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1.: How to DIY a degree - Download The Edupunks' Guide to a DIY Cred From: Rich Pettus

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1.: How to DIY a degree - Download The Edupunks' Guide to a DIY Cred

Posted by: "Rich Pettus" richpettus@gmail.com rich.pettus

Sat Sep 17, 2011 3:59 pm (PDT)

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/09/16/mm-how-to-diy-a-degree/

How to DIY a degree

*Marketplace Money, Thursday, September 15,
2011<http://marketplace.publicradio.org/episodes/show_rundown.php?show_id=8&start_date=09-16-2011>
*

Listen to this Story<http://marketplace.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=marketplace/money/2011/09/16/marketplace_money_v2_20110916_64&starttime=00:44:06.0&endtime=00:48:24.0>

A bachelor's degree is almost a requirement to enter the middle class these
days. But author Anya Kamenetz thinks that people can cobble together a "DIY
degree" with a little ingenuity and hard work.
[image: "DIY U" by Anya Kamenetz.]

"DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher
Education" by Anya Kamenetz. (diyu.com)

- [image: Writer Anya Kamenetz.]

Writer Anya Kamenetz. (Diana Levine).

*TESS VIGELAND: *So much for getting a good deal on education at a state
school. Good lord. This week the University of California laid out a budget
plan that could raise tuition -- just tuition -- to more than $22,000 by the
2015 school year. So what if you could get the benefits of college, at least
some of them, without the price tag?

Anya Kamenetz <http://www.fastcompany.com/user/anya-kamenetz> is a senior
writer for Fast Company and the author of the new FREE e-book called "The
Edupunks' Guide to a DIY
Credential."<http://www.openculture.com/2011/08/download_the_edupunks_guide_to_a_diy_credential_free.html>
Anya,
what's the problem with college?

*ANYA KAMENETZ: *Well, the problem is that there are millions and millions
of people out there who want access to a college education, who have the
ability to take advantage of a college education but they do not have that
access. Either because of money, because of time, because of other
responsibilities -- and that's who this guide is for.

*VIGELAND: *So essentially, you're just saying, Look, college does not have
to be the only option for you to be a success in your life. But haven't we
known that all the way along?

*KAMENETZ: *Well, we may know that in our hearts and in our minds, but the
fact is, in this economy, it is very very hard to join the middle class
without some kind of credential past high school. And there just isn't
enough capacity in our public systems. They have been dealing with year
after year of budget cuts and, you know, there's not a lot of resources out
there. So I think people need to start figuring out other paths to get that
degree.

*VIGELAND: *What exactly is involved in that DIY degree? What do you do for
it and what do you get out of it?

*KAMENETZ: *So what I'm encouraging people to do is put together a personal
learning plan, which includes their personal goals. And once you've
determined what it is that you want to do, it may be that you want to get a
certification or a license, which could mean taking a private course or
taking a course at a community college, and then sitting in an exam and
passing an exam. If you want to get credit for your life experience, you can
put together a portfolio and there's a national program called
LearningCounts.org <http://www.learningcounts.org/Pages/Default.aspx>, which
shows you how to do a six-week class to put together a portfolio, which is
the narrative of your learning that you've gotten from military training or
job training or volunteering or traveling -- and put that all towards a
degree. And then there are colleges and universities -- like Excelsior,
Empire State, Charter Oaks State College -- and these are all public
universities that specialized in helping people take their prior learning
experience and put them towards a personally designed learning plan.

*VIGELAND: *Let me play devil's advocate here though: You know, a DIY
credential is nice and all, but you've got this incredibly cutthroat job
market out there right now. How is this going to help someone make the cut,
to stand out against someone like you, a Yale grad; someone who went to a
state school, a community college even?

*KAMENETZ: *I think that the key ingredient is that individuals are taking
charge of their own learning and they're connecting their goals within the
classroom to a goal outside the classroom. And that's why the guide includes
tutorials for people to start to create and build their personal learning
network, to find a mentor, to connect to a community. People are not getting
hired because of a paper resume or because of their transcript or their
diploma. They're getting hired because they can demonstrate value.

*VIGELAND: *But that doesn't sound true. I feel like we are actually hearing
the opposite, that if you don't have a resume and an education that is going
to make you stand out from everybody in the field, it's just going to get
dumped in the trash. I mean, it's so competitive.

*KAMENETZ: *So what does it really mean to stand out? I mean, I profile, for
example, a community of programmers called GitHub. And GitHub was started
just as a place for people to collaborate on open source software projects.
And the languages that are being used in that community to program in --
languages like Python, Java, PHP -- these are not being taught in our
computer science programs. Our computer science programs can't keep up. And
there are companies like Twitter and Apple that are recruiting directly off
of GitHub. And this is really the new credential. A resume is a dead piece
of paper, unless you can connect it to something that really demonstrates
what you can do and how you can do it. You know, a credential is nice, it's
important, but it is not sufficient anymore.

*VIGELAND: *Anya Kamenetz is the author of the new e-book, "The Edupunks'
Guide to a DIY Credential." She's also a senior writer for Fast Company
magazine. Thanks for coming in.

*KAMENETZ: *Thanks so much for having me.

- <http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/09/16/mm-how-to-diy-a-degree/#>

http://www.openculture.com/2011/08/download_the_edupunks_guide_to_a_diy_credential_free.html

Download The Edupunks' Guide to a DIY Credential (Free
eBook)<http://www.openculture.com/2011/08/download_the_edupunks_guide_to_a_diy_credential_free.html>

in *e-books <http://www.openculture.com/category/e-books>,
Education<http://www.openculture.com/category/education>
* | August 2nd, 2011 Leave a
Comment<http://www.openculture.com/2011/08/download_the_edupunks_guide_to_a_diy_credential_free.html#respond>
119 165

<http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77938>It's hot off the digital
press. Anya Kamenetz, a senior writer at Fast Company Magazine and author
of *DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher
Education<http://www.amazon.com/DIY-Edupunks-Edupreneurs-Transformation-Education/dp/1603582347>
*, has teamed up with the Gates Foundation to release a free ebook, *The
Edupunks' Guide to a DIY Credential<http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77938>
.*

The new ebook offers a "comprehensive guide to learning online and charting
a personalized path to an affordable credential," and it comes complete with
some handy-sounding tutorials: how to write a personal learning plan, how to
teach yourself online, how to build your personal learning network, 7 ways
to get college credit without taking a college course, etc.

The book also smartly features a long list of open educational resources,
where the author was nice enough to give us a small mention.

You can read *The Edupunks' Guide to a DIY Credential* on
Scribd<http://www.scribd.com/doc/60954896/EdupunksGuide>,
or alternatively you can download it in multiple formats (PDF, Kindle, ePub,
RTF, etc.) at the bottom of this
page<http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77938>
.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77938

*The Edupunks' Guide to a DIY Credential* Ebook By Anya
Kamenetz<http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/edupunk>
Rating: Not yet rated.
Published: July 31, 2011
Category: Non-Fiction <http://www.smashwords.com/books/category/4> » Education
and Study Guides <http://www.smashwords.com/books/category/88> » College
Guides <http://www.smashwords.com/books/category/1193>
Words: 28451 (approximate)
Language: English<http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=language2:eng>

*Ebook Short Description* A first-of-its kind resource for the future of
education: a comprehensive guide to learning online and charting a
personalized path to an affordable credential using the latest innovative
tools and organizations. Real-life stories and hands-on advice for today's
students, whether you're going back to school, working, transferring
colleges, or pursuing lifelong learning goals.

*Extended Description* Anya Kamenetz, a nationally recognized educational
expert and author of Generation Debt and DIY U, has written the first-ever
book sponsored by the Gates Foundation. The Edupunks' Guide is a
first-of-its kind resource for the future of education: a comprehensive
guide to learning online and charting a personalized path to an affordable
credential using the latest innovative tools and organizations. Real-life
stories and hands-on advice for today's students, whether you're going back
to school, working, transferring colleges, or pursuing lifelong learning
goals.

Highlights:

*A series of tutorials: How to Write a Personal Learning Plan, How to Teach
Yourself Online, How to Build Your Personal Learning Network, How to Find a
Mentor, How to Get a Credential, How To Demonstrate Value to a Network.

*The DIY Degree: A Degree At Your Own Pace (18 months to 18 years) at 81%
Off Retail

*7 Ways to Get College Credit Without Taking a College Course/7 Ways to
Learn College Material Without Tak... (Read
more)<http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77938#longdescr>

*Tags* career <http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/career>,
college<http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/college>
, networking <http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/networking>,
online<http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/online>
, resume <http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/resume>, career
advice<http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/career_advice>
, online education <http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/online_education>,
education higher <http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/education_higher>,
education help <http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/education_help>,
online college <http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/online_college>,
college advice <http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/college_advice>,
resume building <http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/resume_building>

*Available Ebook reading formats:* This book is free.
Format Full Book *Online
Reading<http://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/77938>
* (HTML, good for sampling in web browser)
View<http://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/77938>
*Online Reading <http://www.smashwords.com/reader/read/77938>* (JavaScript,
experimental, buggy) View <http://www.smashwords.com/reader/read/77938> *
Kindle* (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps)
Download<http://www.smashwords.com/books/download/77938/4/latest/0/0/the-edupunks-guide-to-a-diy-credential.mobi>
*Epub* (Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza,
Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others)
Download<http://www.smashwords.com/books/download/77938/8/latest/0/0/the-edupunks-guide-to-a-diy-credential.epub>
*PDF* (good for reading on PC, or for home printing)
Download<http://www.smashwords.com/books/download/77938/1/latest/0/0/the-edupunks-guide-to-a-diy-credential.pdf>
*RTF* (readable on most word processors)
Download<http://www.smashwords.com/books/download/77938/3/latest/0/0/the-edupunks-guide-to-a-diy-credential.rtf>
*LRF* (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub)
Download<http://www.smashwords.com/books/download/77938/9/latest/0/0/the-edupunks-guide-to-a-diy-credential.lrf>
*Palm Doc (PDB)* (for Palm reading devices)
Download<http://www.smashwords.com/books/download/77938/7/latest/0/0/the-edupunks-guide-to-a-diy-credential.pdb>
*Plain Text (download)* (flexible, but lacks much formatting)
Download<http://www.smashwords.com/books/download/77938/6/latest/0/0/the-edupunks-guide-to-a-diy-credential.txt>
*Plain Text (view)* (viewable as web page)
View<http://www.smashwords.com/books/download/77938/6/latest/1/0/the-edupunks-guide-to-a-diy-credential.txt>

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