Any Thoughts on Online Electronics Technician Certificate/Degree Programs? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Nazareth
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2014, 04:01:52 am
content: I am very interested in learning more about electronics and have decided to sign up for an online program. Not able to attend a traditional school due to lack of funds and a learning disability that makes it near impossible for me to remain focused in a classroom environment (Sucks). I had three years of Vo/Tech high school (Cranston High School West, Cranston, RI) electronics back in the 80's and really enjoyed it but never followed though with a college degree. Anyway, the program I am thinking of signing up for is the "Electronics Technician Career Diploma" with Pennfoster. This is a self paced course which would be good for me. My primary focus is to relearn the concepts of electronics and repair electronic equipment then go further into electronics design later on. I am fortunate to have a wide range of modern and vintage test equipment to learn with. Most of the vintage gear cost me about free to $20.00 a piece (of course most of the vintage gear needs to be rebuilt due to age). I have built a work bench with shelves and lighting along with a separate bench for solder work and picked up an industrial server rack with blower for $30.00 for the rack gear and of course my guitar effects processor and power conditioner. The high priced equipment was the multimeter, o-scope, and , iso/variac, and tube tester. I have a thing for tube operated electronics. Really looking forward to your points of views, personal experiences, and alternative schools I may attend online. Thanks.Naz

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2014, 05:34:53 am
content: If you are interested in the course credit being recognize by others rather than just the mere joy of learning, check first.I was asked by a relative about an on-line "university". I did some research and found that some company (notably HP or Intel, forgot which) will not even reimburse employees taking course from this institution.I then looked further into credit transfer. I found Southern Illinois would acceptsomeof this on-line university's400 levelcourse as their100 level equivalent. That means Southern Illinois (which is far less demanding than U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) consider this on-line university's senior level courses merely eqv to their freshman classes. In fact, I found very few reputable universities accepting any credit from them at all.So, if you want to merely learn for the joy of learning, great.If you have plans on using that for job application and/or transfer, check first. Check your state U and see if they accept the transfer.If the credits are transferable to your local state U, then you now at least they are seen by reasonable people as reasonably adequate.Some home work first will save a lot of pain later.Rick

author: Nazareth
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2014, 05:59:25 am
content: Rick,Thanks for the reply. I know it is recognized as an accredited program since "Pennfoster" accepts the GI-Bill. As far as transfer I will have to check with another college for this programs transferability also need to check the ACE guide for college credit information. This program should be listed as this is an accredited program (not a degree but a certificate degree). There should be some credit transfer but that will be up to what the ACE guide states for maximum credit transfer and the accepting college guidelines for this type of program.I am looking for alternatives to "Pennfoster" as well. The good thing about this program is that it is recognized by ETA-I.This is from the schools website:Graduates of the Electronics Technician Program will be prepared to take the Student Electronics Technician (SET) and the Associate Electronics Technician (CETa) certification through the Electronics Technicians Association International (ETA-I).I thought this would be a bonus factor for attending this school.Naz

author: joesixpack
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2014, 01:07:52 pm
content: If you are doing it just for fun, then go for it. I've never heard of a regionally accredited university taking transfer credits from Penn Foster. If they did, it probably would be elective only. Cleveland Institute of Electronics seems to have a positive reputation and they have been around for a long time.I'm currently taking classes for my EE online at UND. The University of North Dakota is the only distance EE program that is both regionally accredited and accredited by ABET. It is expensive, and time consuming.Also, you don't need to attend a course to take the associate CET exam.

author: jlmoon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 10, 2014, 02:03:33 pm
content: QuoteIn Texas, the State Accredited Universities will only transfer a few of the core high level classes from the community colleges such as Calculus I (Integral)/II(Diff) , Chemistry and EE Physics I & II (excepting the academic classes) The community college math and physics courses are usually considered the entry point classes for the BSEE/ME programs and are not as in-depth as the equivalent university course. Forget about any of the community college EE classes, online or otherwise such as electronics I / II.. etc. They are not applicable or transferable to a 4+ year BSEE at a State Accredited University.

author: Nazareth
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2014, 03:43:41 pm
content: JSP,Thank you for your comments. I see your point of view with the transfer credits. I will look into CIE.Jlmoon,Thanks for the comments. I see your point of view with the transfer credits also and I agree. I am only looking at online schools that offer electronics certificates and degree programs. Thanks.Naz

author: M0BSW
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 03:52:00 pm
content: What I've always wondered if your going through the course and become stuck on something, how do they get you unstuck, and on the right path again

author: Nazareth
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 04:30:40 pm
content: You would think there would be someone on staff that would be able to help. That may not be the case though depending on what school you are enrolled in. I guess if there isn't anyone on staff for you then you would be SOL. Then again there are books, forums such as this one, ham radio clubs with mentors (I hold a HAM ticket), and of course electronics repair shop owners (I have made several contacts). These alternatives might might not be ideal but they are alternatives just the same.Naz

author: Jeeper44
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 04:41:39 pm
content: I am currently in the AAS program with CIE so I'll try to give you some insight. I looked at a number of different programs before selecting CIE. I even thought about going back to the local state college for the full EE program but being 30 years out of high school, and working full time, that had its own challenges.CIE also offers a number of certificate programs, all of which are transferable to their AAS or BEET program if you choose. I think their certificate programs are inline with the cost of Penn Foster and they offer monthly payments as well.Some of this is more of a refresher for me as I had electronics training 30 years ago in the US Air Force. My actual job though did very little with using what I was taught so over the years a lot of the training was forgotten. As I work full time 50+ hours a week, I really wanted something I could do at home at my own pace. As I want to get back into electronics/avionics as a career I wanted more than just a certificate program. I looked at a number of online degree programs but cost was a major factor. Grantham University has a full BSEET program, but at over $200/credit hour it would have been over $50k. I could go to my state university for less than that. Penn Foster was the cheapest if I recall, but it was a certificate program as an electronics technician and most of the jobs I've been watching want at least an Associates. A few of the other programs also offered online degrees but some required that you travel to them for Lab time.I finally chose CIE for a couple of reasons. First I read a lot of the online reviews and they had decent ones. Not spectacular but nobody said they were horrible or didn't deliver what you pay for. Second is cost. They are a couple grand per semester but there is no limit as to how fast you complete their program and you only pay for the time you take. Plus, like Penn Foster they offer monthly payments. I suspect I won't actually get the degree until I finish paying for the course, but I went into this knowing that is a possibility. The AASEET (Associate of Applied Science in Electronics Engineering Technology) is a four semester program that I'm on track to finish in 1 year, or two semesters. They also offer a BEET degree if I wish to continue after this. Notice its not a Bachelor of Science, just a Bachelor of Electronics Engineering Techology so they are light on some of the courses than a full BSEE would offer.CIE sends you a group of lessons, usually 10 or 12 at a time. When you get about half way through those, they send you the next bunch. I've been in the program for 6 months and have only had to wait a day for lessons to arrive and that was when I was able to burn through the ones they sent me in a matter of a couple days. All the initial books on the basics I was completing two or three a day. After each lesson there is an exam which you can submit online. In the AAS program there is a total of 254 lessons. In addition to the exams after each lesson there are also three proctored exams, which I can take at my local community college. I haven't done my first one yet but am on track to reach that point by the end of the month.In addition to the books, they also include an analog multimeter and a soldering iron. I already had those, so I was able to opt-out and get credit in their bookstore instead. You could also upgrade to better equipment for a small fee. One of the few things they require you purchase separately for this program is an oscilloscope. They offer a couple analog Instek models through the bookstore but it was cheaper for me to purchase a DSO through Amazon for a couple hundred. They do provide you with a training lab which includes a breadboard, Variable DC power supply, AC power supply, sine and square wave generators as well as a number of logic switches. Each set of lessons they send you the parts you will need for those lessons. So when I learning about 555 timers for example, they had sent a package with a couple 555s, leds, resistors, etc. I already had a nice stack of resistors, caps, inductors, etc from previous lessons. I'm currently working on logic circuits. I just finished the lessons on Karnaugh Maps yesterday and am working on gates today. This set of lessons included 33 ICs from 74LS00 NAND, 74LS04 Hex inverters, flip flops, BCD decoders, another 555, etc, in addition to a couple dozen more components and switches. Each set of lessons includes everything you need, regardless of what they sent before, so you build up a nice little parts box. Some of the lessons are book work only, others are lab work where they have you build circuits to demonstrate what they are teaching. If you get stuck you can email or call. They also offer online chat sessions throughout the week with the instructors but I'm usually at work when they take place.The only complaint I would have is some of the information seems a bit dated. For example I did the series of lessons a couple weeks ago on televisions. They started off with a statement like "even with modern technology you will still come across a number of TV sets with tubes so we will cover those first." I highly doubt I will see any TV with tubes but it was still interesting to learn how those old sets worked. They didn't cover HDTV or LED TVs at all, but those might come in a later lesson. Otherwise they offer a full HDTV lesson that I could purchase separately if I wanted to pursue that field. This course covers PICs and programming the 68HC11. Not sure how current that is but still should be a good introduction to the technology.They have already sent me my Associate CET study guide, so I can take that test whenever I want. You also qualify to test for the Certified Broadcast Technologist through the SBE at the completion.

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 05:09:25 pm
content: I usedCourserato refresh my knowledge. I finished Linear Circuits from Georgia Tech.

author: Jeeper44
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 05:18:29 pm
content: I forgot to mention the great free online resources too. This is actually how I came across this site. I was having trouble understanding Op Amps so I was searching youtube for examples and came across one of Dave's fundamental Fridays. I knew I was on the right track when I understood his T-shirt! w2aew is a good resource too, as well as many others.Any topics I've had trouble with I've usually been able to find tutorials online that explained things differently that made it easier to understand. Not necessarily better, but just coming at them from a different perspective.

author: Nazareth
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2014, 06:29:33 pm
content: Jeeper44 and jancumps,Thanks for the great info and the detailed CIE review via first hand experience. I am still comparing a couple of schools before I make a final decision as well as awaiting a determination for the post 9/11 GI-Bill eligibility (I should receive notification in a couple of weeks). CIE is definitely in the running.Jeeper44: Do you recommend and other equipment? I have 2 soldering stations (hot air and standard), a cheap hand held DMM, a bench DMM, ESR meter (waiting on delivery from China), an O-Scope, and a ton of broken vintage test equipment (most are tube based).Thanks!Naz

author: Jeeper44
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 12:59:20 pm
content: You have more equipment than I do. It sounds like you have plenty to take any basic electronics course. I'm not even sure all of the CIE courses use oscilloscopes. I know the degree programs do but some of their stand alone electronics courses may not. Obviously a good multimeter is important. Some of the examples wouldn't work with a digital meter, so I also purchased a cheap analog model. I am going to upgrade my DMM as well. The one I currently has doesn't have true RMS and more importantly it only does auto-ranging which has been an issue with some of the lessons. Based on Dave's $100 meter comparison I think I've settled on the B&K Precision 2709B. That one is auto-ranging, but I think you can use the range pre-set as well.Quote from: Nazareth on June 11, 2014, 06:29:33 pm

author: Nazareth
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 03:06:50 pm
content: Jeeper44,Good to know that I have the right equipment. I was looking at the B&K DMM also. I think I am going to enroll in the CIE Electronics Tech w/ Lab (Course 1B) to start off with then go from there. Just need benefit verification and I'll be read to rock and roll. I wish you success in the program you are enrolled in. Thanks for all the info.Naz

author: xquercus
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 04:35:59 pm
content: Quote from: jancumps on June 11, 2014, 05:09:25 pmI'll add 6.002x on edx.org to this. This is not a practical electronics course -- it's a fundamental circuits course. I'm quite a few years out of school and had to do some hefty math review in order to successfully complete this. It also took me significantly more than the 12 hours per week that the course description suggests. The course was incredibly fulfilling though. It's not just video lectures -- there are a lot of problem sets and they did an excellent job making labs available via a web browser.

author: Jeeper44
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 04:53:29 pm
content: Good Luck. If you check out the book store they have dozens of individual courses too for specific areas of interest that you can do at your own pace. One thing you don't get with the trainer, but I found handy, is a collection of bread board jumper wires. Radio Shack sells a kit with an assortment for $6. You can probably find it cheaper online. CIE just sends you some wire and you make your own but I found the preformed ones made things faster and easier. You don't need to buy another breadboard, just the jumper wires.Quote from: Nazareth on June 12, 2014, 03:06:50 pm

author: Nazareth
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2014, 05:31:22 pm
content: xquercus,Excellent info, thanks.Jeepers,Thanks. I think this will a good program for me to start out with and relearn what I have lost. I'll check out the jumper wires and the CIE book store also. can't wait to get started.Dave,This is a great site and a lot of great resources. keep it up.Naz

author: Nazareth
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 29, 2015, 09:13:12 pm
content: Hi All Interested Parties,Just found out this past Monday that CIE (Cleveland Institute of Electronics) lost their accreditation. I verified this through the US Department of Education Institutional Accreditation search tool. The school lost their accreditation a week after I enrolled in the Electronics Technician Program w/Lab (July 2014). The school never notified me (that was nice of them). I ended up finding out through the VA when I inquired as to why I wasn't getting my education benefits for the enrolled program. The school was required to notify participants of their loss of accreditation. So, if you are looking for an accredited institution for a correspondence/online Electronics Technician program through CIE look else ware until they regain their accreditation. Back to looking for another school. Not a complaint just a warning to all looking at this school.Nazareth

author: KM4FER
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 29, 2015, 10:17:25 pm
content: Nazareth,You say:"the program I am thinking of signing up for is the "Electronics Technician Career Diploma" to relearn the concepts of electronics and repair electronic equipment""then go further into electronics design later on."The question is what do youreallywant to do;repair, tweak, tune, bodge together circuits, ordesign circuits from a blank sheet using sound engineering principles.The reason I ask is that, for me, I have found it takes a different mindset to understand and apply engineering principles than what I was taught as a technician.Is the schematic and how it works what gets you jazzed with the physical implementation just proof of the pudding? If so maybe engineering is where you should go.Or is drawing the schematic just something you do before you can get your hands on the parts and equipment and see it in action? If so then the Technician Certificate may be best for you.Anyway, those are my thoughts based on experiences similar to yours.earl...

author: Kohanbash
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2015, 01:23:21 am
content: HiIt looks like the pennfoster program fives you some *basic* lessons in lots of areas; and gives you a piece of paper at the end (which may or may not be worth anything). It looks like it might be good if you want the structure of a program for $850-1000.If you are disciplined enough it looks like you would learn most of that from a book such as Practical Electronics for Inventors.edit: A lesson is online athttp://www.pennfoster.edu/~/media/Files/PDF/SampleLessons/079-Electronics%20Technician%20Career%20Diploma.ashx

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2015, 05:25:08 am
content: Nazareth,It sounds like you need an accredited program to get your VA benefits. There are a lot of fly-by-night online colleges that will take your tuition money and give little in return - as you have found out. You may need to attend a physical college to avoid that.If the VA benefits are not an issue and simply getting an electronics education is what you're after, there are many excellent online resources. In addition to what has been pointed out I would look at the several MOOCS (massive open online courses) available from sites like Coursera and edX. The have free electronics courses offered by MIT, UC Berkeley, UT Austin and others. Some include hands on labs. These are the same courses they teach on campus and from my experience are very good.

author: Nazareth
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2015, 08:49:42 am
content: I get satisfaction out of the the repair portion of electronics rather than the design aspect. But that does not rule out design at a later date as I may see improvements that can be made during the the repair process.Not too keen on the PennFoster Program. Thanks though.Looks like a physical school will be my only alternative. It will take me years to complete a degree program though.I guess in the meantime I will read and check out some free online classes and experiment with the equipment I have.Thanks all.Nav

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2015, 11:59:25 am
content: QuoteThe answer depends on your goal.If you just want to learn something, any one would work;If you want to use it to network, go with a well attended one;If you want to use it to change career, go with a well known one.

author: Nazareth
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2015, 05:29:25 pm
content: Quote from: dannyf on January 30, 2015, 11:59:25 amThanks,Naz

author: ceamiclover
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2015, 07:08:57 pm
content: Any recommendations for free courses?Interested in this stuff as a hobby mostly, and it is not so easy at this point.

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2015, 08:18:33 pm
content: Quote from: ceamiclover on January 30, 2015, 07:08:57 pm3 edX courses that started about a week ago are both excellent:EE40LXis a UC Berkeley general introductory electronics course with hands on lab. Mostly analog with some digital MCU stuff as well. Very good so far.UT6.02xis a hands on embedded programming course. Teaches programming in C with a Tiva C ARM development board. Highly recomended!MIT 6.002is an in depth theory class. Also very good.Any of these can be started anytime and it would not be hard to catch up.Coursera also has a couple of good electronics courses. One from Georgia Tech and one from Rice that includes a hands on lab. The Rice class is not offered right now. Not sure about the Georgia Tech class.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2015, 09:04:00 pm
content: QuoteThere is no well known electronics programs that are accredited and approved by the VA?That sounds too improbable. I'm sure places like Stanford or MIT or anywhere in between would satisfy some of your needs - if not all of them.

author: Nazareth
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 31, 2015, 12:25:12 am
content: Dannyf,Not for an Electronics Technician Certificate or Degree. Not looking for an EE or EME degree. If you know of one please let me know. I have done a comprehensive search on the Internet and am coming up empty handed. Thanks.I was looking at the George Brown College program out of Canada but the VA dosen't recognize the technician program either.I updated the Topic of this thread to reflect what I am really looking for. The original topic was missleading. Thanks.Naz

author: Syntax_Error
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 02, 2015, 08:33:15 am
content: Quote from: joesixpack on June 10, 2014, 01:07:52 pmJust wanted to comment on this snippet: Arizona State University also offers a *fully* online, ABET accredited BSEE degree, so UND is not the only game in town.