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University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

uopeople.edu

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Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#121

Post by infogulch »

themodelplumber wrote: post #97
infogulch wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a subjective ethics problem. It's a competence problem. If you can't formulate your own thoughts into a coherent statement (the purpose of learning to write) then you'll be useless to anyone that needs new coherent arguments.

That's a bit of an overreach, isn't it, calling my writing incoherent and incompetent? (Edit: Parent clarified that "you" is meant to mean a hypothetical student, not me.) If more information is needed, as was the case here, we can ask questions. That's got nothing to do with author competence. It's not an essay contest. And why assume we know it all, filling in the gaps like that? In a discussion of ethics, this is…

I haven't said anything about your writing at all. Maybe it wasn't clear enough that I meant "you" as in "someone" or "one". I'm sorry it was possible to misunderstand my general statement as a personal attack.

This doesn't have to do with me either -- the market will determine whether any one person is valuable enough to employ (or promote). My only claims are that being able to write makes one more valuable, and that plagiarizing assignments at school fails to teach one to write.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#122

Post by non-entity »

traverseda wrote: post #118
cy_hauser wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would speculate no. It's not a well recognized degree and has little history or experience to back it up.

Presume that my accomplishments stand on my own, and the only thing getting in my way is that I don't qualify for a VISA under NAFTA. What I'd need would be a > Baccalaureate or Licenciatura degree; or Post-Secondary Diploma or Post Secondary Certificate and three years' experience. Now you and I know this is pretty much just a sheet of paper, but what's the cheapest/easiest way for someone who already has profession…

> but what's the cheapest/easiest way for someone who already has professional accomplishments to get that sheet of paper?

WGU might be that. it can be incredibly cheap (compared to your average bachelors degree) if completed quickly and I believe it's regionally accredited, so I imagine it qualifies you.

Now what a hiring manager will think of it is debatable.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#123

Post by AnimalMuppet »

non-entity wrote: post #18
aspenmayer wrote: post #5

The first question I always ask of these weird online universities is, are they regionally accredited? National accreditation is not really a high bar and isn’t considered competitive; all legitimate institutions of higher learning should qualify for and receive regional accreditation from an appropriate authority before considering such study in one’s best interest. This online learning site is eligible for regional…

> Not saying this is a scam, but it feels like a scam. Not directly related to your specific concern, but every attempt to make a open / democratized degree has felt like that to me, unfortunately. Example: There was an online degree program I saw that awarded a real, regionally accredited degree from a state university. The degree and course work were exactly the same, but the online program was basically open. No a…

This sounds really interesting. Would you specify which state university?

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#124

Post by austincheney »

StupidPeople wrote: post #101
infogulch wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with plagiarism isn't best characterized as some sort of power struggle between teachers and students via bullshit assignments. The purpose of learning to write is to make yourself a formidable communicator. If you can independently analyze a new topic to learn something new and apply the results of those learnings towards a particular goal, you can be amazingly effective in everything you aim for. But if…

> Plagiarizing some work doesn't really hurt the work, it hurts you Except learning isn't really the reason most go. It's to get a well paid job at the end of it.

As a software developer my education has nothing to do with a job or my salary.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#125

Post by pfranz »

cguess wrote: post #103
eikenberry wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't restricted to untraditional schools. At least one of our local state universities have stopped accepting credits from the community colleges due to the practice of transferring for the final couple years. Might be something similar going on here. It might be that they want the degree to represent the full 4 year experience at the school or it might just be the money. The cynic in me prefers the latter.

A degree says something about the student. I completely understand why universities would not want to accept credits from school below their own qualification level. If they confer a degree to a student that student is representing the university's education quality to everyone that hires them or works with them. Spending three years at a community college and expecting the credits to transfer to a major university m…

I follow your logic, but I really think it's about money since they also put up barriers for testing out of classes.

Usually, a strong state-run community college program lets an Associates degree earned at a community college transfer into any public state university as a Junior. Most non-degree focused classes directly transfer. Going between states (staying in the same regional accreditation) seems to be difficult and not all states are set up like I had described. The theory being that someone who isn't quite ready for university has an opportunity to catch up and in my experience it gives more options when popular prerequisites are full. So the state has a reason to push for this.

I'm also skeptical about universities pointing to their qualification level because I've interviewed graduates from many well known universities and was kind of floored at the basic things many candidates seemed completely unfamiliar with.

Nationally accredited organizations don't have anyone pushing for this relationship. This seems to generally work for those schools because they can advertise as accredited, get a fig leaf of transferring credits, but usually want you to stay and complete tranning there. Most tend to be vocational which makes a lot of that moot.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#126

Post by leereeves »

khawkins wrote: post #91
infogulch wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with plagiarism isn't best characterized as some sort of power struggle between teachers and students via bullshit assignments. The purpose of learning to write is to make yourself a formidable communicator. If you can independently analyze a new topic to learn something new and apply the results of those learnings towards a particular goal, you can be amazingly effective in everything you aim for. But if…

This is under the assumption that you see college is a program of self-betterment and not busy work for receiving a degree that says you can have a middle-class job. It feels like even the universities themselves see it as the latter these days.

Even if you only care about obtaining the degree, rampant plagarism also diminishes the value of that degree.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#127

Post by austincheney »

themodelplumber wrote: post #97
infogulch wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a subjective ethics problem. It's a competence problem. If you can't formulate your own thoughts into a coherent statement (the purpose of learning to write) then you'll be useless to anyone that needs new coherent arguments.

That's a bit of an overreach, isn't it, calling my writing incoherent and incompetent? (Edit: Parent clarified that "you" is meant to mean a hypothetical student, not me.) If more information is needed, as was the case here, we can ask questions. That's got nothing to do with author competence. It's not an essay contest. And why assume we know it all, filling in the gaps like that? In a discussion of ethics, this is…

It’s not an overreach. The competence is a product of originality and independence.

> And this is a big part of why "hyper ethical" subjective ethics people struggle--they assume their view is right and don't ask questions of others.

That is itself quite the assumption.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#128

Post by non-entity »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #123
non-entity wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not saying this is a scam, but it feels like a scam. Not directly related to your specific concern, but every attempt to make a open / democratized degree has felt like that to me, unfortunately. Example: There was an online degree program I saw that awarded a real, regionally accredited degree from a state university. The degree and course work were exactly the same, but the online program was basically open. No a…

This sounds really interesting. Would you specify which state university?

Sure, It's the University of Colorado Boulder Masters programs hosted through Coursera:

https://www.coursera.org/degrees/msee-boulder

https://www.coursera.org/degrees/master-of-science-data-scie...

The fact that they're masters programs with performance based admissions make them even more suspicious to me, but if you're looking for bachelors programs like this I think the ASU bachelors hosted Coursera also has such an admission path.

Re: University of the People: Tuition-Free, Accredited Online Degree Programs

#129

Post by ThalesBelisari1 »

taborj wrote: post #95
pugio wrote: post #71

I took a semester of courses from UofP. It had a wonderful diversity of ages, genders, and nationalities. Interacting with those people through peer assignments was interesting, and I applaud what they're trying to do. Ultimately, however, I found the entire thing way too tedious - full of the classic "make-work" and silly hoops. The level of pedagogy was very basic. I dream of (and am actively working towards) a day…

> I dream of (and am actively working towards) a day where the computer's potential as a new educational medium is fully realized, rather than the current parade of attempts at transplanting a brick and mortar classroom into a remote asynchronous delivery system. I assume you already know about PLATO, yes?

Assuming you're not talking about the ancient philosopher, I'd like to know what you're referencing. Searching for "PLATO education" isn't finding something beyond the expected.
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