Indrawan Info

Archive for May, 2011

In general terms, accreditation is the means by which a school is officially recognized as a provider of a satisfactory education that public institutions (i.e. employers) can trust.  It is a voluntary process that requires the school to meet minimum requirements that are established by various regional accrediting agencies.
The lack of one official accrediting agency creates an opportunity for sub par online schools that are trying to obtain students through any means possible.  In other words, just about any organization can say that they are an accrediting agency, so potential online school enrollers should do their research before signing up for classes at a particular online school.
Sadly, a number of online schools create false accrediting agencies in order to make candidates think that they are trustworthy and established.  To avoid this conflict, be sure to check whether or not an online school is accredited by one of the six major regional accrediting agencies.  These include the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), North Central Association of Schools and Colleges (NCA), Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges (MSA), Southern Association of Schools and Colleges (SACS), Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges (NWCCU).
If your online school is accredited by one of the above agencies, your degree will be seen as legitimate by most employers.  However, if your online school is not accredited by one of the above agencies but by a false accrediting agency, your degree may not be acceptable to most employers.

Any online university course has a few prerequisites like a computer, a phone connection, and an Internet Service Provider. With these basics in place, any student anywhere in the world can enroll for the programs being offered by an online university. 
After enrolling you will typically be given easy-to-use Internet access software to facilitate quick and smooth retrieval of lectures, questions, and assignments. Since there are no time schedules and frames, the instruction material can be downloaded anytime and reviewed offline at your convenience. 
Online research libraries and services are available from the university to cater to the students’ research requirements. The programs are designed to fit in interaction with other students and professionals from the field. This helps the students enrich their assignments before they discuss it in an academic environment with their instructors. Instructors also guide the students through the courses to avoid any learning hitches. 
Although this multi-interaction offline scenario enriches the student’s learning experience, the spontaneous classroom scenario is missing in an online course. For some students, the class interaction could be more invigorating than learning online. 
However, an online program offers you almost unlimited flexibility. Each course is completed over five to six weeks and students can take breaks between courses. Since the interaction is asynchronous, as in email messages, there are no schedules or fixed timings for classes either. A student doesn’t have to rush from work to meet a class time. Whereas this could also serve as a demotivator for certain students who perform better under strict schedules and timetables, it is advantageous for people with hectic work environments, and for people who can exert self-discipline in setting an effective timetable.

When it comes to choosing a college to pursue you degree in Communications you should take the time to do your research and visit as many schools as possible to find out what exactly sets there programs apart from others.  While many schools claim to be the “best” it can be a subjective term as what defines the best is different for every person.
A college education is important in getting the job you want in life.  Often we know generally what we would like to pursue in life but have a hard time nailing it down to a specific field.  This is where schools and academic advisors come into play by helping you define your career goals and showing you the best way to pursue a degree in that particular field.  For example, a communications specialist can work in human resources, advertising, publications, research and development, sales and marketing, and training departments. They can do contract work as a freelancer, work for a consulting or public relations firm, in the foreign service, for the government at all 3 levels, labor unions, non-profit organizations, in the medical services field, and at colleges, universities, technical and vocations schools.  From one degree all these potential career opportunities exist!
The best way to find a school that matches you interest and will provide the quality of education you are seeking in your field is to contact others who are already in the industry.  You can not only find out from them what college they went to but also what they feel is important when choosing a college because of the real-life experience they have working in the field.  Often they recommend you look into a different school than they attended because of what they have learned on the job.