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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

#91

Post by khawkins »

infogulch wrote: post #49
themodelplumber wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> could not grasp the idea of plagiarism being unethical I remember experiencing this at a private religious university. At the time, my hyper-religious mind was blown to see students outright cheating in the Testing Center. Since then I've been exposed to additional perspectives on plagiarism. It is an extremely deep and nuanced topic. A few years out of school, I ended up mentoring and then teaching college student…

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.

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

#92

Post by cy_hauser »

traverseda wrote: post #87
cy_hauser wrote: post #44

In looking at the CS curricilum this looks more like an extended bootcamp. Most regular university courses are not there, the credits/classes won't transfer to full universities, and you're left with a "degree" that pales in comparison to a "regular" degree. Plus you've spent about $5,000 to get their paper. I guess "accredited degree" just doesn't mean the same thing to as what I was thinking.

But is it enough to get me a visa to work in the US? I'm already a self-taught programmer, 5k is cheap to have the option of working in the US.

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

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

#93

Post by uopeoplestudent »

alexashka wrote: post #74
uopeoplestudent wrote: post #8

Current student in the CS program. Feel free to ask questions.

Why?

Why not?

I don't need the degree. I don't intent to pursue employment which will require it. And should I decide to continue at the graduate level, I already have a regionally accredited bachelor's degree and grad school. Thus, I have options for that path.

I like the structure and grades. Sure, I could I learn just as well using MOOCs, textbooks, and so on. However, the grade hovering over my head provides a touch of external motivation to stay focused. Plus, it's nice to interact with students from different places and with different interests.

So, basically, it provides me a cheap means to fulfill my curiosity.

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

#94

Post by topkai22 »

eikenberry wrote: post #84
uopeoplestudent wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The new institution, learning I had been attending U of the P, promptly told me that U of the P credits would not transfer. Universal transferability in question, I opted out. Yes, many schools will not accept coursework from nationally accredited universities. This includes coursework from UoPeople. You will not be able to apply for many graduate schools as well. A degree from UoPeople definitely comes with limits…

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.

If that was happening in my state I’d definitely be writing my representatives to take action and change that- transferability to a university while being able to live at home and pay less was quite explicitly one of the points of having a community college system when I was growing up.

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

#95

Post by taborj »

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?

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

#96

Post by ncfausti »

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've been thinking about this as well. There is so much potential given the vast number of free and incredible resources online. Lmk if you're interested in working on something together.

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

#97

Post by themodelplumber »

infogulch wrote: post #89
themodelplumber wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Power struggle between teachers and students via... Uh, did I say that, or were you intuiting? Not exactly a learner's approach :D > Plagiarizing some work doesn't really hurt the work, it hurts you. Except when it benefits you? This is the subjective perception I was talking about. That their mindset differs does not instantly make them wrong, especially when you can throw a dime out the window and hit an educated…

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 a qualitative issue to say the least.

The concept of competence as you describe it is also very much a vague, subjective concern out of which you've just attempted to carve a covert competence contract. This leaves your blind spot unguarded because you are unknowingly making the discussion focus on you and your own competence level.

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.

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

#98

Post by uopeoplestudent »

traverseda wrote: post #87
cy_hauser wrote: post #44

In looking at the CS curricilum this looks more like an extended bootcamp. Most regular university courses are not there, the credits/classes won't transfer to full universities, and you're left with a "degree" that pales in comparison to a "regular" degree. Plus you've spent about $5,000 to get their paper. I guess "accredited degree" just doesn't mean the same thing to as what I was thinking.

But is it enough to get me a visa to work in the US? I'm already a self-taught programmer, 5k is cheap to have the option of working in the US.

Purely for work? Maybe. As the other poster noted, I would also lean to no.

For study and eventually work? No. The school does not participate in the student visa program. It's purely online.

Some students start at UoPeople and transfer to a better known school to finish. This saves a fair amount of money. So, that's a possible path. But, getting a work visa in the US might be a challenge even then.

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

#100

Post by uopeoplestudent »

eikenberry wrote: post #84
uopeoplestudent wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The new institution, learning I had been attending U of the P, promptly told me that U of the P credits would not transfer. Universal transferability in question, I opted out. Yes, many schools will not accept coursework from nationally accredited universities. This includes coursework from UoPeople. You will not be able to apply for many graduate schools as well. A degree from UoPeople definitely comes with limits…

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.

That's surprising. Around me it's mostly been the opposite with schools signing transfer agreements and the community colleges developing programs specifically for students who plan to transfer.

Though, in the case of UoPeople, it's purely about nationally accreditation lacking the prestige (and sometimes rigor) of regional accreditation. It's been that way for at least a couple of decades since I started reading up on higher ed.

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