I'm considering this:
University of San Francisco > Internet Marketing Advanced Social Media
http://uademo.usanfranonline.com/online-classes/social-media-course.aspx

A certificate program designed and headed by Christopher S. Penn with
professors Jay Berkowitz, C.C. Chapman, Jim Kukral.

It's a new course, the first sessions started this month. If I do it,
I'll be in starting in December. One night per week, a two hour live
interactive class, the rest is asynchronous: video lectures, forums,
chat, etc. with material online and on disc. Weekly tests.

Why would I want to pay over $2000. to submit myself to this kind of activity?

Well, I've been around ecommerce since 1998, first as a designer, then
in recent years, as a social media gadfly for the same company.

I'll be retiring from my company in a few months, after retirement
(cuz, lord knows, you can't stop working), I plan to help local
businesses with their online and social media presence.

I feel that my one-company ecommerce experience has been eccentric and
because I've followed my own path into Social Media, I've developed a
skewed view of this emerging field. I know there are many basic
aspects I've ignored. I think I need a more proper business
orientation if I expect to make a living helping small businesses.

I feel like it's time for some re-training.

I had a positive experience with a college certificate program. When I
was 53 and hadn't yet used a computer, I took a New Media Production
certificate course through Baruch College. With that training and a
lot homework, I built several websites, got a design job on an
ecommerce site.

From this Social Media program, I'd like to benefit from the
professors' expert guidance and gain an overview of what can be done
with this form of marketing, what projects to take on, what results
can be expected and how to measure success. I'd like to learn from the
other students and hope that through our common experience we'll form
a continuing supportive community for our work in the field.

What do you think, should I a take the course?

The intangibles are: I love San Francisco, my 15 years there in the
'80s & '90s were a delight, USF's college radio station played the
best music, back then. More recently, I met Christopher Penn at a Pod
Camp and thought he had the right attitude and C.C. Chapman has always
been a friend of my Flickr stream.

Steve Harlow
http://www.google.com/profiles/wolrah.evets
Sent from New York, NY, United States