> Mark E. Skeels wrote:
> > So what do you guys think of distance learning....say, like this....
> >
> > http://distance.und.edu/degree/?id=3Delectricalengbs
> >
> > ...any other ideas......I have less than an associates degree right
now,
> > so you might say I'm starting from scratch, that was so long ago.
>=20
> Unless you have a very compelling reason (the specific career you seek
calls
> for a 4-year degree), my advice is simple: do not waste your time and
money.
>=20
> The quality of education has declined considerably in recent years.
Online
> classes are a joke. Worsts of all, a college degree has become a
commodity;
> every idiot has one. Smart employers understand this, and look at what
> you've done, and what you know.
>=20
> If you insist on getting a degree, find a school that offers real,
> old-fashioned learning in a room with other students and a live
professor.

I wouldn't agree with Vitaliy. I have been doing distance learning
through the Open University in the UK http://www.open.ac.uk for a number
of years now, and so far it has been a very positive experience. The
course work has been good, and well thought out, with only the
occasional niggle. I have had only one tutor that I felt was an 'also
ran', the rest have been excellent, and only too willing to assist when
I got stuck. The only real niggle I have with them is that they have
nothing in electronics courses - lots of computing, IT, etc, but no real
electronics. I have been making noises that with the current trend
towards electric vehicles, and the like, along with starter kits from
companies like Microchip, they should be running courses in closed loop
motor control and the like. They have all the requisite math courses for
the theory, they 'just' need the practical courses.

As with all things, it pays to research the school, if they have
distance learning versions of courses just to try and increase the
student numbers then Vitaliys comments may apply, but a properly set up
distance learning course can be very good.
--=20
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--=20
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