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The term online degrees refers to college degrees (sometimes including high school diplomas and non-degree certificate programs) that can be earned primarily or entirely through the use of an Internet-connected computer, rather than attending college in a traditional campus setting. Improvements in technology and the increasing use of the Internet worldwide have led to a proliferation of online colleges that award associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.
Associates - CollegeandUniversity.net has over 150 online and campus schools that offer Associates Degrees.
Distance education, or distance learning, is a field of education that focuses on the pedagogy and andragogy, technology, and instructional systems design that aim to deliver education to students who are not physically "on site". Rather than attending courses in person, teachers and students may communicate at times of their own choosing by exchanging printed or electronic media, or through technology that allows them to communicate in real time. Distance education courses that require a physical on-site presence for any reason including the taking of examinations is considered to be a hybrid or blended course or program.
Bachelors Degree - CollegeandUniversity.net has over 150 schools that offer Bachelors Degrees.
History Of Distance Education And Online Degrees
Distance education dates back to at least as early as 1728, when "an advertisement in the Boston Gazette...[named] 'Caleb Phillips, Teacher of the new method of Short Hand" was seeking students for lessons to be sent weekly.[1] Modern distance education has been practiced at least since Isaac Pitman taught shorthand in Great Britain via correspondence in the 1840s.[2] The development of the postal service in the 19th century lead to the growth of Commercial correspondence colleges with nation-wide reach.
The University of London was the first university to offer distance learning degrees, establishing its External Programme in 1858.[3] Another pioneering institution was the University of South Africa, which has been offering Correspondence Education courses since 1946. The largest distance education university in the United Kingdom is the Open University founded 1969. In Germany the FernUniversität in Hagen was founded 1974. There are now many similar institutions around the world, often with the name Open University (in English or in the local language), and these are listed below.
Charles Wedemeyer of the University of Wisconsin at Madison is considered the father of modern distance education in America. From 1964-1968 the Carnegie Foundation funded Wedemeyer's Articulated Instructional Media Project (AIM) which brought in a variety of communications technologies aimed at providing learning to an off-campus population. According to Moore's recounting, AIM impressed the British who imported these ideas and used them to create the first Open University, now called United Kingdom Open University (UKOU) to distinguish it from other open universities which have emerged. UKOU was established in the late 1960s and used television and radio as its primary delivery methodologies, thus placing it in the forefront of applying emerging technologies to learning. It is fair to say that all "open universities" use distance education technologies as delivery methodologies.[4]
There are many private and public, non-profit and for-profit institutions offering courses and degree programs through distance education. Levels of accreditation vary; some institutions offering distance education in the United States have received little outside oversight, and some may be fraudulent diploma mills. In many other jurisdictions, an institution may not use the term "University" without accreditation and authorisation, normally by the national government. Online education is rapidly increasing among mainstream universities in the United States, where online doctoral programs have even developed at prestigious research institutions. [5]
In the twentieth century, radio, television, and the Internet have all been used to further distance education. Computers and the Internet have made distance learning distribution easier and faster. [6]
In 2006 the Sloan Consortium reported that more than 96 percent of the largest colleges and universities in the United States offered online courses and that almost 3.2 million U.S. students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2005 term.
Types Of Distance Education Courses
* Correspondence conducted through regular mail
* Internet conducted either synchronously or asynchronously
* Telecourse/Broadcast, in which content is delivered via radio or television
* CD-ROM, in which the student interacts with computer content stored on a CD-ROM
* PocketPC/Mobile Learning where the student accesses course content stored on a mobile device or through a wireless server
Distance Education has traversed four to five 'generations' of technology in its history. These are print, audio/video broadcasting, audio/video teleconferencing, computer aided instruction, e-learning/ online-learning, computer broadcasting/webcasting etc. Yet the radio remains a very viable form, especially in the developing nations, because of its reach. In India the FM Channel is very popular and is being used by universities, to broadcast educational programs of variety on areas such as teacher education, rural development, programs in agriculture for farmers, science education, creative writing, mass communication, in addition to traditional courses in liberal arts, science and business administration. The increasing popularity of mp3 players, PDAs and Smart Phone has provided an additional medium for the distribution of distance education content, and some professors now allow students to listen or even watch video of a course as a Podcast [9]. Some colleges have been working with the U.S. military to distribute entire course content on a PDA to deployed personnel. [10]
One of the newest technologies for delivery of distance education is the 3D virtual world of the online community Second Life. Institutions reported to have used Second Life in instruction include Bloomsburg University, Princeton University, Rice University, University of Derby (UK), Vassar College, and the Open University (UK)[11]. In at least one instance, an entire online course was conducted through Second Life [12]. In 2007 Second Life started to be used for foreign language instruction [13]. English (as a foreign language) has gained a presence through several schools, including the British Council[2], which has focused on the Teen Grid. Spain’s language and cultural institute “Instituto Cervantes” has an island on Second Life.
There is also an increased use of WebEx as an online learning platform and classroom for a diverse set of education providers such as Fox School of Business for Templer University, Grades Grow, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, and Sachem[14][15][16][17]. Webex is a Cisco Web Meetings and Collaboration Solution. The platform has worked for educational institutions because of real time collaboration using an interactive whiteboard, chat, and VOIP technology that allows audio and video sharing. In distance learning situations, while replacing the classroom with features, institutions have also looked for security features which are inherently strong in a Cisco powered collaboration environment. The downside is that Webex is not a free platform like WiZiQ or Moodle, and fees are paid per 'host' of a classroom or a meeting.
Master - CollegeandUniversity.net has over 120 schools that offer Masters Degree.
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