Culture

Culture

by Mike Masnick




The Swift Rise Of University Of Phoenix Online

from the dominating-distance-learning dept

When people talk about distance learning for higher education, at some point, they almost always mention the University of Phoenix Online. It appears that the company has clearly made its name as the dominant online educational institution. Some, though, are wondering if they can keep it up. They point to the fact that the system they use is fairly low-tech, focusing on mostly text-based information - leaving the bells and whistles to their competitors. I would actually think this is a plus for the University of Phoenix. It means lower costs on their end, more students can sign up (easy for dialup users as well), and many fewer problems for students - making them more likely to continue with their courses. If they had to load some complex video application that kept crashing their browser (and, let's face it, it would), they are much more likely to find it too frustrating to bother. The bigger question, in my mind, though, is how do people view a degree from the University of Phoenix Online? The education received might be top-notch, but if potential employers think of it more as a degree mill or the equivalent of a community college, it might make people wonder if it's worth spending $10,000 or more per year on the courses.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments

(Flattened / Threaded)

    Jun 17th, 2003 @ 9:39am
  • No Subject Given

    by thecaptain

    They would be interesting if they weren't such huge damn spammers...

    I get 5-10 email offers a week from them (sometimes a day) no matter that I never visited their site or emailed them or even shown an interest in any online education...I have no idea how they got my address.

    Their spam comes in through several known spammers so I have never trusted their unsubscribe link...
    (Doesn't seem to come directly from their systems).

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Jun 17th, 2003 @ 11:29am
  • No Subject Given

    by Jason


    I took the GRE a few weeks ago and have been looking into various schools that offer online courses.
    I gave up on UOP because they don't have any info about their courses posted on their website. As best I can determine, you have to contact them and request info. This is so damn idiotic I can hardly believe it.
    I 2nd the spam comment, too. After inquiring once a few years ago, I would get e-mail from them once or twice a week.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  • Jun 17th, 2003 @ 5:35pm
  • mis-placed video conferencing application...

    by Anonymous Coward

    Yeah, I'd much rather use CuSeeMe and NetMeating for, uh, other more "stimulating" applications...

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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