A Review of an Accredited Online Degree From Capella University

The possibility of taking Online degree programs have been one of the biggest direct changes in education due to the internet. It is easy and convenient for working adults to be able to take courses without having to fit classes around their busy schedules or commute to campus. One of the more popular accredited online degree programs is offered by Capella University. This school was founded in 1993 and got its accreditation in 1997. After it was accredited, it changed its name and established five schools: Human Sciences, Technology, Education, Psychology and Business.

The school's headquarter is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Within these five schools, there are about 70 different areas of study with more than 650 classes offered. The Capella school has 650 faculty members, more than 550 employed staff and 13,000 students enrolled in courses. As you can see, this is a real college for higher education with real credentials.

The school has its good points as well as its bad points. In order to draw as balanced picture as possible of this school, let's consider both. It has a special individualized portal for each student, called the iGuide. After you enroll, you're granted secure access through this portal to all the academic information you need. This makes it easy to look at and get an overview of courses and transcripts. Through the portal, you have access to your internet classroom, which they refer to as the 'courseroom', where you can get your assignments and post messages.

Most other schools on the internet have online chats and webcams which often don't work very well. At this school however, the technology is all together and in working order. It has a special system for turning in assignments which is very efficient but still easy to use. Just submit all your assignments as zip files or Microsoft Word documents. That's all you have to do.

The school portal offers access to the alumni center which you can use for networking and looking for employment opportunities. There are many other services available, like access to grants and other public money. Some of the graduates have criticized the alumni center as not being so useful, and being mostly just for show. However, most graduates are very happy with it.

Because this school is targeted to students who are already in jobs, its opportunities for on campus employment are pretty bare. The thought is that the reason you've chosen to study there rather than at a more traditional college is that you are already in a jobs . If you live outside Minneapolis, the school does not offer much in the way of employment for its students.

The school does offer a wide range of services to students with various handicaps. There is a variety of software available, and the staff makes an extra effort to accommodate students with disabilities. The school is consistently ranked high among higher educational institutions for its services for disabled students. There is mobility assistance, sign language interpreter service as well and additional time given to those who need it.

Except from those mentioned about, most other services are somewhat lacking, however. There is a campus bookstore where you can buy various kinds of materials including software, as well as books. Like most college bookstores, you can easily find the same books more cheaply other places if you look around a little. Like most schools, the bookstore is used to make some extra money for the school. But, the easy way out of this, for you, is to buy the books you need on the web somewhere. There are lots of services available for buying textbooks online. In spite of this, the Capella school is quite affordable. There are more and more schools coming on the web every year, and those that want to stay must be competitive.

At Capella, there are five schools within the college. They should be considered or reviewed separately in terms of quality. While the Human Sciences, Business, Education and Technology schools are quite good, the Psychology school has been undergoing some issues. There have been some problems with the management, and this has affected the overall quality of the program negatively. Because of these issues or problems, the Psychology school has had to keep changing its Dean, and this has also added to their problems. At the time of this writing, the psychology school is still not accredited by the American Psychological Association, even though it has been running this program for so long.

This shouldn't reflect too badly on school as a whole. Remember, there are 650 faculty members, so there is a load of variety. As a matter of fact, the quality of the instructors has always been commented on by the students who have graduated here. One thing criticised by many is that so many of the faculty are part time contractors, and thus do not have the interests of their students in mind as a highest priority. It is also charged that many of the teachers here are new to teaching on the web, and in being unaccustomed to it are unable to give the best instruction to their students. This charge comes particularly from students who have attended masters or Ph.D. programs here and found the quality of instruction at that level to be lacking. It could be that the strength of this school is in its undergraduate program.

This is what most students attend the school for, so it may be that the instructors are better able to teach at the undergraduate level. There aren't many complaints from undergraduate students about instructor or teacher quality, so this may be the case.

At the Capella university you certainly get a bit of everything. Whether this school is for you depends on a number of different factors. Retrieving and submitting coursework is easy. On the negative side, the quality of the teaching or instruction has consistently been lauded, if at times inconsistent. The fact that every education program is not yet accredited probably reflects badly on the school.

Nevertheless, as internet programs go, it is rated high in all areas. So, if you are looking into pursuing a higher education online, weigh your options well.

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About Nic Haffner

Nic Haffner is a writer and internet publisher who likes to write about online accredited degrees and educational issues in general. You can read more at the news and in depth information website http://www.online-accredited-degrees.net


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The Entrepreneur's Checklist

I was asked the other day what personality traits I thought were important to entrepreneurial success. I immediately gave my preprogrammed reply about passion and dedication and hard work. After taking some time later to ponder the question a little deeper (I normally operate in shallow waters), I came up with a more detailed checklist for entrepreneurial success. This is by no means a definitive list, but I'd be willing to bet that if you don't have at least a majority of these traits, your chances of business success will be greatly diminished.

You must be self motivated.

If you don't have the wherewithal to bounce out of bed each day without your spouse drenching you with cold water, chances are you don't have the self motivation or discipline required to be an entrepreneur. Business demands that you take action based solely on your own volition. You have to do a hundred things every day that will not get done unless you make yourself do them.

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You can't be afraid of hard work.

If you think working for someone else is hard work, try starting your own business. You will be required to give every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears you can muster and then some. You will have to work long hours and be on call 24/7, at least in the beginning. If the mere thought of hard work makes you tired, maybe you should just keep your cushy day job.

You should have experience in the type of business you plan to start.

If you can't locate your car's engine you have no business buying an oil change franchise. The most successful business owners have prior experience in the industry in which they have set up shop. Consider working in an industry at least part time for a year before jumping in with both feet.

You must be able to climb back on the horse.

I always say: "If business was easy, everybody would do it." Starting a business is hard work and the odds for failure are against you in the first few years. If you want to ride herd on your own business, you must be willing to fall off your horse and get back on a few times without giving up.

You need the support of your family.

When you start a business you may have to spend more time away from the family than you like. The business may also put a strain on you financially. You will have enough obstacles in your way without having to worry if you have the support of your family and those closest to you

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You must have a thick skin.

If your feelings are easily hurt, keep your non-threatening day job because business is not for you. Many days in business, rejection waits around every corner and you must be able to handle rejection without taking it personally.

You must interact well with others.

Being an entrepreneur requires interacting with a variety of people, from your own employees to vendors to customers to investors. You must have the ability to effectively manage people without offending them; the ability to accept good advice from mentors and politely discount the bad; the ability to overlook mistakes or quietly rectify them; and the one I have trouble with: the ability to tolerate incompetence without losing your cool (at least not on the outside).

The deeper your pockets the better.

The number one cause of business failure is a lack of money. Before you start your business you should have access to enough capital to see you through until the business can sustain itself.

You must be able to delegate.

Running a business requires the performance of dozens of simultaneous tasks and it's foolish to try to handle them all yourself. You must learn to put your trust in others. If you can't dish out responsibility without worrying over the result, your business growth will be limited.

Previous business ownership is a plus.

Prior business ownership is not a prerequisite, but it can't hurt. Many successful entrepreneurs have the skeletons of past businesses rattling around in their closet.

Another of my sayings:

Business is a lot like marriage: you learn a lot from the first one that may come in handy the second or third time around.

With that kind of advice you can see why I didn't go into marriage counseling.

Here's to your success!

Tim Knox