There are many ways you can learn outside of a traditional classroom. What is called "distance education" includes courses taught on CD-ROMS and learning that you can do over the Internet. This includes courses that have live chats, videoconferences, or bulletin boards. Programs that use videoconferencing or live chats may require you to be online at the same time as the instructor and other students. Some programs use "podcasts," or webinars. They do not require you to be online at a specific time. You learn at your own pace, but you often don't get opportunities to interact with instructors or other students.

BOCEP courses blend the elements of shared learning and personal convenience. Participants learn in several ways: reading and discussing materials assigned by instructors and participating in online dialogues with instructors and students. Participants also have the option of taking an examination to test their knowledge of the material. Students and instructors interact on discussion boards that everyone can participate in at their convenience. We do recommend that everyone participate at least once every other day to avoid falling behind in the conversations.

You are not required to be online at a specific time. Instructors do have the option of using webconferences to hold live meetings with students. Some instructors do live meetings, and some students find the meetings enhance their learning experience.

BOCEP classes happen in electronic classrooms hosted by eCollege. Just like traditional classrooms, eCollege classrooms are secure places where students and instructors can gather to share and learn together. Imagine a traditional classroom with a full library, with ongoing conversations, and where every conversation in the class has been transcribed, and you get the idea of an eCollege classroom.

If you've ever been part of an online community, such as on Yahoo Groups, Sakai, or Ning, you should find BOCEP classrooms familiar. If not, you should find them easy to navigate. Here's how it works:

*You go to www.rutgersonline.com and log in with your user name and password.
*You find your classroom from a list of classes.
*When you get into your classroom, you will see a list of learning topics on the left side of your screen. The main portion of your screen will have welcoming remarks from your instructor and a list of new items since your last visit.
*Following the instructor's direction, click on the topic for that week and then follow your instructor's directions to go through the readings, participate in discussions, take quizzes, etc.

BOCEP courses are highly interactive and you have five weeks to learn and work at your convenience in an online classroom. There are no scheduled meetings in a BOCEP course. You can participate at any time from almost any computer with an Internet connection.

Most BOCEP courses are taught in an "asynchronous" format, which means that you do not have to be online at the same time as anyone else in the class.

While the course is at your convenience, it is not "self-paced." The courses follow a schedule, and everyone is encouraged to participate in their class at least every other day.

There are no required course meetings. There may be optional class meetings that you have the option to attend, or not.

Yes, you can participate anytime and from anywhere you have a computer with a stable Internet connection. Please give yourself at least a half hour every other day to participate in the class. Most BOCEP learners spend between three and seven hours a week on their class. How much time you spend will depend on how comfortable you are learning online, how fast you read, and your own learning pace. When you're more comfortable with the online classroom, you can jump in and out of the course as need be.

The best way to get the most out of your time in the class is to give yourself time and space to focus. When you're in the class, don't surf the web, take phone calls, or answer email. The more you put into your course, the more you will get out of it.

Each course is $295, but scholarships up to $100 are available. Please visit the Scholarships and Discounts page to find out more.

Please note that only 10 scholarships are available for each class.

The courses are open to everyone, but they are designed for professionals, researchers and instructors in urban planning and related fields. Instructors assume that all students have a basic knowledge of planning approaches and practices.

If you have never been an urban, city, or community planner, there are many other courses offered by various centers at the Bloustein School. Most of the course material will be available free online. http://policy.rutgers.edu/academics/continuing/

If you have questions about a particular course, you should feel free to contact the course instructor. The person's contact information is provided in each course description.

A lot. And a lot more than you would expect. Up to 85% of participants surveyed said they "learned a great deal" in their course. The vast majority of BOCEP learners surveyed said their course met or exceeded their expectations.

In addition to learning from expert practitioners, BOCEP participants learn from other professionals - many of them mid and senior-level - who bring different and diverse perspectives.

In a typical class, the instructor will offer questions and comments to students. Each student will be asked to respond to the instructor's questions and the comments of other students within two days. The instructor will then respond with more comments or questions, students respond, and so on. As with a traditional class, the more involved the students are, the better the dialogue. Interaction with other learners and instructors are two of the top benefits BOCEP learners said they received from their courses.

No. It's optional, but we highly recommend it. Taking quizzes and exams is one of the best ways for you to know how well you have learned a subject.

No. Because most of our students are professionals from outside of New Jersey, instructors share knowledge that can be used anywhere. However, instructors are free to use cases from communities they know well. Most of our instructors work in New York and New Jersey.

In late 2004, the Bloustein School conducted an extensive survey and market analysis of planners' interests in professional development. More than 110 planners responded to the survey. We learned:
- Planners are most interested in courses in land use law, urban design and placemaking, and leadership and management. - Planners want to improve their knowledge, but have difficulty finding courses that are both reasonably priced and convenient. - Planners said they learn best by sharing ideas and solving problems with their colleagues.

The Bloustein School strives to offer professional development courses for planners which meet their continuing education needs, are convenient, and are reasonably priced.

All BOCEP courses are taught by professionals in the urban planning field who have extensive professional or research experience in the subjects they teach. Click here to get information on BOCEP instructors http://policy.rutgers.edu/bocep/bocepbios.html

Please feel free to contact your course instructor to find out about possible course extensions.

Course outline and syllabus is available on BOCEP website http://policy.rutgers.edu/bocep/courses.html and orientation material will be sent 2-3 days before the class start.

You can also find a syllabus in your classroom with readings for the week. Your instructor provides some guiding comments to help frame your thinking about the materials.

The instructor participates in the class at least once every other day during the week, and usually more than that. So you can have frequent contact with your instructor and other students. Sometimes instructor wait and collect as many e-mails as possible to respond with a general e-mail.

Use the E-mail feature within the web site to send you e-mails so that e-mail messages are not mixed with the daily spam and non-class related e-mails.

Courses may get postponed because of any of the following reasons:
*There were not enough enrollments by the Friday before the class began, and the program director wanted to give more time to get more enrollments.
*The instructor had a personal emergency that necessitated moving the class back.

If you have registered or reserved a seat in a course, you will be notified at least the week before the class starts if it will be postponed.

Updates are available on BOCEP website http://policy.rutgers.edu/bocep. Subscribe to PDI Network and get updates by email on PDI events and courses https://email.rutgers.edu/mailman/listinfo/pdi_network

We need at least 8 participants to run a course. If there are not enough enrollments by the Friday before a class begins, we either postpone a course or cancel it. If you plan to enroll in a course, please enroll. If you click on "reserve a seat," we will not count it as an enrollment.

You can go to BOCEP course website and enroll using your credit card or send us a check or a purchase order.

You can join a class as much as 10 days after it starts. Please note that the later you join a class, the faster you will have to catch up.

The first 10 registrants. Please note that our policy is to grant access to the course only after receiving payment.

Let program director or program associate know that you want to cancel your enrollment and reason for the same. If you decide to withdraw, you will receive the following refund:

- Withdrawal before the teaching period begins: 100% refund
- Withdrawal within the first week of class: 50% refund
- Withdrawal after the first week of class: No refund

You will receive orientation materials by the Monday of the week that your course begins. If it is your first time taking a BOCEP course, you will receive your login and password the morning the course begins. If you have taken a BOCEP course before, you can use your login and password from your last class.

Please see the contact information at the top of the page.

Unfortunately registration system does not allow paying you by credit card after you have enrolled for a course. We have to withdraw you from the course first and then you have to enroll online again using your credit card.

To avoid even the possibility of identity theft, no one in Rutgers sees your credit card number when you pay by credit card. No record is kept of your credit card after payment is processed. For these reasons, we do not refund your credit card. We also do not take credit card payments over the telephone. Paying online is the most secure way to pay by credit card.

We make every effort to process the refund request within a week, and for you to get your refund check within a month.

You will receive your registration invoice or payment receipt within a week's time after your have enrolled or paid. If you don't, please contact the person listed at the top of the page.

Your login information remains the same if you have taken a BOCE course before. Otherwise, you will get a login and password under a separate email from Rutgers University of Continuous Education, a day before the class start.

All BOCEP courses are taught on the eCollege learning management system, a tool widely used for college and graduate level online courses. Anyone who has used email, been on an online discussion board, filled out a form online, or navigated web pages on the Internet should find the system easy to use.

You can access the online classroom and class material at http://www.rutgersonline.net. Most of the readings will be available free online in the classroom, rest will be mentioned in the syllabus.

Classroom is setup usually 2-3 days before the class start by Rutgers University of Continuous Education. After that, students are registered in a class and login information is sent individually.

If you are having trouble logging in, you can search for your User ID and Password at https://secure.ecollege.com/rutgers/index.real?action=errors&subaction=problems

Login information can be changed only by the admin/program director or program associate.

If you pass the course, which means contributing at least 8 times to classroom dialogues and getting at least a B or 75 on the final exam you will get a Letter of Completion. If you pass three courses, you get a Certificate of Completion. There is no Rutgers transcript.

Contact program director or program associate when you pass the course(s) to get your letter of completion or certificate of completion.

This information is available on the course website. All courses, except Introduction to Urban Planning, meet the requirements for AICP CM credits.

Please go to http://www.planning.org/aicp to find out how to redeem your credits. If you do not see your course listed, please contact the PDI Director or a Program Associates.

Although each course will be taught at a graduate level, they are not currently available for credit. However, students who complete a track of courses will receive a certificate of completion from the Bloustein School. The tracks offered are Planning Law and Legal issues, Leadership and Management, Urban Design and Placemaking, Community and Economic Development, and Smart Growth and Sustainable Development.

If you are an alumna/us of the Bloustein School, please send an email to the BOCEP Director with your full name, year of graduation and program.

No. Discounts cannot be combined.

BOCEP offers a wide variety of scholarships to planning professionals. We will provide the appropriate scholarship code to anyone who demonstrates proof of their eligibility. Please wait until you receive the scholarship code to register for your course. Please note that BOCEP Scholarships can only be used for BOCEP courses.

Here's what we need:

To receive the BOCEP Partner scholarship: Proof of membership. In the case of an APA member, this could be the member ID. Members of other organizations may want to ask for an e-mail confirming their status.

To receive the PDI scholarship: If you are an alumna/us of the Bloustein School, please send an email to the BOCEP Director with your full name, year of graduation and program. If you are requesting the scholarship because you work for a small organization, we will need proof of the organization's budget size.

To receive the Arthur H. Kunz scholarship: Please fax or email proof of residency in Long Island, or proof that you work in Long Island, to Leonardo Vazquez.

Use the discount code while enrolling for the course. Please wait until you receive the scholarship code to register for your course. Please note that BOCEP Scholarships can only be used for BOCEP courses.

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