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It is very evident that when a person is bitter about their individual experience, their perception spills over to many other aspects of the place the negative experience occured. While we can agree that there is no where on earth where everything is perfect, I would stand firm in saying that some of the short falls of strayer University does not take away from it's curriculum! Strayer University is just like any other school out there! If the University prescribes APA style as the required format for presentation of report, that format must be followed to the letter. Once you leave, you can do whatever you want. But as a student, you must apply the curriculum designed for you in order to graduate!
I've attended Stayer Online for about 27 credit hours and am really starting to question their Computer Programming program. As a previous poster mentioned, I can relate to the fact that they have many 'PhD' professors who can barely speak English.
In the 6 courses I've taken, I've had one exceptionally excellent professor - Gary Mattison, however 4 others have been sub-par.
One instructor continuously got his weeks confused setting wrong deadlines and after 'fixing' the mistakes, he refused to admit fault. His subject matter knowledge appeared to be ok, however his communication skills were terrible.
Another instructor went AWOL for a 1.5 weeks leaving all students in the dark. During that time we could not access quizzes that became past due. His communication skills were not great as well.
Another instructor appeared to have an outstanding background and subject matter knowledge, however due to his outstanding level of knowledge, he tended to require us to do things that were not yet covered in the material. He also never worked with us to try to determine what we were having trouble understanding. He simply continued to post non-working code examples using advanced topics that he himself admitted were to be covered in later weeks.
Overall, I have had 2 out of 6 classes that I actually learned something. The others, I made excellent grades, however did not learn much at all.
Also, after switching instructors within the same course I came to realize these instructors use class 'templates', meaning the curriculum and lectures have all been pre-packaged. Most of these online instructors do nothing more than sit back and let the system do all the work. They issue all multiple choice or T/F quizzes that are graded automatically by the online system and rarely take the time to properly answer student's questions. (One computer networking course I took required us to do crossword puzzles and word searches as our weekly assignments! I almost gave it to my 7 year old to do!)
Finally, it is 2010 and Strayer's BSIS comptuer programming curriculum is still teaching basic C++ with MS Visual Studio 6.0 (10 year old software). They have refused to add Microsoft .net technologies to their coursework, which is about 7 years old already, however is the standard in which computer programmers are using today. Also, Visual Basic is not taught at any form. I feel that is the perfect language to teach beginning programmers and it is widely used today by commercial software companies.
This makes me wonder what I can do with my degree when I graduate.
I can almost bet my last dollar that you were one of those students who went to school and failed because you did not study your lesson. Now, you tried to blame it on your professors and the school. If blind peope can learn and deaf people can learn, so should you. English is English despite the accents of your teacher. People from different geographical areas may speak english but with different accents because of their dialects or native language. Open your mind to the endless possibilities of the universe and do not allow accent to be a bearer in your learning process.
I am not an online student because I believe in face to face study. But if you are an online student, why don't you read your books? You are on the computer, so why should the instructor's accent matter to you? I have taken a couple of blended classes just for the online experience. Most of you take the online classes because you think you can get easy grades. School is not about the grades you get. It is about paying keen attention to learn the skills needed to prepare you for the work force. If you paid your tuition, did not study your lesson, spy from your test books to complete your test and quizes, guess what? You will graduate with the degree but, you can not do the same thing when you get in the work force. It doesn't matter which school you attended. This is universal.
While online is convenient, you must apply the same learning process to the course. Study before taking a test so that you may not need your book to take the test. You would have mastered the content of the book before taking your test. I think you are now suffering the backlash of spying from other people's papers and your books when taking a test, getting the true and false answers right to make the grade to move you to the next level, and now you can not apply the same technic at work. At work everyone stands on his/her own merit and qualification. You are now trying to blame Strayer for your failure in the work place. I hope you have learned from this mistake so, you need to move on and stop discouraging students who want to learn at Strayer. Strayer makes learning a comfortable experience for those who want to work and learn.
While I am not a computer student, the business management department is very strong. As a graduate student at strayer, my economics 550 course, prepared me for my financial management class. My marketing class prepared me for my managerial/cost accounting class. My leadership and strategic management classes prepared me to strategically move a company forward to stay well position in the market, for profitibility and stability in a competitive market. Those courses also teach managers to analytically make better decisions. Managerial Accountant teaches me how to manage departmental cost and spending for internal decision making process. Quantitative methods class prepares me to quantify. Financial Management opens a whole new horizon for me. Legal 500 hundred prepares me to know the law as it applies to business and civil liberties. I have been blessed with very good teacher. Though I have worked in a managerial capacity productively, a degree from strayer will make me more viable in the work place!
This is why I do not know about you but, I am learning at strayer and I am learning very well. Once, I got a zero from my intructor for a assignment. I was sure that I scored an A on the assignment because I am a good student. To my horror, I got a zero. I did submit my assignment but, inadvertantly submitted the assignment in the wrong slot. The instructor did not compromise with me because, she expects me, as a graduate student to know better than make such a mistake that could be very costly if I were to make such a mistake on my job. The instructor was not being mean, she just taught me a life lesson that I will never depart from. I have signed up for another course under her supervision because she is a very good teacher, a PHD holder from Howard University. At the end of the day, I earned a B in that course. Even though I should have scored an A, the mistake that I made was very costly and could have cost me the course. I had to earn 100% on every other tests to make up for the zero grade in order to pass the course. It was a lot of work but, I got it done. During my one on one with her, she told me that it is her wish that all Strayer graduates carry the name of Strayer forward. She knows that I am a good student therefore, she does not expect marginal work or lackadaisical attitude from me. I stand to make an A in this next course, knowing that she expects the best from me and no less!
In my opinion, Strayer is like any other competitive school out there. Strayer is accredited and has the same curriculum that any other schools in the same category has. I wish you luck and hopefully, you will study the next time around. Stop blaming the school and instructors. Well learned students moves the name of a school forward. disgruntled students like you paints bad picture of what should be a learning experience if you put your mind to it.
I'm not blaming poor instructors for my bad grades - I have a 3.75 gpa so far and read all my lectures and reading assignments. Since I am an online student, you are correct that I do not have to worry about non-American accents. The problem is with their sentence skills when chatting with us in the online message boards. You can clearly tell some of these instructors struggle to make properly structured sentences in English.
Of course, that's not the main issue I have with Strayer online courses. Language barriers do exist in the real world and we all have to deal with them. It would just be nice to have professors that teach at an English speaking university to be able to properly type a structured English sentence.
My personal reason for taking online courses is due to my work and family schedule. Due to my schedule, I cannot take on-ground classes anywhere - much less Strayer. Since online students pay the same price as on-ground students, I expect the same quality in Strayer's online courses as their on-ground courses. Based on your posting, I'm wondering if that's the issue. It appears as a primarily on-ground student, you are satisfied with Strayer University. My guess is that those instructors have to be more qualified than the online instructors because they do have to physically interact with their students. I also bet the physical interaction with students allow these instructors to better teach their lessons than the online versions of these courses because the online courses are all pre-packaged courses that the instructors have little control over.
My belief is that what sets the great online instructors apart from the rest is that they focus on the context of those pre-packaged lessons and interact with all students to ensure they understand the context of those lessons.
The remaining instructors fall into two categories:
1. Instructors who don't have a passion for the subject and make each class as simple as possible - making it almost impossible for anyone to get a B or lower.
2. Instructors who do have a passion for the subject and are very qualified in the subject, however do not have any formal training in 'teaching' people.
I would be curious to see the quality of instruction of on-ground courses at Strayer, however even if my schedule allowed for them, Strayer apparently does not. Out of curiosity, I frequently check the on-ground schedules for almost each class I register for, just to see if they offer it at a time I can take it. Unfortunately, 100% of the time none of those CIS courses are offered at a local campus.
Celia, I am truly elated to hear you are satisfied in the quality of learning you are receiving at Strayer and I hope there are many more like you.
In the future, please use better courtesy when posting on online message boards. You made an assumption about me that was totally inaccurate and continued that assumption throughout your post. It is true I'm not satisfied with Strayer Online (perhaps you can call that disgruntled), however I am a diligent, dedicated student - determined not only to graduate with high honors, but to actually learn what I am studying.
I am simply responding to someone's posting who was trying to get an idea of what other Strayer students think about the school.
For the sake of the OP, I hope both of our postings will assist him/her in any decisions they may make regarding their education.
My husband and I are both attending Strayer University both online and on campus (in Newport News). We've had a pretty good experience with it, but its sooo expensive, especially when compared to places like ODU. Just wondering if anyone else is going to Strayer and your thoughts on it.
Strayer University has accreditation problems. The school began as Strayer College, a small for-profit business school in Washington, DC. It was accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) in 1981. Thereafter, the college grew, renamed itself Strayer University, and moved its headquarters to Arlington, VA (Strayer University is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Strayer Education, Inc.).
The school's fastest-growing division is Strayer University Online, headquartered in an industrial park in Lorton (Newington), VA. The school has also opened satellite campuses throughout Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida, all states in which colleges are normally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Strayer does not have SACS accreditation. Moreover, the school's business courses and business degrees are not accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Thus, AACSB-approved colleges will not accept graduate transfer credits from Strayer. Additionally, Strayer's public administration degrees are not accredited by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA). These accreditations are important to employers. The Intel Corporation, for example, recently announced that it would not reimburse employees for tuition payments to schools that lacked AACSB accreditation.
Officials at Strayer have stated that SACS accreditation is not required, since the MSCHE has already evaluated the school's academic program. That accreditation, however, was in 1981, when Strayer was a small business school located in Washington, D. C. When Strayer moved across the Potomac River into Virginia, MSCHE accreditation no longer applied.
Strayer is reluctant to seek accreditation from SACS, AACSB and NASPAA for four reasons:
~ The school does not maintain a library--a traditional requirement for established universities.
~ A disproportionate number of teachers are part-time, with "adjunct" status.
~ Strayer has been criticized in the past for loose grading standards.
~ The school's goals of profits and growth are inconsistent with traditions of established universities.
Prospective students should be mindful of Strayer's accreditation problems before they enroll in courses, particularly those that are offered exclusively online. Such courses do not require actual attendance; additionally, they utilize unproctored, open-book exams.]
In May 2008, Strayer hired 59-year-old Sondra F. Stallard to be the "president" of the university, and they gave her an office at one of the Washington, D. C., campuses. She is, at best, a ceremonial official without real authority or power. Strayer needed a key official in Washington D. C. to maintain the fiction that the school came under the MSCHE for accreditation purposes. All major decisions involving the university are actually made in Virginia by Robert S. Silberman, the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Strayer Education, Inc. Ms. Stallard was given stock worth $1.6 million to become the "president" of the university in lieu of real authority
the one thing i'd hate after going into debt for school (in Strayer's case big debt) is getting a diploma that no one would respect. With my options down there i'd choose Hampton, ODU, CNU, even Norfolk State over Strayer in that order. I go to a highly-regarded comm college (Northern Virginia in Alexandria) and i'd probably get more respect than a strayer degree.
I certainly agree. I taught at Strayer for over 5 years and I finally threw in the towel because I was counseled about giving "marginal" grades (to marginal students). I obtained a new teaching position at Northern Virginia Community College (Woodbridge), where I became part of an academic program that was far superior to that offered by Strayer.
After attending Strayer for five and one half years, I can readily agree with the students. There are good instructors and there are bad. Those who are bad more often than not hide behind tenure when they should not be teaching at all. Students pay thousands of dollars to gain knowledge and when the instructor is so self-centered and self-righteous they should remove themselves from the course and let an instructor teach who knows what they are doing.
Just because a man wears Armani does not make him look good, or when a woman wears Dior it does not make her look good. The least credentialed, without a title can be the most brilliant instructor in the group the title does not make a good instructor. For the record, this student is blind, earning a 4.0 GPA over the five-year period. I teach others and have no PhD that does not make me any less qualified only minus a title.
Defending Strayer is not always the best approach it may behoove many to look inside the whole picture and see there is missing language in the book before putting down the students. Strayer University is accredited. However, its programs are not.
One of the greatest deficits that Strayer faculty and administration fail to recognize and honor is the presence of adult students who have a mind and ability to think and respond differently. When students disagree with faculty, they are often penalized. The materials are outdated, and politically driven. Faculty will not teach utilizing academic freedoms; rather they submit t to the will of a department chair who imposes his or her ideas on that instructor where most often they conflict with laws with in the U.S.A.
Students have the right to pass their thoughts and faculty should refrain from grading down because the student disagrees with them.
Strayer University has many faculty members who fear for their jobs and yield to political controls within the University and has one of the highest turnover rates in the country. The faculty is paid poorly therefore present less than what they feel they should, where Silberman is paid more than seven million per year and has not PhD.
Hi , I am attending to Staryer Univesity online now. I have 5 classes in 3 quarters . I don't know alot about his school.. Yes, It is expensive. I am wondering about the value of the Master degree which I will earn after school ??? Is there anybody know about Staryer University , Please give me some advices. I am very confusing when I read this webpage,,,, I am living in Santa Ana , California, and don't know alot about the Strayer' campus and school . Please give me the direction.
Hi , I am attending to Staryer Univesity online now. I have 5 classes in 3 quarters . I don't know alot about his school.. Yes, It is expensive. I am wondering about the value of the Master degree which I will earn after school ??? Is there anybody know about Staryer University , Please give me some advices. I am very confusing when I read this webpage,,,, I am living in Santa Ana , California, and don't know alot about the Strayer' campus and school . Please give me the direction.
This is probably going to get me flamed, but I'll live with it. Reread your post above.
Are you absolutely sure you should be attending a Master's level program from an American university? Your English may need some improvement to do well at this level. Even technical degrees demand a grasp of the language.
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