Online Education Offers Access and Affordability

I gained my MBA through an online university in Canada. As with all universities in Canada whether non or for profit groups they must be accredited by the province and are reviewed every four years to the standard. As someone who received their bachelor at a bricks and mortar university (York in Toronto) I was quite surprised to note that two of my professors were from York and thought in the evening through Fredericton.

Each course was provided it's own homepage with scheduled online live class lectures every week (participation was part of your grade), reading assignments whether text or case studies were laid out for the duration as well as when assignments, presentations and tests were due.

Your assignments were judged on format (APA was mandatory), content, significance and references, this was the same for group assignments. Presentation were scheduled as well and you were graded on your presentation layout, your communication skills and as well how you handled the Q&A from the professor and other students.

The only area that I was surprised on was testing. Testing would open to the class to log in on a Friday at 6pm and close on Sunday at midnight, now once you logged into a test a timer started and you had to complete the test in a given time frame (usually three hours). This maintained a idea that you must maintain the knowledge but I was surprised that you were not forced to go to a locally testing center to ensure that you were the only one taking the test. I think this is now a requirement to shore up the last bit of issues.

I found that this way also very good for people that must get used to working in a global economy as you were using web meeting for both in class and group work. As well you had to work in teams with people you may never meet face to face and be both a follower and a leader. The process was part of the learning as much as the content was. The learning is also something that you the student must choose what you will take from the material. Will I read my text and case studies and complete the assignments to my full degree or will I do the minimum to pass.

I though the experience was great and the frustrations I did have were very similar to my first university experience. I had good professors, I had bad. I had good group members and bad as well as some courses were amazing and some were less beneficial but overall I am more knowledgeable and better off.

I am not sure if the forcing of accreditation and verification process make the Canadian schools provide a higher level of eduction or not, but I will say my experience was positive and I would recommend it to anyone who was looking to broaden the horizons.

Lorne P 10:03AM June 22, 2011

It's been quite a while since my husband and I were interviewed for this article (I am Rosie and my husband is the Tim Scott mentioned), but I felt compelled to post an update. Just this past Sunday my husband finished his last class and now has the Associate's degree he was working toward. He works third shift for seven days on, seven days off, and the online school ensured that he could always make class--since it doesn't matter what time you get there.

I am happy for him, but my many problems with the school compelled me to report certain actions of theirs to the Attorney General of Arizona as well as Rip Off Report's consumer website. Because of attending the University of Cincinnati before trying out the University of Phoenix, I have a "brick and mortar" school to compare Phoenix to, and there was no comparison. The curriculum at Phoenix was below my own high school level curriculum, whereas UC was a challenge and required an accepted score from either the SAT or the ACT to attend. As a real estate business owner, if I ever had a need to hire someone with a degree, I might consider a UoP graduate, but it is unlikely that they were held to the same standards as other schools; thus, it is far more likely, in my opinion, that a graduate of another school is qualified for any given position.

I can see the enticement factor of these online schools--I fell for it once myself. You can go to class at any time of the day, you have no hourly deadlines and instead have daily deadlines, and yes, the college courses are as easy as high school classes, so if you are looking to breeze through a degree, online is the way to go (not that I'm encouraging that). Personally, I had a horrible experience. The article left much out--there were classmates I had that could barely speak English, and I consistently tried to help them figure out the language so they could focus on the subject matter--but you have to wonder why they were put directly into a class if they have little knowledge of the language. They have little chance of succeeding, and no doubt they are discouraged from the experience. I also had an instructor whom didn't answer emails or log into class for a full two weeks, and I turned in an assignment after sending multiple emails and leaving multiple messages asking him a simple question of clarification (which I never received). I'll never forget the instructor who simply changed the rules of the syllabus as class went along. After documenting email exchanges and the syllabus material and showing them to my academic counselor, I was told there was little they could do, even though my grades were what was at stake. Once I was in algebra, I began to take over the role of instructor since he was no where to be found, and after calling him he told me that he had "little time for things outside his other job."

Best of luck to anyone who tries these schools. Perhaps someday online education will be a good idea; so far, it's not evolving well.

Rosie Scott of OH 1:59AM December 22, 2010

i have just finished my BBA in Marketing but i can not attend for MBA in any university now so i think online MBA is best for me

tamanna 3:07AM July 18, 2010

cloud globe webmate alternatives fuel trade

shadowlina of HI 3:16AM May 06, 2010