Looking for Online Schools

[HoosierGuy]

Can anybody name some online universities that are respected and offer online degrees? I keep hearing that some people get their whole Masters online.

What I'm specifically looking for is an online school that offers law courses online.

Thanks

[bytor2112]

I think most universities offer on-line courses so that you can earn most of your degree withy very little class room time.

[Jenamarie]

My DH got his bachelors through Purdue. He still had to take some pre-requisites at our local community college first, then did the degree-specific courses online.

ETA: His wasn't a law degree, but it's one school you can check out for something like that. :)

[Iggy]

I think most universities offer on-line courses so that you can earn most of your degree with very little class room time.

Yep, Bytor is spot on.

What Universities, College's and Community College's are nearest to you, Hoosier? Go on-line and see if they offer on-line courses. Classes will be starting in Jan- so you don't have much time to sign up if you want to catch the Winter classes.

Here on the Oregon coast, Chemeketa Community College has on-line courses. Some of the classes require that you attend Orientation in person- thus Chemeketa has satellite offices all over the state. I took Microsoft Office: Excel and Word and didn't have to travel to the far side of Corvallis for orientation - did that via e-mail.

In Arizona, ASU offers courses via on-line. When I was living there in AZ and husband was still working for ASU, I could have attended the University for free, books etc were vastly reduced in price too!, on-line though would have cost us! Go figure!!

[prospectmom]

BYU offers an amazing amount of classes online some free. Although I have had 2 yrs of college I never got my diploma and am going thru BYU online and then the beginning work towards my BA. You can find the info online and they will send your a course description book with all kinds of good info. Some people at my school are using Phoenix University online and like it. Hope any of this is helpful. Terry

[HoosierGuy]

I've got to get back to school. I hunger for learning and intelligent conversation. I've already got a degree. I'm not sure what to do. I may have to go in debt and take a professional film editing course. I need something challenging.

[skippy740]

Lawrie Miller's BA in 4 Weeks. Online degrees by distance learning. BA degree and graduate degees - Accelerated Master Degrees by Distance Learning.

[Wingnut]

I'm currently taking a course through Stratford Career Institute. They mostly offer accelerated certificate programs, not actual degrees. If you're looking just to learn and expand knowledge because you enjoy learning, you might want to check them out. If you're looking for an actual degree, they aren't what you want. They have several legal field programs: Criminal Justice, Forensic Science, Legal Assistant/Paralegal, Private Investigator, and Security/Policy Sciences.

[Dravin]

I've got to get back to school. I hunger for learning and intelligent conversation. I've already got a degree. I'm not sure what to do. I may have to go in debt and take a professional film editing course. I need something challenging.

If all you want is discourse why not a local CC? If you aren't interested in a degree no need to shoot big so to speak and it'll be cheaper. That and if you want intelligent conversation it'll probably be easier in a classroom setting than online.

[Guest]

Law degrees are different than other degrees.

You must graduate from a law school certified in your state to be able to qualify to take the bar exams of that state. And you must take the bar exams of that state to be certified to practice law in that state.

Otherwise, you won't be able to practice law in that state - although you can still practice federal law (e.g. as an Immigration Lawyer).

So, what you have to do is look at all the law schools in your state and see if they offer online courses. This is not a common thing to do in law school.

If you want to be a Systems Engineer - you can take the entire course online through the University of Central Florida.

[Bini]

My sister just finished 8 years of schooling, passed her Bar Exam, and is jobless. She's had an interview here and there but nothing promising. There just aren't many job opportunities for lawyers right now. A good challenge is one thing (and she certainly worked her butt off) but being unemployed with no prospects is another thing. Not sure if law is really an avenue worth battling through with the few jobs available. Dunno where you are. She went to Creighton University in Omaha Nebraska but her schooling wasn't online.

[Guest mormonmusic]

One criticism of American is the fact that we are lawyer-heavy and engineer-light. Japan, on the other hand, is engineer-heavy and lawyer-light in terms of ratio of Engineer:Lawyer. I have no idea why I'm sharing this other than to jump on the "trends" in lawyering opportunities.

Everyone is saying online, however, that there is supposed to be a lot of growth in the paralegal profession however -- perhaps because people don't want to pay lawyer-rates for certain legal services.

[MichaelCraig]

You might want to check out Capella University at:

Online Education Degree Program - Online Degree Programs - Online University Degrees

They have a PHd program in criminal justice but I'm not sure if they have an actual program to become a lawyer.

[HoosierGuy]

I've changed my mind on the law degree. I read a book on the Roman republic and all those Latin words put me in a Latin law mood. That's why I posted the question on online law degrees. I'm looking for other things to study.

[dahlia]

Be careful about online degrees. Credits at most of the for-profit schools won't transfer over to a brick & mortar program. So, if you don't finish your program and decide later to go elsewhere, you may have to start all over. Or if you want to get a grad degree, undergrad credits may not count.

Online education can be a benefit, but most people don't realize that the traditional academic world thinks very little of it - not because they're afraid of the competition, but because instructors in these programs are often told to pass everyone, not to give difficult assignments, etc. The instructors can be of the lowest quality.

As far as a PhD online, forget it if you ever plan to work in a traditional college/university. I don't know of a regular university that would even look twice at your resume. Now if you have a job and a PhD would just move you up in the ranks, you might, might, consider an online program, but I wouldn't.

If you decide on another degree program and have to do it online, choose one of the regular universities that offers online degrees. Your diploma will just say 'U of Maryland' for example, not 'U of Maryland online,' so no one will know you did your work online. The regular schools that offer online programs will also be cheaper than the proprietary schools.

Glad you changed your mind about law. I was a lawyer in a past life. The ABA has an iron grip on the law programs in this country and you won't even be allowed to sit for the bar with a non-ABA degree unless you are in California. There's so much money involved with tuition, you just don't want to do this the wrong way. And - the other poster was right about it being a bad scene for new law grads right now. Unless you go to a top 20 school, you are going to have mounds of debt and will be lucky to have a job. Don't do it!

[Guest mirancs8]

Be careful about online degrees. Credits at most of the for-profit schools won't transfer over to a brick & mortar program...

Online education can be a benefit, but most people don't realize that the traditional academic world thinks very little of it - not because they're afraid of the competition, but because instructors in these programs are often told to pass everyone, not to give difficult assignments, etc. The instructors can be of the lowest quality.

Just note that there are a lot of for-profit "private" schools that offer online programs AND are a brick & mortar.

I attend ASU via online and there is no difference in the importance of my degree. Most employers today do acknowledge that many pursue their degrees online and they do take them seriously. I work in a huge corporation and there are many people who have acquired up to a Masters online. They did so in for-profit AND public colleges/universities. They are given the same opportunity for promotion as the person who went to the brick and mortar.

Yes choose your school wisely but you don't want to tell people that the traditional academic world thinks very little of it. That’s simply not true today. Maybe many years ago when it first started but now it’s acceptable as a viable way to achieve your degree.

I went to college in person and online and I can with great confidence say that online was much more difficult for me. The one element that makes it more difficult is you have to be self-disciplined to keep up with your classes and assignments. Since you don’t go to a physical location it's easy to forget to attend and/or slack off. Additionally I didn't find the professors any easier or a lower quality compared to when I attending college in person. ASU has excellent professors (online AND brick & mortar) as it is one of the top ranking Universities.

Sure there are some bad ones, but if you pick a reputable school with an online program you’ll do great. It’s more important the school you choose rather than if it’s their online or regular course of pursuing a degree.

[dahlia]

I'm going to stand by my position that traditional academics - PhDs doing research in research 1 and 2 schools (think Michigan, Berkeley, Wisconsin, and then your 2nd tier state schools) - do not consider online PhDs as valid. You are not socialized to your field, online PhD students generally do not present papers or attend conferences, they do not learn the type of research you learn to do in a regular PhD program, etc. I can tell you that over the past 11 yrs or so that I've been on professor/academic boards, posters seeking online PhDs are routinely shot down and told why the degree is inappropriate FOR BEING A PROFESSOR.

I mentioned specifically in my post above that if you have a job and want to move up, than an online program may work. I am not talking here about the type of research, level of teaching, and discipline mastery that comes with a residential PhD.

Academia changes slowly. I'm not against online education at all. I am saying that people who think they are going to get the same jobs with an online PhD as with a residential PhD are fooling themselves. Also, there's a lot of difference between a masters and a PhD. I keep repeating myself, but again, if you are in a job and an online masters - which often doesn't require original research or a thesis - may suit some people just fine. In my field, some schools offer online degrees - but only at the masters level. It is just patently unfair to take someone's money for online doctoral education and not tell the person that they have little likelihood of being employed as a professor.

This topic gets a lot of heat every time it comes up on the other boards. There are those who want online 'education for everyone' and those who have no use for it. But time and again we see people who don't want to move and yet want to be a professor with an online degree. Ain't gonna happen. Now if you want a PhD for your own edification and want to do it online, that's your choice. It may be a good one for a retiree who couldn't get into a residential program or doesn't want to move. For other folks, though, it is a waste of money.

[Guest mirancs8]

Your first 2 paragraphs did not mention PhD so I made an assumption you were talking about all degrees.

I am not talking at all about PhDs.

[Just_A_Guy]

Glad you changed your mind about law. I was a lawyer in a past life. The ABA has an iron grip on the law programs in this country and you won't even be allowed to sit for the bar with a non-ABA degree unless you are in California. There's so much money involved with tuition, you just don't want to do this the wrong way. And - the other poster was right about it being a bad scene for new law grads right now. Unless you go to a top 20 school, you are going to have mounds of debt and will be lucky to have a job. Don't do it!

*sigh* . . . Dahlia, where were you back in 2005 when I really needed to hear this?

[Guest mormonmusic]

I'm going to stand by my position that traditional academics - PhDs doing research in research 1 and 2 schools (think Michigan, Berkeley, Wisconsin, and then your 2nd tier state schools) - do not consider online PhDs as valid. You are not socialized to your field, online PhD students generally do not present papers or attend conferences, they do not learn the type of research you learn to do in a regular PhD program, etc. I can tell you that over the past 11 yrs or so that I've been on professor/academic boards, posters seeking online PhDs are routinely shot down and told why the degree is inappropriate FOR BEING A PROFESSOR.

I mentioned specifically in my post above that if you have a job and want to move up, than an online program may work. I am not talking here about the type of research, level of teaching, and discipline mastery that comes with a residential PhD.

Academia changes slowly. I'm not against online education at all. I am saying that people who think they are going to get the same jobs with an online PhD as with a residential PhD are fooling themselves. Also, there's a lot of difference between a masters and a PhD. I keep repeating myself, but again, if you are in a job and an online masters - which often doesn't require original research or a thesis - may suit some people just fine. In my field, some schools offer online degrees - but only at the masters level. It is just patently unfair to take someone's money for online doctoral education and not tell the person that they have little likelihood of being employed as a professor.

This topic gets a lot of heat every time it comes up on the other boards. There are those who want online 'education for everyone' and those who have no use for it. But time and again we see people who don't want to move and yet want to be a professor with an online degree. Ain't gonna happen. Now if you want a PhD for your own edification and want to do it online, that's your choice. It may be a good one for a retiree who couldn't get into a residential program or doesn't want to move. For other folks, though, it is a waste of money.

I'm a teacher in higher education with almost 2 decades of private college teaching experience. So far, I've done it all with a Master's Degree. I then went on to do another Master's Degree, completely online, and a Master's Certificate, completely online from Keller Graduate School of Management. To teach in the area of US I live, all you need are 18 graduate credit hours in the field you want to teach for the accreditation bodies -- and so far, they don't care if it's online or onsite education that gets you those 18 graduate credit hours.

I'm now working on a Ph.D. in Education from a private college that has purely online degrees, and is regionally accredited. My job is paying for it because the school I work for wants everyone to have a Ph.D's.

I went into this realizing that this PhD would probably NOT qualify me to teach/work at a state school. However, it's something that I think will help people get jobs in the private sector of education, with other online schools etcetera. I also checked with a few people who have degrees from 1st and 2nd tier universities, and asked their opinion. They agreed that I probably wouldn't get a job in a traditional university, but that journals don't seem to care where your degree is from, provided the quality of the research is good.

I also chose to get an online PhD because I'm in my mid-career, and I have family and the need to stop pulverizing myself with additonal education and stress my entire life. My kids need me and I've put them on hold more than I like over the years. It was either this -- take the flexibility of an online PHD or don't do one at all.

So, if your goals are to teach in private education, and you need the flexibility of online education, PHD may well be good enough. Also, if you want to be an Academic Manager/Dean in the private education sector, then an online PHD or ED.D. can be good enough.

By the way, many of my colleagues have PhD's from respected, traditional schools, and THEY are teaching at private universities as primarily teaching professors, and not researching. So some people do residencies and get a PhD the traditional way, to find themselves teaching alongside people with Master's degrees.

Also, -- regarding socialization in the field. My master's degree was from a 1st tier university in Canada. The socialization I got there was one of arrogance from most of the professors who cared more about their research than teaching. A few of my colleages made comments that, as doctoral students they felt like second class citizens "right up until the moment they put the hood on me" -- at graduation.

So, I'm not convinced that kind of socialization is something I want at this point in my life. Rigor, direction, support, feedback -- yes -- but I want it in a climate of humanistic respect. You don't seem to get that in a lot of traditional schools based on my own research before undertaking this huge online PhD project. At least at private colleges, there is greater respect and concern about your success.

That has been my experience.

Edited January 7, 2011 by mormonmusic

[Captain_Curmudgeon]

One outfit started by a Mormon boy from Cedar: WGU

Non-profit, accredited, award-winning, written up in TIME and such.

[Tarnished]

My brother in law is going to law school at Penn State, he is top in his class and has an externship for this up coming semester, he spent a good part of this last year interviewing all over the country for a summer internship which would give him a possibility at a job if the law firm he internships with is impressed with his work. So far he has not gotten an offer for an internship yet. He interviewed in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Washington (state), and I am sure some other states that I am not aware of. If you really want a law degree and want to do something with it you really need to be planning ahead or know someone. And when I say planning ahead I mean planning your school carefully, planning how you are going to go about your studies, planning everything. My brother, who is also currently in law school studied for a year for his LSAT. My brother in law studied for about half a year for his.

As Dahlia stated, if you really want a degree that is going to take you somewhere then you might want to consider attending a university and going to classes and such. If you just want to learn stuff then an online course might be a great thing for you. Or you can check out The Teaching Company's courses: The Great Courses They are university level courses that you can watch on dvd or listen to on cd, they are very educational and very interesting but are purely for those who just want to learn and don't mind not earning a degree from it. None of the courses will get you credits at a university.

[gwendo]

I think offline study is cooler than any online