Penn Foster forum maybe?

[Jack_O'neill]

Lots of folks of late have been asking questions about the Penn Foster course materials. I am not familiar with it beyond what I read here, but was just wondering if there would be any merit to creating a Penn Foster forum, where all those questions, answers and accumulated knowledge would be grouped together. I also don't have any idea what would be involved in doing that, may be more trouble than it's worth, but it's was a thought. Any merit there?

[ReMark]

The requests for help almost seem to come in waves. We seem to get a flurry then they quickly die off only to resurface down the road a bit.

 

Forum member Car5858 copied me a set of his drawings to assist in answering questions with the proviso that I do not just hand them over to anyone who asks. I think he felt he could not keep up with all the requests for assistance while taking care of business. I agreed to help out when and where I could.

[Jack_O'neill]

I was just thinking that what I'd seen were a bunch of very similar questions, and maybe if they were all grouped together it would help the folks who really want to help themselves.

[Car5858]

I agree Jack, I spend a lot of time at college, and miss a lot of posts. I think putting all the questions in one forum would help. The reason that you see them in waves Remark, is the fact this course is self paced. Not everyone is on the same assignment.

 

Perhaps Calling the forum Penn Foster help can be a sub forum of beginners forum. Cad Tutor site would raise on the search list every time someone searches for Penn Foster. That would also increase the trafic and Noob questions. No matter what advice we give, if the student cant apply that advise it is useless.

 

All we can do to help is answer their questions.

[Organic]

A separate (sub)forum sounds a good idea to me.

[Cad64]

I was just thinking that what I'd seen were a bunch of very similar questions' date=' and maybe if they were all grouped together it would help the folks who really want to help themselves.[/quote']

 

That's what the search box is for. Just type in Penn Foster and there you go.

 

We only get a couple of these questions every month, so I really don't see the need for another sub-forum. Besides, this is a CAD forum, not a Penn Foster forum. But, I don't make those decisions, so if a Penn Foster section pops up, I will dutifully move all the questions there, when they inevitably get posted in the beginners section. :wink:

[Car5858]

I think they should use the search also. I do not think that there is enough traffic about Penn Foster to justify a sub forum myself, but if that is what everyone wants its fine by me.

[Jack_O'neill]

I don't know what would constitute enough traffic. Just out of curiosity, I did a search for "penn foster" and it pulled up 36 threads. A search for "oleson village" pulled up 16 results, but I'm sure at least some of those were included in the first search. Don't matter to me either way, was just an idea.

[CADTutor]

I'm not against this idea but I think it's a bit weird that anyone on the Penn Foster courses would pay the fee and then not take advantage of the support provided by the institution - from their website:

 

Your courses are designed so that you can study independently. However, if you have a question about anything in your program, just call our toll-free instructional support hotline. Faculty and instructional advisors are available to answer your questions from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. On weekends and holidays, you can leave a message and your call will be answered the next business day. You can also contact your instructors by email or, if you prefer, by regular mail.

 

Which kind of makes you wonder - if our support is better, shouldn't we be running the courses .

 

On balance, I don't think this justifies a dedicated forum but if it becomes an increasing issue in the future, we could look at it again.

[ReMark]

I think Penn-Foster should pay a fee to CADTutor for assisting their students. How's that?

[Jack_O'neill]

I think Penn-Foster should pay a fee to CADTutor for assisting their students. How's that?

 

Hey, now there's a good idea!

 

As I said before, it was just a thought. I actually thought this thread had died about a month ago but someone revived it. Does not matter either way.

[Cad64]

I think it's a bit weird that anyone on the Penn Foster courses would pay the fee and then not take advantage of the support provided by the institution

 

If you do a search for Penn Foster, or Oleson Village, you can see that we only get a few of these questions each month. And some of those questions are just regarding whether or not the person should take the course. And then if you weed out the ones that are just looking for a free ride, there really are just a few actual legitimate questions regarding assignments.

 

I think, if we do anything, we should just make a general "Student Questions" forum, or something like that. A place where any student, not just Penn Foster, can get assistance with their assignments.

 

But I agree, if our support is better, then maybe we should be running the courses.

[ReMark]

The posts come in waves and since Penn-Foster hasn't seemed fit to change the course content we keep being asked about the same drawings over and over again. Usually I tell the person to do a search or check the Similar Threads listed below their post.

[Car5858]

I for one can attest to the fact that this site offers more help than the instructors at Penn Foster.

 

I had to wait a week while the instructor was on vacation to get an answer to a problem. Than when I did finely get through, the problem turned out to be a printing error. This seems to be one of their favorite answers, the other one is read the instructions.

[SLW210]

I think, if we do anything, we should just make a general "Student Questions" forum, or something like that. A place where any student, not just Penn Foster, can get assistance with their assignments.

 

I agree, a generic Student sub-forum in the beginners area. Sometimes knowing the OP is a student means providing a more detailed and easier to understand reply.

 

But I agree, if our support is better, then maybe we should be running the courses.

 

From my time of unemployment and job searching, I found that IT IS A MUST to have a MASTERS or PHD to provide instruction to students.

[Cad64]

From my time of unemployment and job searching, I found that IT IS A MUST to have a MASTERS or PHD to provide instruction to students.

 

That's not necessarily true. If you want to get a job at a university, then yes, you would need a degree, but if you just want to offer online Autocad training, why would you need anything more than a good working knowledge of the program?

 

I'm not seriously suggesting that we actually do this though. I was just going along with what David said. I'm NOT a teacher and I DON'T have any desire to be one. I have much better things to do with my free time. But when I hear that this site offers better help and support than the instructors that are teaching the courses, that tells me something is wrong.

[SLW210]

That's not necessarily true. If you want to get a job at a university, then yes, you would need a degree, but if you just want to offer online Autocad training, why would you need anything more than a good working knowledge of the program?

 

I'm not seriously suggesting that we actually do this though. I was just going along with what David said. I'm NOT a teacher and I DON'T have any desire to be one. I have much better things to do with my free time. But when I hear that this site offers better help and support than the instructors that are teaching the courses, that tells me something is wrong.

 

Just a tongue-in-cheek comment. All learning institutes (including some that have students on here asking questions, due to poor quality instructors) that myself (and others) have applied for jobs as instructors for CAD curriculum are not qualified. (I do have an engineering degree) I just find it humorous, that the Masters and PHDs do not an instructor make.

[CADTutor]

I notice we have another wave of Penn Foster queries and so bumping this thread. I'm now wondering if a new sub-forum in the Beginners' Area would be sensible. We'd at least know what we were dealing with and it may be easier for future students to find the answers they're after. What do we think?

[ReMark]

Do you think it will be noticed by the students who come here searching for assistance? I have a feeling they will post just about anywhere and the mods will still be left with the task of moving threads to the correct forum. Just a thought. Personally I say give it a try. What's to lose?

[Car5858]

I also have to agree, it seems that the new students still fail to use the search feature. Putting everything in one location will help them. I do think that reminding them that they need to start their own thread for their questions will help.