How Employers View an Online Education
How Employers View an Online Education
In the book The Online Student’s User Manual, I wrote quite a bit about online universities, their perception by employers and how they compare to traditional universities. Check out the following article from elearners.com that gives some interesting statistics about employer’s perception of online education, also see my previous posting about some of these results by clicking here.
How do potential employers view online courses and degrees? How are job candidates viewed based on their academic credentials, online or traditional? Under what circumstances are online degrees viewed as a “non-issue” or an asset for job applicants?
These were some of the questions posed in Hiring Practices and Attitudes: Traditional vs. Online Degree Credentials, research undertaken by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and commissioned by eLearners.com, a web resource of EducationDynamics, which connects prospective students with online degrees. And as with a number of similar studies undertaken over the past ten years, the results reflect an interesting and transitioning set of assumptions among hiring managers about the value of online degrees and degree-holders.
How Are Online Degrees Perceived?
I often get into Linkedin group discussions about the pros and cons of online learning. I address it in depth in my book, The Online Student’s User Manual. I thought eLearners.com had a pretty good article about the acceptance of online degrees. To read the entire article click here.
In that article, hiring managers were asked how they felt about strictly online learning environments. It was close to 50/50 in terms of whether they felt it was favorable or not. The acceptance got better with the schools that had both regular classes and online classes offered.Â
I have taken both traditional and online courses. I personally prefer online learning. I think it will become more and more the norm. I feel I learned more and had a much better experience in my online business classes because I was not forced to be in as many group-related activities. In my traditional university experience, I witnessed a lot of business majors getting their bachelor degree based on being in groups where they contributed nothing and got A’s because the rest of the group did the work.Â
I think a lot of people are slow to accept technology because it is a big change. However, online learning is here and it is growing. I work for many online universities where I see very strict guidelines enforced. I have people monitoring my classes constantly. I get feedback and direction to be sure I am staying on track and offering only the highest in quality education.Â
Perhaps a lot of the perception is due to the profit or non-profit status of schools.  I think a lot is name recognition. Big-named schools like Harvard now offer online courses.  To find out more about that program, click here. I think as more schools like Harvard add distance education, it will only improve the perception of online education.
Top 10 Free Online Courses
Teaching Online Courses – Top 10 Free Courses from GetEducated.com
via Teaching Online Courses – Top 10 Free Courses | GetEducated.com.
Check out this article to find some great resources for online instructors including sites to teach best practices, developing course content, designing classes, tips on distance education, step-by-step training videos, links to sites like MERLOT which has vast resources for online instructors and of course a link to Sloan-C.
Student Success Secrets Revealed by Author Whose Book is Required Reading at Arizona University
Dr. Diane Hamilton’s new book, The Online Student’s User Manual: Everything You Need to Know to be a Successful Online Student, may be geared toward the online learner, but instructors and online professionals can also learn from her advice. To find out tips and insight regarding how to help online students succeed, Dr. Hamilton will be conducting a webinar for the Sloan Consortium on October 27, 2010. This is an excellent opportunity to find out why online universities have tapped into Dr. Hamilton’s expertise to help their students succeed. Author and professor, Dr. Diane Hamilton’s (https://drdianehamilton.com/), new book will be required reading for all new online students at an Arizona university and is being considered as an addition at several other universities. To find out more about how to help online students excel, educators can access the webinar through Sloan’s website and students can obtain the book in paperback and digital formats through Amazon.
Help for online students and online professors.
“As a former online learner myself and online professor for more than a decade, I can say this is by far the best book I have read on becoming a successful online learner. I WILL recommend this book to my learners.”
Dr. Dani Babb Author and Professor
Tempe, AZ (PRWEB) September 7, 2010
The Online Student’s User Manual had been published less than two weeks by the time a well-respected Arizona technical university sought to include it as required reading for all of their new online learners.
Some of the things the new online student will learn from Dr. Hamilton’s book include:
*computer and software requirements
*how to use the search engines and upload assignments
*how to organize and manage your time
*how to track and schedule your assignments
*how to communicate effectively with your professors and fellow students
*how to maximize your grade
*what mistakes to avoid
*how to create measurable goals and stay motivated
*how to prepare for tests…and so much more.Dr. Hamilton currently works as an online professor for 6 different universities. She has taken her experiences and incorporated them into her book to help online learners succeed. Now she is taking it one step further, as she shares her expertise with other online professionals. Dr. Hamilton will be conducting a Student Success Strategies Webinar for The Sloan-Consortium, Sloan-C, on October 27, 2010 at 2:00 pm EST. Sloan-C is an institutional and professional organization that integrates online education into mainstream education For more information go to SloanConsortium.org or click here.
Online professors who attend this webinar will learn ways to improve their students’ skills in the following areas:
*Navigation
*Terminology
*Academic Honesty
*Goal Setting
*Time Management
*Motivation
*Increasing Retention
*Understanding Learning Preferences
*Writing and Formatting
*Test Preparation TechniquesAbout the Author
Diane Hamilton currently teaches bachelor-, master-, and doctoral-level courses. Along with her teaching experience, she has a Doctorate Degree in Business Management and more than twenty-five years of business and management-related experience. To find out more about her writing or to schedule an interview, visit her website at https://drdianehamilton.com or her blog at http://drdianehamilton.wordpress.com/. Review copies are available.
The Online Student’s User Manual is available in paperback and digital formats–August, 2010 ($14.95/ Amazon). ISBN: 0982742800/9780982742808 Approximately –184 pages
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Associate Professor Writes Book for Online Students
Story by Trevor Green – UAT.edu
Advances in computer technology have made education available to students far removed from a traditional classroom, with universities of all sizes instructing learners digitally – never physically interacting with their teachers. For many students, the trappings of online classes – writing papers, using course shells, submitting work – is a foreign concept that can impede academic progress.
UAT-Online Associate Professor Dr. Diane Hamilton, a longtime online instructor, recently published the book The Online Student’s User Manual to help them succeed. She was compelled to write the paperback after finding a lack of works covering frequently asked questions of first-time online learners.
“The books out there, they’re good about telling you, ‘online’s good.’ They’re good about telling you, ‘you need accredited,’ or what the other choices are or how to get financing, but they don’t tell you what you’re supposed to do,” she said.
She added: “I kept answering the same questions over and over and over, and I thought, ‘Well, how about writing a book that explains it?'”
(To learn more about Dr. Hamilton and her book, The Online Student’s User Manual, check click here.)
Hamilton develops curriculum and teaches classes like Ethics in Technology and Foresight Development for UAT-Online. Possessing a Ph.D. in business administration and career experience in corporate training, entrepreneurship and realty, she melds her years of business and technology knowledge to computer-savvy students.
With content on everything from rubrics and syllabi to essay formatting, Hamilton sees her work as a good aid for online pupils and instructors of various ages, skill levels, disciplines and educational backgrounds.
“I think the book’s a good resource, not just for new students but for people who have been in it for awhile, or even professors to know how to teach people how to do these things.”
A self-professed techie, Hamilton picked up various facets of Web 2.0 technology – including blogging and Twitter – to market the book, and she offers advice for students on her blog with tutorials using screen-recording software Camtasia and Microsoft PowerPoint. She sees the breadth of electronic tools as essential to embracing distance teaching.
“I like to embrace new technology, and I think students have to realize that [online learning] is the future.”