Advice Needed: Survey Research Project on Non Traditional Students

[CreativeLearner]

Hi Everyone! I was wondering if I could ask for help on a project I am working on? I am about to graduate from TESU this month. Along the way, I have been sharing my journey with friends who are also going back to school, and trying to encourage them to use strategies like ACE credits, DegreeForum, etc. This mostly gets me a lot of interest yet high amounts of confusion and lack of follow through when I try to explain the process to them. This has prompted me to consider creating a website with more information on degree planning, with a focus on helping people like my friends, who are interested in shortening their degree paths but hesitant and unfamiliar with many of the tips and tricks taught on this forum. To make sure I’m not inventing a problem that doesn’t actually exist, I created a survey to help research the actual need for my idea. I would be grateful for input from the forum, both from people who would like to take the survey and people who have suggestions on how to refine my survey questions or project. The survey is quick (7 short questions) and completely anonymous.Thanks so much for your help! https://buildpad.io/research/j4VoW3f

[SteveFoerster]

Our own wiki exists, and would seem to cover all of this:

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Degree_Forum_Wiki

[CreativeLearner]

Our own wiki exists, and would seem to cover all of this:

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Degree_Forum_Wiki

This is very true and also a big part of my conundrum when trying to help friends who are interested in shortening their degree paths. I have found that while there are resources available in this subject area, my friends are hesitant to try them once I send them links to forums, blogs, sophia.org, etc. Most of these friends are hardworking and resourceful yet not as familiar with the level of creative cost cutting analysis and strategies presented in places like this forum. Instead of being inspired like I was, it may scare them away and they revert to grinding out their degrees in more familiar ways. I would like to create a resource that helps convince diy-hesitant type folks to give things like degreeforum, ACE credits, creative degree planning, etc a try...that it really will help them. I welcome any and all feedback on this idea.

[Heartstrings]

I get what you're trying to do and I am happy that you were able to meet your goals in a way that works for you. I am trying to see what is wrong with going the more traditional route? What works for one person may not work for all people. Also, there could be a reason why someone may go a more traditional route. For example, the gradute or professional program, or state licensure program may require traditional classes. In my time being here at degreeforum it seems that people who goes those routes sophia, etc. are looking to get their degree quickly and aa cheaply as possible. There is no right or wrong but fails to take into consideration why traditional classrooms are necessary for some students.

[CreativeLearner]

I get what you're trying to do and I am happy that you were able to meet your goals in a way that works for you. I am trying to see what is wrong with going the more traditional route? What works for one person may not work for all people.  Also, there could be a reason why someone may go a more traditional route. For example, the gradute or professional program, or state licensure program may require traditional classes. In my time being here at degreeforum it seems that people who goes those routes sophia, etc. are looking to get their degree quickly and aa cheaply as possible. There is no right or wrong but fails to take into consideration why traditional classrooms are necessary for some students.

These are all great points, and very valid. I myself combined a blend of traditional and non traditional approaches. For example, I took quite a few in-person classes at my local community college. I then transferred to TESU to complete my degree. 

I agree that what works for one person may not work for all people. There were strategies listed on this forum that could have helped me finish my degree even cheaper or faster than I did. I could have overlapped my credits even more, to get multiple degrees like some of the degree planning ninjas on here. But like you pointed out, different approaches work best for different people. My brain just couldn't keep up trying to overlap so many requirements, and going a little slower was better for me. I also really wanted and benefitted from having at least some in-person class experiences and some in-person classes were required for my major. Still, I also really benefitted from trying some of the approaches taught in this forum, like maximizing ACE credits. As a parent, I could only take one class at a time each semester. Just getting one Sophia class accepted by my community college saved me $600 in tuition, $900 in childcare, and 3 months shaved off my overall completion timeline. I see so many people in similar situations, where even just taking advantage of a few Sophia classes would really help them.

[SteveFoerster]

Our own wiki exists, and would seem to cover all of this:

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Degree_Forum_Wiki

This is very true and also a big part of my conundrum when trying to help friends who are interested in shortening their degree paths. I have found that while there are resources available in this subject area, my friends are hesitant to try them once I send them links to forums, blogs, sophia.org, etc. Most of these friends are hardworking and resourceful yet not as familiar with the level of creative cost cutting analysis and strategies presented in places like this forum. Instead of being inspired like I was, it may scare them away and they revert to grinding out their degrees in more familiar ways. I would like to create a resource that helps convince diy-hesitant type folks to give things like degreeforum, ACE credits, creative degree planning, etc a try...that it really will help them. I welcome any and all feedback on this idea.

I'll be honest: when the answers are there for free, and there's a forum full of people willing to answer any questions about whatever people might find confusing for free, and taking a few hours to get up to speed on this stuff might save years of time and tens of thousands of dollars, I'm just not that sympathetic towards someone who won't try because it doesn't seem easy enough—especially someone who has a good friend like you saying, "Whoa, this is awesome, look at it!"

That said, there's always room for improvement. Rather than create a whole alternative resources, what about improvements to the main page of the wiki that would do a better job easing new people into the general concept?

[freeloader]

Our own wiki exists, and would seem to cover all of this:

https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Degree_Forum_Wiki

This is very true and also a big part of my conundrum when trying to help friends who are interested in shortening their degree paths. I have found that while there are resources available in this subject area, my friends are hesitant to try them once I send them links to forums, blogs, sophia.org, etc. Most of these friends are hardworking and resourceful yet not as familiar with the level of creative cost cutting analysis and strategies presented in places like this forum. Instead of being inspired like I was, it may scare them away and they revert to grinding out their degrees in more familiar ways. I would like to create a resource that helps convince diy-hesitant type folks to give things like degreeforum, ACE credits, creative degree planning, etc a try...that it really will help them. I welcome any and all feedback on this idea.

I'll be honest: when the answers are there for free, and there's a forum full of people willing to answer any questions about whatever people might find confusing for free, and taking a few hours to get up to speed on this stuff might save years of time and tens of thousands of dollars, I'm just not that sympathetic towards someone who won't try because it doesn't seem easy enough—especially someone who has a good friend like you saying, "Whoa, this is awesome, look at it!"

That said, there's always room for improvement. Rather than create a whole alternative resources, what about improvements to the main page of the wiki that would do a better job easing new people into the general concept?

Hard for a person to monetize their work on the degreeforum wiki, to include that work in a portfolio for potential employers, or similar.

[davewill]

It's mostly a marketing problem. I think that a simple and straightforward testimonial, plus 10,000ft overview page would probably be the most useful. In the end, the student needs to get the details, and for that, the Wiki and the forum are the best resources. However, it sounds like your friends are getting overwhelmed before they even try to navigate those resources. They need an introduction that inspires, and educates them, but the subject is too complex to write a one stop tutorial.

It mirrors how a lot of us got started by the old BA in 4 weeks site. However, that site is badly out of date, and getting a BA in 4 weeks isn't even a reasonable expectation. Nonetheless, it described a path that inspired a lot of people to look for more material.

[CreativeLearner]

I think that's a really good way to describe the problem I often run into when trying to explain the path I took to others. It's just so much information and when I start trying to explain / offer resources, they get overwhelmed rather than inspired. A simple webpage with an example, general overview, and option to dig deeper as desired makes sense, with links to resources like degreeforum.