It reminds of a 3rd year undergrad I met. She complained about the difficulty of getting a research assistant position because there's lots of competition and she had to fill in lots of forms and applications. Since getting into grad studies require some kind of RA experience, she was getting anxious for not having one at the end of her third year. The disheartening part though was she never actually applied to any of these positions. She just assumed they were too hard to get.
It's like praying to God to win the lotto but never buying a ticket. How do you expect to win if you don't have a ticket?
I have to second that comment about them being "probably pleased as punch to show off their cool project to someone interested enough to ask about it."
I've been invited to some cutting-edge work just because I asked and showed a bit of interest. Almost all of the researchers I've met were more than happy to talk about their work and seem surprise even to have someone as enthusiastic about their work as them.
One researcher once said something along the lines that it was comforting to have someone contact him about his research - at least he knows his work didn't just disappear in the deep end.
There are Bachelor of Arts/Sciences (3-year General) that can be earned completely online (I'm sure you've heard of Open University in the UK but there's also University of Waterloo in Canada - http://de.uwaterloo.ca/undergraduate.html). For UW, I know they offer certificates too (you just need to complete X number of specific courses but definitely less than what you need in a 3 or 4 year degree).
Thanks! This reminds me of what our government is trying to do (they're trying to create curriculum based entirely on freely accessible online material).
I forget where I read it from but stuff like this (and the OpenCourseWare movement) is definitely an area of education that's pretty fascinating to see develop.
I'd love to see a revamp of the system though. I've been in countless online courses and the system I saw in 2003 is practically the same system (discussion boards, online quizzes) as I see now (granted, the schools I've been seem to always use the Blackboard system).
I tried out the Knewton system and that was refreshing (the tutor is visible via video feed). It was more interactive and felt less like an online class. That's where these online ventures should try to focus on - try to improve the user experience (this is more directed towards online courses affiliated with schools though, perhaps a self-directed learner might not care about it as much?).
It's like praying to God to win the lotto but never buying a ticket. How do you expect to win if you don't have a ticket?