1. Keller Graduate School of Management operates in several states but has an extensive online MBA program as well as Masters Degrees in Information Management, Network Management, Public Administration and several other fields.
2. University of Phoenix offers an extraordinary number of graduate programs online – an MBA Program and six affiliated business majors alone.  There are sixteen Masters in Education options and Doctoral programs as well – and the list goes on in Technology, Psychology and Criminal Justice.
3. Capella University is a for-profit institution that has worked hard at developing quality, accredited graduate programs.  Their Masters and Doctoral degree options are offered in Human Resource management, Information Technology, Education, and an entire division devoted to Psychology.
4. Villanova University Online has an impressive choice of four Masters in Engineering programs that include Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Water Resources & Environmental Engineering.
5. Argosy University Online offers Masters and some Doctoral Degrees in their Colleges of Business, Health Sciences, Education and Psychology & Behavioral Sciences.
6. Michigan State University has 45,000 students on campus and a growing number of distance learners taking advantage of their Masters Degree programs in Criminal Justice, Public Health, Education, and – a unique online offering – a Masters in Physics.
7. Grand Canyon University has an extensive online graduate program emanating from its Phoenix, AZ campus.  They offer an MBA program with eight specialization options, fifteen options for a Masters in Education and options in their Nursing and
8. Penn State University World Wide Campus is without question the finest distance learning program operated by a major U.S. University.  Their Masters Degree options include an MBA program, five degrees in Education, a Masters in Public Administration and a mixture of management degrees for a variety of careers.
9. Western Governors University has four Masters Degree in Education leading to teacher licensure and twelve specialty Masters programs for previously licensed teachers.  They offer an MBA program and graduate work in Nursing & Health Sciences as well..
10. Virginia Tech Online offers Masters Degree programs in Information Technology, Instructional Technology, Agriculture & Life Sciences and seven other areas of study.
11. Boston University has online Masters Degrees available in Criminal Justice, Art Education, and Occupational  Therapy.  There are four additional online graduate degree options
12. Florida State University Online has grown into a substantial extension of the school with an MBA program, Masters Degrees in Criminology, MIS, Nursing, Instructional Systems and Special Education.
13. Indiana University/Bloomington has developed the state’s most compelling graduate programs online.    Degrees include the MBA, Masters in Supply Chain Management, Instructional Systems Technology and Finance.
14. Argosy University Online offers an MBA program, both Masters and EdD doctoral programs in Education, Health Services Management and Psychology.
15. Oregon State University has entered the distance learning arena with some interesting graduate programs.  You can obtain an online Masters in Radiation Health Physics, a Masters of Health Physics, a Masters in Education and Certificates in fields such as Fisheries Management and Water Conflict management.

We elevated two criteria to assemble our list: one is affordability and the other is online availability.  In evaluating the online programs we looked at accreditation and a couple of distance learning college ranking systems that we believe are unbiased.

1. University of Californian at Berkeley is ranked fifth in the nation overall for economics with a department that has produced generations of bachelors degree graduates and also five Nobel Prize winners.
2. University of Minnesota Economics Department has over 400 undergraduate students annually, many of whom take advantage of the internships in industry, in local or state governments.
3. University of Michigan offers an economics program that stands alone, but from which graduates can move into further academic endeavors in law, business, urban planning and natural resource management.
4. University of Wisconsin is tied for thirteenth in the nation for best economics department, one of the University’s fastest growing academic discipline – and costs $8,300 per year for state residents.
5. University of Maryland/College Park has an Economics Department that offers upper level courses in Money and Banking, International Economics and the Economics of Poverty and Discrimination.
6. Penn State Department of Economics is ranked among the top twenty five nationally and offers five important undergraduate courses in economics through its online World Campus.
7. Ashford University offers several business administration options at its campus in Clinton, Iowa and offers a Bachelors in Business Economics online.  The school is accredited by the The Higher Learning Commission, a commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
8. Strayer University offers a Bachelors of Science in Economics at its twenty five campuses and through its online program.  The school is accredited by the Middle States Commission for Higher Education and approved and licensed by each of the states in which it operates.
9. University of Illinois/Springfield is offering a four year campus program for a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and an Online Economics Degree as well.
10. Capella University offers accredited degree programs in Finance at the Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate level.

• Kaplan University has a range of bachelors and masters criminal justice degrees, many of which are focused on management opportunities in the field.
• Herzing University offers a bachelors in criminal justice both on campus and online.
• Virginia College also has a bachelors degree in criminal justice available on campus at one of thirteen campuses and online as well.
• Everest University offers an online bachelors program in criminal justice. Affiliated Everest College has a certificate program in the field.
• Harrison College has fourteen campuses in Indiana where you can earn an associates or bachelors degree in criminal justice.
• ITT Technical Institute has criminal justice degree programs on its 100 campuses and online as well. They offer both the traditional course of study and training in degrees in cyber security as well.
• Rasmussen College’s School of Justice Studies has a criminal justice bachelors program with four areas of concentration.
• Westwood College has an online criminal justice degree program oriented to the law enforcement career.
• University of Phoenix has two basic bachelors offerings: Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice Administration and a Bachelors’ in Organizational Security and Management.
• South University has both a bachelors and masters degree option in criminal justice at its multiple campuses. The masters in criminal justice is available online.

]]> http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/top-criminology-programs/feed/ 0 http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/best-sports-psychology-schools/ http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/best-sports-psychology-schools/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:15:07 +0000 Get Degrees Staff http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/best-sports-psychology-schools/ Sports psychology is the in-depth study of the behavioral factors that influence and are influenced by participation in exercise, physical activity and competitive sports. The science is applied to many everyday settings beyond sports, settings that include health and wellness pursuits, fitness in general, performing arts and in some cases, business.

• Argosy University offers the Master of Arts in Sport-Exercise Psychology degree at three California campuses, in Atlanta and in Arizona. Online courses are also available.
• Capella University has a Masters in Psychology study track with specialization in Sports Psychology, available on campuses and as an online psychology degree option.
• Walden University has a graduate program in Health Psychology that offers both masters’ and doctoral degrees. Health Psychologists practice in a variety of settings including fitness and health facilities.
• Boston University offers its sports psychology program through the Education Department, in the form of a Master of Education (Ed.M.) with a specialization in Sports Psychology.
• University of the Rockies provides a Master of Arts in Psychology, Sports and Performance Psychology both on campus in Colorado Springs and online.
• University of North Carolina/Greensboro’s Department of Kinesiology offers a graduate program in Sport and Exercise Psychology with both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees.
• West Virginia University has a College of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences that offers bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in Sports and Exercise Psychology.
• Florida State University has M.S. and PhD. degrees in Educational Psychology with a major in Sports Psychology.
• Ashworth College offers an online diploma program in Sports Psychology for Peak Performance. An ideal choice for working coaches.

]]> http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/best-sports-psychology-schools/feed/ 0 http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/top-performing-arts-schools/ http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/top-performing-arts-schools/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:02:12 +0000 Get Degrees Staff http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/top-performing-arts-schools/ The US News and World Report annual survey of top colleges and universities breaks out schools by many different academic disciplines and ranks them based on peer opinion, research programs, teaching quality, etc. They avoided ranking the best performing arts schools however, and simply listed them as they rose to the top of the overall list based on respect from professionals in the field.

Other sources include arts foundations and websites where opinions from former students and current teaching professionals can be found. What follows is a list of schools that provide top flight education in drama, music and dance – and in the case of Juilliard and a few others, all three.

• Academy of Art University/San Francisco
• Berklee College of Music/Boston, MA
• Boston Conservatory
• Boston University/College of Fine Arts
• Brown University Department of Theater Arts and Performance
• California Institute of the Arts/Valencia, CA
• Carnegie Mellon School of Drama/Pittsburgh, PA
• Cleveland Institute of Music
• Curtis Institute of Music/Philadelphia, PA
• Juilliard School/New York, NY
• Manhattan School of Music
• New England Conservatory of Music
• New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts
• New York Film Academy
• New York University/Tisch School of the Arts
• Northwestern University Theater and Performance Studies
• San Francisco Conservatory of Music
• University of California San Diego Theater and Dance Program
• University of Cincinnati Conservatory
• University of Michigan/Department of Theater and Dance
• University of North Carolina School of the Arts

]]> http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/top-performing-arts-schools/feed/ 0 http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/best-computer-programming-colleges/ http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/best-computer-programming-colleges/#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:57:09 +0000 Get Degrees Staff http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/best-computer-programming-colleges/ A software engineering degree, in some cases studies in network analysis and the many courses and certificates available in software language (C++, Microsoft, Javascript, COBOL, etc.) can often lead directly to employment opportunities.

So while the best ranked schools overall for software engineering, computer engineering and computer science are the usual expensive and highly competitive schools like MIT, Harvard, Stanford, there are many other schools with IT departments that have a high level of excellence in computer programming.

• Penn State School of Information Sciences and Technology: a highly focused program with degrees available both on campus and online.
• University of Illinois: Perl and Linux/Unix are the two most popular courses in the Computer Science Department
• University of Phoenix: Degrees in programming from every perspective – data security, software engineering, systems analysis, etc. Available at 80 campuses and online.
• University of Michigan: An expansive software engineering program with classes in many computer languages and types of software structure.
• Purdue University: Software development is one of four undergraduate areas of focus in the College of Technology.
• University of Washington: One of the top ten IT programs in the country. Twenty certificate programs in information technology, some available online.
• DeVry University: An Information Systems Department with eleven majors, available on ninety campuses and online.
• University of Wisconsin: an on-campus Linux Users Group and Tutorials in C++ and Java – and that’s the extracurricular stuff.
• University of Texas: Offers a software development track for their undergraduate computer science and information science degrees.
• ITT Tech: A well regarded software applications and programming major available at sixty campuses nationwide.

]]> http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/best-computer-programming-colleges/feed/ 0 http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/emergency-medical-technician-training/ http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/emergency-medical-technician-training/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:46:59 +0000 Get Degrees Staff http://www.getdegrees.com/distancedaily/career-training/emergency-medical-technician-training/ Emergency Medical Technicians are popularly known as EMTs or paramedics. There are over 200,000 EMT/Paramedic jobs today, spread among hospitals, public agencies and private companies that contract ambulance services. Many firefighters are also certified in emergency medical services. EMTs are trained and certified at progressive levels: EMT – Basic; EMT – Intermediate; and Paramedic.

The various levels of training for this occupation can take from a few months to two years. Basic EMT training is usually a certification class that requires a few months of class time, while the highest level of EMT education may result in an associates’ degree in paramedic studies.

EMT- basic training teaches the individual how to provide basic triage for an injured or ill patient. The range of skills increases at each level; paramedics can administer medication, read electrocardiograms taken on site; perform tracheotomies if necessary and utilize sophisticated monitoring gear.

EMT Certification

The National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) provides certification exams for all levels of EMT training. Many states also have their own certification programs for EMT professionals in addition to the NREMT option. All states require some form of certification, whether through a state exam or via the NREMT program.

Most states also require continuing education and recertification every two or three years. Emergency medical technicians and paramedics either enroll in refresher courses or in continuing education courses that provide updates on medical technology and procedures used in the field.

While the job market has seen a huge increase in the number of MBA graduates over the past ten years, there have been adaptations on both the education and employment side that can help a prospective MBA student choose a career path. Many MBA programs offer specialty degrees today such as the following:

• MBA/Marketing
• MBA/Global Business
• MBA/Supply Chain Management
• MBA/Accounting
• MBA/Human Resources Management
• MBA/Technology Management

These are examples of the educational options; increasingly employers are looking for MBA specialists with degrees that match the job description. Globalization and technology have changed corporate functions forever.

In the technology field, for example, business networks and the software that manage them have become so integral to daily business activities that they are part of the budgeting, planning and strategy development processes. MBA graduates who are trained in business database management bring an important skill to any corporate environment today.

Here are the top ranked graduate MBA programs:

1.Harvard
2.Stanford
3.Northwestern
4.University of Pennsylvania
5.M IT
6.University of Chicago
7.University of California/Berkeley
8.Dartmouth
9.Columbia
10.Yale
11.New York University
12.Duke
13.University of Michigan
14.UCLA
15.Carnegie Mellon University

1. Nova Southeastern University
2. Regent University
3. Champlain University’
4. Upper Iowa University
5. LeTourneau University
6. Liberty University
7. Grand Canyon University
8. Dickinson State University
9. Western Governors University
10. Salem International University

This list is a good start, but it does not take into account the fine traditional schools that have developed online divisions. Penn State’s World Campus offers sixty online degrees for everything from supply chain management careers to systems engineering jobs to public health along with hundreds of courses. The University of Massachusetts offers an online health informatics degree, an online MBA program and fifteen other online business degrees and certificates.

It’s also worth recognizing some of the finer academic programs in the larger online schools that didn’t make this list. Capella University has an excellent and diverse undergraduate psychology degree program. The University of Phoenix offers an immense catalogue for those seeking a career in education or a job opportunity in business, and even thought their size keeps them out of ranking systems like this they still maintain an excellent student-teacher ratio. From the list above, one of the standout academic programs is the education program at Western Governors University with its online teaching degrees in math and science.

1. Kaplan University: Associates’ degree in health information management; bachelors’ in nutrition science; masters’ in nursing.

2. University of Phoenix: twenty one health care degree options including a masters’ in nursing/informatics and several health administration degree options.

3. Strayer University: a masters’ in health administration and an MBA in health administration.

4. Capella University: an RN to BSN degree program, a masters in nursing education, in gerontology, and for public health careers

5. Ashford College: degrees and certificates in health care management and a dietician degree.

6. Walden University: bachelors in nursing; masters’ in counseling; PhD degree in psychology.

7. South University: an accelerated RN to BSN program, an associates’ degree in allied health science, and masters’ in nursing.

8. Keiser University: associate degree in medical assisting, and bachelors’ in health services administration.

9. University of Maryland University College: bachelors’ degree in gerontology and a masters’ in health informatics.

10. Grand Canyon University: bachelors’ degree in medical imaging, BS degree in respiratory care, and a masters’ degree in addiction counseling.