DeVry University Fraud Oakbrook Terrace Illinois

I also attend DeVry Online and am extremely satisfied. The discussions are where most of your information is received. The lectures are basic information to assist you in understanding you reading and to help with your discussion posts. I have attended other colleges and from my experience, the participation level expected in the online classes is greater than in a typical in class environment. The professors I've encountered have always been quick to respond to any email or phone call I've made and have been very helpful. In the future, should you choose the online option, make sure you get involved in the discussions, read the syllabus thoroughly, and schedule your time throughout the week to ensure you do not fall behind. It does take dedication and good time management skills to take a full course load online. Hope you have a better experience in the future!

I'm taking full time online classes as well and have enjoyed every one of my classes. English, Psychology, Physics, Calculus, and certainly my programming classes. I've taken classes at another state univerisity years ago and DeVry's online corriculum is actually more involved than the traditional classes I've taken in the past.

I agree with the first rebutal and perhaps you did make a serious mistake David. You failed to simply read the syllabus that's posted at the very top left hand corner of every single online class at DeVry. In the syllabus they explain in great detail the expectations of the class, the grade structures, everything else you'd find in any other school's class syllabus. What you would have learned in there is precisely what the other rebutal mentioned; the lecture is in the mandatory weekly discussion forum threads, not just the summary you looked at. Each student is required to make a minimum of 3 posts a week to the forum and is graded on the quality and frequency of their efforts in the discussion. It's much more involved and often more detailed than any sit down class room I've ever attended. (We share weblinks and deeply researched references inside and outside of the course material all week long.) The professor is required to also post in the forums and of course not only continues to the lecture but helps keep the conversations flowing and engaging. And inside every single weekly forum pull-down menu is a Q&A forum dedicated to asking questions to the professor and even sharing off-topic discussions with other students. The syllabus also shows the best way to contact the professor on the phone or through emails. I can't imagine why your professor didn't email you back, or why you didn't simply ask other students who may have been more familiar with the online environment your questions. Every professor I've had at DeVry have been fully available online and over the phone. In fact, most of them send out bulk emails to the entire class on a regular basis. The one exception I can think of was during one of my math programming classes where our professor was hospitalized. But she still managed to log in often enough to maintain the discussion threads. It took her an extra couple of weeks to grade our weekly assignments and labs.

I sympathize with you that you had this bad experience with the online courses. But as I hope you may hear in our responses, it could have been easily avoided. I'll also mention that I had a difficult communication chain with a dean once. I asked him in the Q&A section of the class he was teaching (dean's that still teach, very awesome, best computer architecture and assembly programming class I could ever imagine) if he was getting my emails. He said he was and suggested I check my junk mail settings if his emails were getting blocked. Low and behold, they were. I'm curious if something similar may have happened in your situation.

Oh, I forgot to mention. Several online classes have "live" lectures twice a week. They're held over video conference programs that are maintained through the school. The lectures are recorded and able to be played back throughout the course. And other classes, such as my Interpersonal Communication Speech class required us to form groups early in the class and we had to perform live and recorded speech presentations together. The final exam was a pre-recorded group speech project incorporating powerpoint slides. My group's topic was "managing conflict in the workplace." We did other group presentations that were actually judged and critiqued by other student groups as well. It was a very challenging and rewarding class, all online. And I've given prepared presentations in front of executive business meetings before. That class taught me more than I could have imagined.

Sounds like you might have an issue but it's not DeVry's fault. I currently take online classes with DeVry Online and I am thoroughly satisfied. The classes are designed to be accessible to working parents or just working adults who cannot otherwise attend college campuses. The courses are structured around the online discussion in which you are required to participate in, not the lecture, which is merely a summarization of the text. You get graded on the quality of your participation in that discussion along with HW assignments/tests/quizes papers. Many students in my classes have insightful commentary and others just aren't smart enough to partake in an intellectual discussion. Those people usually quit or fail and then cry because they had to pay for a service they used and did not take advantage of. It's unreasonable to register for class, take up a spot in that class, a spot that another student could have had, and expect not to pay pay for it.

When I registered I was required to complete paperwork clearly stating the percent of tuition refundable in relation to the number of weeks I stayed in class. To pay full price I know you stayed in that class for more than a couple of weeks. Your emails weren't return because they were baseless and a waste of virtual space and real time. You paid $3500 for 2 books and got nothing while the vast majority of students pay that money, get an education/degree and do something with thier lives. Just like anything else in life, you get out what you put in.