3 Reasons to Start Your College Career at a Community College

By Choices on Jan 28, 2008 in Bachelor Degrees | comments(0)

When you were applying to colleges, did you look at your community college options or skip straight to the four-year state and private schools that offer Bachelor’s Degrees from the get-go? If you went to a four-year school, you might have ended up regretting that you didn’t start at a community college. The community college provides many benefits to the student which makes it a wise choice for completing the initial stages of a degree.
 
Here are three reasons to start out at a community college:
 
  1. It’s cheap. Why rack up loans to attend a big school when you can take all your general education classes at a community college for next-to-nothing.
  2. The instructors care about you. Many people who attended both a community college and a state college say that they have only remained in touch with their community college professors.
  3. It sets a realistic goal. You can get a two year degree so you have a goal to meet and a degree under your belt. Then you can go on to set a four year degree goal if you want to.
There are certainly benefits to attending a state college. However, you can achieve many of those same benefits by attending it for the last two years of your degree while reaping the benefits of community college first.

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