Reference Guide: Online Degree & Education Resources

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Free Online Tools for Students

Writing & Editing

  • A.nnotate: Collaboratively give, collect and store detailed notes on documents and web pages.
  • Google Docs: Free, collaborative web-based word processor, spreadsheet and presentation application.
  • Zoho Writer: An alternative to Google Docs with free web-based wordprocessing.
  • EasyBib: Easy-to-use bibliography generator. MLA, APA, Chicaco citation styles.


Researching, Collecting and Managing

  • Delicious: Discover and save bookmarks online.
  • Zotero: Firefox extension to help you collect, manage and cite research sources.
  • Evernote: Capture, store and search notes, tasks, snapshots and web pages.
  • Remember The Milk: To-do and task list management tool that can be synced with Blackberry and iPhone.

 

Online Resources for Students

Below is a list of some useful online resources designed to aid distance education.

Acronyms & Abbreviations

  • Acronym Finder: Comprehensive dictionary of more than 750,000 human-edited acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms.
  • BABEL: Computer oriented abbreviations and acronyms.

Associations & Organizations

  • Associations on the Net: Guide to web sites of prominent organizations and associations at IPL.
  • Idealist: Listings of over 83,000 nonprofit organizations and groups. Internships, events and programs.
  • UIA DB: Union of International Associations Database with 500,000+ records.

Biographies

  • Biography.com: Database of thousands of famous luminaries from the world of history and media.
  • Biographical Dictionary: Find regularly updated information on past and present personalities in world history.

Books

  • ISBNdb: Unique book and ISBN database
  • Project Gutenberg: The first and largest single collection of free e-books, electronic books.
  • Questia: The online library of books and journals.

Calculation & Conversion

Citations & Style Manuals

Dictionaries & Thesauri

Encyclopedias

  • Encyclopedia.com:  A useful site for facts, figures and pictures on a global scale.
  • Wikipedia: The collaboratively written web-based, free-content encyclopedia project.

Library Catalogs

News & Current Events

  • Google News: Keep updated on goings on both nationally and internationally.

Quotations

Reference Web Sites

  • BASE: Bielefeld Academic Search Engine. Use to find scientifically relevant web resources.
  • Infomine: Scholarly Internet resource Collections. A virtual library of Internet resources.
  • ISI Highly Cited Researchers: Database of scientific researchers whose publications are most often cited in academic journals.
  • Librarians Internet Index: Over 20,00 resources compiled and organized by librarians.

Online Degrees vs Traditional Degrees

There are undoubted differences between a traditional and online degree, with the latter not restricted to a single location. However a closer look at both shows that despite the many advantages gained from pursuing a degree online, both mediums aren’t that different from each other.

  • Both offer a plethora and wide variety of degrees and courses to choose from.
  • While earning a degree online comes with an element of flexibility to it, the traditional approach may still hold more of an appeal to those who appreciate the social interaction a brick and mortar establishment comes with.
  • It doesn’t matter if one earns a degree through traditional or non-traditional method with both now widely accepted as credible, so long as they originate from reputable and accredited institutions.
  • The face to face interaction between teacher and student still exists within both mediums, albeit through technological aids when studying online.
  • Open enrollment is another major reason to consider an online education. While campus based schools have a fixed open period of enrollment, one can sign up for an online degree at anytime.

However way you choose to look at it, the practice of e-learning can be split into three main categories:

Computer-Based Learning (CBL)

This is the practice of teaching with the computer as the primary tool to facilitate learning. It was hugely successful at tailoring the pace to individual students and was common place in the late 80s to early 90s. The main disadvantage of CBL was the limited level of interaction kids had with their teachers who in some cases simply left them in front of a computer to their own devices.

Computer-Based Training (CBT)

Sometimes called Web-based training, this is when training is carried out on a computer by way of specific programs. It is a mode that can be distributed via CD-ROMs or the internet and we have all at some point or another employed to get to grips with a new piece of software.

Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)

This is the practice of incorporating technology as a means of facilitating learning amongst multiple individuals. Common examples of CSCL tools include blogs, media sharing mediums, wikis and whiteboards. Some advantages of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning include its ability to increase student motivation, time saving as well as social interaction which helps develop critical thinking.

History of Online Education

While the advantages of signing up for online degrees are well documented, where does the concept come from? How and when did it begin?
While the idea of educational institutions offering distance learning courses and degree programs may be relatively new, tutoring and all manner of virtual distance training has been around since the mid 1900s, with large companies incorporating technology based tools to aid employee training. This approach quickly caught the attention of the academic community and it wasn’t long before the distant learning
Distant learning may have undergone numerous facelifts over the years and while the phrase ‘Online Education’ wasn’t coined until the advent of the internet was in full swing, the ideology behind creating and implementing a Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) System can be traced back to the 60s.

Online Education Timeline

 

The 60s

In 1960, the Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations (PLATO) was built by a team of scientists, tied to the University of Illinois and headed by lab assistant; Donald Bitzer. PLATO offered managed course content over an early version of the internet. While rudimentary in its functionality, PLATO was instrumental in establishing such notable online concepts such as email, chat rooms, message boards and remote screen sharing and is recognized today as the first real foray into distant learning.
Following its successful implementation, PLATO was then integrated at Pennsylvania State University, college of Education in 1964, with the Altoona Area School District following suit soon after. Over the next decade, PLATO was able to run up to 20 lessons simultaneously and up until it was decommissioned in 2006 helped lay the foundation for Computer Based Training (CBT).

The 70s

The 1970s witnessed an upsurge in the development of Computer Assisted Instruction systems. An application that incorporated subjects such as mathematics, science technology called ‘The Havering Computer Managed Learning System’ was developed in England and throughout the next ten years would be used by scores of teachers and thousands of students. Meanwhile in Saskatchewan, Canada, the first computers were introduced to elementary schools.
Under the stewardship of professor Patrick Suppes, computer based courses were offered to Stanford undergraduates between 1972 and 1992. The decade also saw the launch of the first computer magazine, entitled ‘Computing’. Its January issue ran the first recorded feature on the potential of gaming as a tool for education, headlined ‘Learning with Computer Games.’
By the mid 70s, the Coastline Community College, founded by Bernard Luskin became the first recognized Virtual College in the United States and quickly dispelled myths about its inability to provide adequate education despite its non-traditional status. Today the school is still revered as one of the ‘nation’s most innovative institutions.’

The 80s

With the 1980s came the Learning Management System (LMS) or The Learning Manager (LMG) as it was later called. This was a system that could be accessed remotely by both students and educators with the aid of a dial up connection. It was unique in the sense that it was able to generate tests based on a learning objective data structure. In 1981, the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute starts an online program while the Computer Assisted Learning Center (CALC) came into fruition as a computer based learning center in 1982. The decade also saw the first large scale computer conferencing use following the launch of ‘Introduction to Information Technology’ by the Open University UK. A thousand students a year signed up for the e-learning conference. With the internet now in its present guise, the University of Phoenix becomes the first online university to offer programs in both Bachelor’s and Master’s degree levels.

The 90s

In the 1990s, Bernard Luskin as the founding chancellor teams up with Glenn Jones to launch Jones International University, the first accredited fully web based university. Luskin also lends his experience to Philips Interactive Media as CEO and helps develop the first full motion video MPEG compression. AcademicInfo, maintained by Mike Madin also launches as a free accessible resource for teachers, students and researchers

2000s

With the millennium a distant memory, Microsoft releases its new classroom curriculum management platform called, Microsoft Encarta Class Server with designs to help “integrate daily curriculum with the digital age.” It releases version 4.0 in 2005.Bernard Luskin again returns to spearhead the launch of the first PhD program in Media Psychology at Fielding Graduate University.
With eLearning programs popping up at a rapid rate, the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities initiates the ‘E-xcellence’ project. The initiative is a collaborative effort between 13 countries in the EU and is designed to set the standard of quality in e-learning.
Linden Labs launches Second Life (an entirely rendered free 3-D world) and announces that by 2009, over 200 educational institutions that include Harvard, Princeton and Stanford had joined the 3-D world to conduct research as well as teach classes within the virtual world.

Financing Options

Saving up to pay for an education, be it campus based or online requires a lot of research and planning. While the online option is in most cases, cheaper than its more traditional counterpart, it is important to check ensure the online school offers access to federal student financial aid programs.

Applying for Financial Aid

Online Schools & Certifications

Popular Online Schools

Accreditation

The easiest way to ensure you are applying to a legitimate institution of higher learning is by checking their level of accreditation.  Accreditation is a process of certification of an institution of higher learning's academic credentials.  "Schools" that operate as diploma mills are usually not accredited by legitimate accrediting agencies or are not accredited at all.

The gold standard for accreditation in the United States is regional accreditation.  The majority of major colleges and universities hold regional accreditation by one of six regional accrediting agencies recognized by the U.S. government.  Credits earned by studying at a regionally accredited school are generally transferrable to any other accredited school.

Other valid accreditations in the U.S are national accreditation, which certifies a school on a national or worldwide level, professional accreditation which usually certifies a certain program or course of study, and religious accreditation for legitimate seminaries and schools of religious teachings.

While distance learning is a wonderful way to further your education, it is important to know what level of degree or certification you want to achieve.  It is equally important to ensure you are attending a properly accredited school as diploma mills often hold low or no academic standards and their degrees hold no value.  With this information in mind, explore your options and enjoy your educational endeavor.

Beware of Diploma Mills

While higher education can indeed pave the road to greater monetary riches and life enrichment there are some institutions that pose as legitimate colleges and universities but actually take students' money whilst providing fraudulent and worthless "degrees." These will have no real worth and will not help you achieve success in the job market and they generally provide little or no educational value.

"Schools" of this type are often known as "diploma mills."  While they are illegal in some countries and parts of the United States they are still able to exist by exploiting loopholes or maintaining charters in countries where prohibitions do not exist or are completely ineffective.  In the U.S. there is no federal law against an institution issuing "degrees" without merit.  While some states do have such laws, many do not.

Often, diploma mills are able to function by taking the identity of a well known school with whom they are not actually affiliated.  Another disturbing trend is a loophole that allows "schools" to declare themselves "bible colleges" or "seminaries" allowing them to exercise their "freedom of religion" as afforded by the Constitution of the United States.

Additional Online Degree Resources

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Introduction

This comprehensive guide has been created for current students and teachers as a reference with essential online tools and resources. This guide will also help prospective students learn more about online education. This guide will also seek to map the history of online education, look at the differences between traditional and non-traditional forms of education while further defining relevant terms.