I am surprised how many universities offer programs now. I think it opens up college opportunities to some, but some of these degrees I have seen people get look so easy.
Post by marshmallowevening on Jul 7, 2012 9:29:49 GMT -5
I got my Masters from a brick and mortar university but the program was half in person and half online. It was a good experience for me. Having half of my classes online definitely saved on gas and travel time. I'm really focused and not a procrastinator, so it worked for me.
I got my masters from an online program through a brick-and-mortar college as well. The program was ridiculously easy and not very well facilitated, but the college is accredited and the piece of paper was worth the effort and expense.
The two things that matter most, I think, are that the program is through an accredited, not-for-profit university, and that you are confident that you will get the work done.
I got my Masters online from a large public univeristy. And it was certainly not easy. It was much harder than the graduate level classes that I took on site.
What makes them look so easy?
I agree I am currently doing the same. I feel that it is more difficult. They demand more work.
would not have a problem with it and have taken some from brick/mortar colleges that offer degress online. I wouldn't go to a school that is 100% online though.
Mine was primarily online from a state school. There were several times when we had to meet in person - either at a local university or at the main campus 4 hours away.
I didn't think my program was particularly difficult, but I don't think it was easier because it was online. If anything online made it more difficult because you have to be more precise to get your message across correctly in writing without the instant feedback you get in a face-to-face discussion. Some classes were asynchronous - log on whenever you want as long as you participate on a weekly basis. Some had specific meeting times, weekly chats with the professor and such that you had to be online at 7pm on Tuesdays or whatever. There were many group projects where you worked with people who lived in other time zones and you had to work around everyone's work schedule as well.
Grades tended to be based on giant projects rather than exams which were a huge time suck, but there were also exams we did online - they would be timed and open book but basically were so long that you couldn't look up everything or you would fail. Sometimes we had to find a proctor to watch over our exams for a closed-book exam.
I'm getting my Masters online but from a B&M public university. I don't think it's easy in the least. On any given week I have at least 150 pages of reading to get done, dicussions to post in, and quizzes or tests to take per class. I am almost half way through at this point and have had one class that was easier than most of the others, but it certainly wasn't a freebie.
I'm going to school online right now through an actual Community College. This is different than an "online degree" through a school like the University of Phoenix or other for-profit schools. My diploma will not indicate that I took my classes online - It's no different than going to school except I can study independently and schedule around my family life and kids, etc.
While in undergrad (at a regular brick and mortar school) I took some of my gen. ed. classes online because I was also working and sometimes the class schedules were difficult to schedule in a nice way. They were plenty difficult, just as much as a regular class would've been. I maybe did that for 4-5 classes over the course of my degree. For grad school (certificate program), I took all of my classes online. I was working full time and my schedule was both days and nights and not set-hours, so scheduling a traditional class would have been harder to manage. It was from a reputable school that also offered traditional classes. I found it to be plenty challenging and I learned a lot.
I would not want a doctor or lawyer, for example, who had gotten their degree online because professions like those are very closely tied to hands-on, in-person interaction. I don't think that can ever truly be replicated in an online environment.
Post by statlerwaldorf on Jul 7, 2012 13:45:29 GMT -5
I wouldn't get one from a non-b&m school. I took some classes online during college and they were actually a lot harder than taking the class at the college. There was a lot more work involved.
Post by milkrations on Jul 7, 2012 18:03:34 GMT -5
I am in an online program now through a brick and mortar university. It is 100% online with supervised fieldwork experiences. It is much harder than the onsite program for my first master's. In talking with my university supervisor, I have come to the conclusion that there is much more writing involved because the courses simulate in class discussions through written postings. It takes more time and effort, at least for me, to write something down that it does to make an oral comment in class. I feel more pressure to produce quality written responses than I would feel to make an oral contribution to a discussion.
I agree that online programs affiliated with brick and mortar universities are very different than those associated with for-profit, online only universities. But most degrees from for-profit schools, brick and mortar or online only are useless anyway.
Lurker chiming in....I am a professor and will teach an occasional online course. I am teaching one right now actually. I like the fact that I do not drive to campus to meet, but do find myself giving "busy work" to fill the time. The time of work I give has to be equivalent to the time my students would sit in class, plus the expected homework load. That is a lot of time to fill. I teach in the education program and there are only a couple of courses that I would support taking online. I do not agree with courses such as nursing, teaching, counseling, etc. that are all online. It makes no sense.
I also took a few classes online when I was an undergrad (went to a B&M school, these were offered through my college). They were ok. The first one was too unstructured so I fell really far behind and had a bitch of a time catching up at the end of the semester. The other 2 classes were more structured with regular assignments/tests/discussions online so it was easier to stay on track. I did find the tests easier because I could use my book (probably not technically, but how would anyone know?) but you still had to know the material because the tests were timed and you couldn't possibly find all the answers if you hadn't read or studied to begin with.
I've toyed with the idea of getting an MBA and if I do, I'd like to do it online. Primarily because I don't know if we're going to live in the area we live in for more than another 2-4 years and I would only want to take 1 class at a time (that's all my employer reimburses and all I'd want to have to handle anyway). I also think an online degree offers more flexibility.