Blog entries

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Jason D. Baker — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:48:43 +0100

Baker's Guide to Christian Distance Education is now on Facebook and Twitter. Please join us as fans and followers.

Christianity & Online Learning

Jason D. Baker — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 02:37:49 +0100

When I was in college, I read through the writings of Francis Schaeffer. One of the things that struck me was his contention that ideas (particularly those concerning truth) move through the world in stages. In The God Who Is There, Schaeffer presents a staircase (below his famous line of despair) and notes that the shift in truth affects philosophy first, then art, then music, then into the general culture, and finally into theology. I’ve heard it put more broaRead More...

Creative Writing from a Christian College

Jason D. Baker — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:56:58 +0100

Back in the fall I received an email from Ken Kuhlken, President and Director of Creative Writing at Perelandra College. Perelandra is a small DETC-accredited online Christian college in California.

The foundational purpose of the school was "to serve Christian artists and to help them succeed not only in reaching other Christians but in providing, from Christian perspective, real art that can move believers and non-believers alike." After a few years they added a counseRead More...

BakersGuide.com Presented Visually

Jason D. Baker — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:33:35 +0100

I've wanted to use a tag cloud or other computer generated visual presentation to see what it might make of Baker's Guide to Christian Distance Education. Thanks to Wordle, I now know:

I like that words like Christian, online, degrees, universities, education, and accredited are quite visible. I also like that integrity made it on there as well.

OpenDNS Offers Blocking of Degree and Diploma Mill Websites

Jason D. Baker — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:54:40 +0100

Yesterday OpenDNS added a new category to their web content filtering system labeled Academic Fraud. As they announced in their press release, academic fraud covers “plagiarism, the buying and selling of papers and reports and other forms of cheating”. However, a follow-up email discussion with OpenDNS Director of Marketing Allison Rhodes revealed that they consider degree and diploma mills part of this category and would enable users to block them as well.

&nbRead More...

ACCESS Conference Highlight: Universal Design

Jason D. Baker — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 05:00:00 +0100

One of the benefits of assembling the ACCESS Conference was being able to bring in presenters who were new to the group. One of these guests was Dr. Don Finn , who presented about the use of universal design in online education and training.

Universal design derives from the efforts within architectural design to eliminate barriers to access, particularly for those with physical disabilities. (Curb cuts are one of the classic examples within the physical world.Read More...

ACCESS Conference Highlight: Virtual Worlds

Jason D. Baker — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Another of the presentations at last week's ACCESS/Next Step Networked Christian Learning Conference was one by Victoria Walker on the use of 3D Multiuser Virtual Learning Environments. Victoria is a web developer and instructional designer who has been active in the use of virtual worlds in education, particularly the use of Second Life in counselor education and training.

Victoria has been involved with Second Life as a designer and researcher for the past few years.&Read More...

Ubiquitous Learning

Jason D. Baker — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:00:00 +0100

I was talking with a colleague yesterday about the future of education, particularly in light of President Obama's speech on education policy and reform, and I mused about the idea of ubiquitous learning as a framework for considering how online learning and educational techn0logy tie in with education in general.

As I see it, we've largely eliminated the concept of geographic distance in distance education and moved rapidly into a networked learning apprRead More...

ACCESS Conference Highlight: Educational Podcasting

Jason D. Baker — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Last week was the ACCESS/Next Step joint conference and there were a number of excellent conference presentations that warrant some comments. Just as a quick background point, ACCESS is the Association of Christian Distance Education and The Next Step is the North American Partnership in Missions Training. The two groups came together at the Founders Inn on the campus of Regent University for a joint conference with a theme of Networked Christian Learning. As a way of rampRead More...

Investing in Yourself: Why an Online Degree Makes Sense in a Recession

Jason D. Baker — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Professional investors and 401(k) owners alike have had to digest a lot in the past few months as investment strategies have been turned upside down. With staggering losses everywhere, it takes a good bit of looking to find the handful of companies with short term upside potential. Companies specializing in low-cost products such as McDonald’s and Wal-Mart have grown in this tumultuous climate, but it’s not only the cost conscious industries that are benefiting; online educational Read More...

Beacon University Closing

Jason D. Baker — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Beacon University , a Christian interdenominational liberal arts university in Georgia that's been listed in the Baker's Guide Directory , is closing at the end of the 2008-2009 academic year due to financial hardship

Beacon University offers degrees in Leadership Studies, Human Services, Religious Studies and General Studies. They've signed articulation agreements with a number of other universities to assist existing students with the completion of their degree programs; howeRead More...

Fresno Pacific Master's Degree Programs

Jason D. Baker — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I've recently added Fresno Pacific University to the Christian Distance Learning Degree and Program Directory.

Fresno is a Christian university in the Anabaptist-Mennonite and Believers Church tradition, committed to the ideals of God’s Kingdom and to the perspective of the liberal arts in which integration of faith, learning, and action is a primary goal.

They offer a number of master's degree programs online , including a Master of Arts in Education with emphases in CurriRead More...

Christian Online Degrees Grouped by Subject

Jason D. Baker — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

You can now list online degrees by subject.

I've introduced a new feature to the Bakers Guide to Christian Distance Education website. All of the bachelor's and master's degree programs in the directory can be listed by subject. With almost 175 accredited Christian distance learning bachelor's degrees and over 200 master's degrees cataloged, this feature should help those who like to browse through their options. Use the menu bar at the top of the page to see the subjeRead More...

Distance Learning in Higher Education

Jason D. Baker — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Two Regent University colleagues and I have a new book published today by Teachers College Press entitled Distance Learning in Higher Education: A Programmatic Approach to Planning, Design, Instruction, Evaluation, and Accreditation.

What makes the book different from many on the market is that it considers distance learning at the college and university from the program level rather than the course level. There are numerous books on how to design and deliver an effective online cRead More...

Prestigious Non-Accredited Doctoral Degrees

Jason D. Baker — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:00:00 +0100

A few days ago I received three different emails within the same hour offering me the chance to obtain "quality" Ph.D. degrees with no work and only a simple phone call.

(Yes, spam is wonderful, isn't it?) I thought it would be worth sharing one of these.

Subject: Obtain degreees from Prestigious non-accredited Universities

Academic Qualifications available from prestigious Non-Accredited Universities.
Do you have the knowledge andRead More...

What's in a Name?

Jason D. Baker — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:00:00 +0100

In 2006, Southern Christian University changed its name to Regions University. This afternoon I received an announcement that Regions University has changed its name to Amridge University .

Amridge University is a private university located in Montgomery, Alabama which is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. On their website they note, "Since there is no hierarchical organization over individual congregations or church-related institutions, the relationship of thRead More...

Baker's Guide: The Blog

Jason D. Baker — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:00:00 +0100

And so it begins...

I confess that I've never been a big fan of blogging. Don't get me wrong; I like reading them from time to time but I've rarely considered writing one. I figure if I cannot keep a physical journal, why should I attempt to keep an electronic one? Well, one reason is that I get many email messages from visitors to BakersGuide.com and I'm not able to respond to all of them. I thought that creating the Knowledgebase would help fill in this gap by proviRead More...