Distance learning line degree

Accelerated Distance Learning, $19.99. Mega Memory, Mega Speed Reading, $59.95 each. Mega Writing Tips, Mega Persuasive Writing, Mega Note Taking, $20 each. Peterson's Internships 2002, $24.95. College Board CLEP Official Study Guide, $22.95. Excelsior College Exams Official Study Guide, $18.95. Peterson's Guide to Distance Learning Programs 2002, $26.95.

Global Learning Strategies, 2302 Waterford Grace, New Braunfels, TX 78130. (830) 624-0094. Web: www. GlobalLearningStrategies.org.

"You can complete college in less than half the time and for less than half the cost." Such is the bold promise on the back of Accelerated Distance Learning by homeschool graduate Brad Voeller, who himself earned a completely accredited college degree in six months.

If you are one of the nine percent of homeschoolers who plan to homeschool right through college, this book has obvious appeal. Even if you are planning to spend some time on a college campus, though, you should be aware of the strategies this book proposes.

After a rather breathless beginning, in which distance learning is compared favorably to the ways in which many students waste their time on campus, we get down to cases. A section on distance learning describes in detail how you can use credit-by-examination, portfolio assessment, internships, online and correspondence courses, and independent study courses through community colleges to build a transcript loaded with low-cost credits. (Go read the interview on page 8 if you don't know what these options are all about yet!)

However, it's the next section on Accelerated Learning that should have readers sitting up and taking notice. With chapters on Reading Power, Memory Power, Writing Power, and Test-Taking Power, Brad reveals the basic principles which enabled him to read much faster, remember it all, and get consistent A's on tests and essays, even with relatively little preparation time. To really follow up on his suggestions, be aware you'll need to purchase the additional programs Mega Memory, Mega Speed Reading, Mega Writing Tips, Mega Persuasive Writing, and Mega Note Taking, all conveniently available through the order form in the back of the book. The whole batch of "Mega" products is available for a combo price of $159.95 plus shipping, and if they can do for you what they did for Brad, it's not a bad deal.

The book's section on "Putting It Together" has a rather weak chapter on choosing a college, a chapter on places to look for scholarships and grants, one on how to organize your time and study environment, and one on how to map out your college plan. Whole books have been written on these first three topics, and I suggest you get some of them rather than researching it all over again with the help of the web sites mentioned in these chapters. The last chapter in this section is the best, as it provides concrete examples of several filled-out college plans, so you can see how it's done.

Appendices include a glossary of distance-learning terms, a list of tests offered through most of the credit-by-examination programs (except DANTES, for some reasons), a list of "degrees and courses available online and through correspondence study" which looks suspiciously like the degrees list from a Distance Education and Training Council brochure, degree-planning worksheets, helpful Internet sites listed by category, and a list of recognized accrediting agencies, in which the six regional accrediting agencies (the only ones who count as far as colleges and universities are concerned) are unfortunately lumped in with professional agencies and others.

Snapshot testimonials of students and others involved in distance learning are scattered throughout the book. Long-time PHS readers will recognize Alexandra Swann and Andrew Pudewa as two of these contributors.

Bottom line: Although I can see some ways a second edition could add improvements, right now Accelerated Distance Learning is the best single source for information on this sped-up approach to college credit.

Now, let's look at the main "accelerated learning" training materials available through Brad Voeller's company.

Mega Memory is a large, fancy cassette album containing 8 audiocassettes, a workbook, and a Pocket Guide. The workbook, which is designed to be used after you listen to each lesson first, summarizes and reviews the material on the cassettes. It also includes a 21-Day Program of memory exercises for you to cement the course's teachings. The course employs the "pegging" technique, in which you link a picture of a "pre-established peg" to a "vivid picture of the thing you want to remember." Peg lists are such things as body parts or rooms in a house. You are also provided a mental picture for each number, and the Pocket Guide provides suggested picture words for common names and surnames. You'll learn to remember faces, addresses, directions, license plate numbers, text, and even words in foreign languages.

Mega Speed Reading, also by Kevin Trudeau, this time in collaboration with "The World's Fastest Reader," Howard Stephen Berg, has a similar format: 6 audiocassettes, a workbook summarizing and reviewing the lessons, and this time a video. Techniques taught are hand motion, backwards reading, comprehension tips, using a book's format to increase retention, and multiple reading speeds. You'll see Brad Voeller's take on some of these in the interview on page 8.

Finally, Mega Writing Tips, Mega Persuasive Writing, and Mega Note Taking are renamed video courses from Andrew Pudewa's Institute for Excellence in Writing. These have all consistently received high marks from PHS readers.