What do you think about online degrees?

[riverwed070707]

I feel like a discussion has been had about this before but I couldn't find the thread.

As some of you may remember, my DH is in school and has been for a couple years. He's gone back and fourth on what program he's going to complete due to the competitve admission on the one he wants to get into. After 2 years of full time classes at community CC, he's still a year away from an associates in any specific program. He recently got turned down for his first choice and it will be a year before he can reapply.

I was poking around the University of Iowa's website yesterday and found they have a distance learning program which essentially allows accepted students who have already taken some classes at a community college to create a custom curriculum and get a bachelors degree online. It's an accredited program and from what I can tell from their FAQs it has all the same merrits of a traditional program, and can even gain you acceptance into graduate school.

This route would be a fraction of the cost of him getting his BS from any of the local private colleges, and would still allow him to apply to the DPT program down teh road if thats what he wanted to do. He also will be able to finish sooner, and it eliminates a lot of challenges we've been having with childcare because we can send DD to school during traditional hours and not have to pay for afterschool care, etc.

I thought it sounded fantastic. He was skeptical. Just curious if the board has any experience or insight we may have not considered.

[disneysteve]

I don't have any personal experience but I have read/heard about the trend in this direction. I think it is a good option as long as you do your homework and make sure the school is legit. Many well-respected schools now offer online options. It creates a way for the school to bring in more students (and money) while at the same time allowing students to "attend" schools they might not otherwise be able to attend.

[skydivingchic]

I agree with DS, as long as you are talking about an accredited bricks and mortar college. I'm not personally sold on for-profit universities yet, but that probably largely depends on your field. My alma martar offers some online degrees and I took some online masters degree classes through a traditional university. The degree you get out of these looks no different from a degree one would get if they had attended classes on campus, so there is no way for anyone to tell if you took classes online or attended in person.

I will say that online degrees/classes are not for everyone. You must be self motivated and not a procrastinator. There was plenty of homework involved in my online classes and I spent just as much time on them as I had for traditional in-person classes. If someone is a natural procrastinator, this is a bad choice. You also have to be willing to speak up about questions. Since you aren't attending a class in person, there isn't the natural opportunity for questions and answers, so students must be very proactive in getting any questions asked and answered.

Overall I think this type of program is a good option for the right type of student.

[disneysteve]

I agree with DS, as long as you are talking about an accredited bricks and mortar college. I'm not personally sold on for-profit universities yet

Yes, when I said "legit" that's what I meant. Online classes offered by a "real" college, not a place that only exists online.

[LuckyRobin]

My husband got his second AS degree in electrical engineering (first one is in architecture) through distance learning with a three week final course at Penn State where they did the practical exams under the supervision of an actual instructor and found it to be a really good experience. He is currently planning on starting his BS in electrical engineering soon through the University of Phoenix distance learning course. Just make sure that whatever program you choose, it is accredited. That is the most important thing.

[jpg7n16]

I've always thought that the real value in education is what you actually learn from the course.

If you actually learn what you're studying, and it improves your life/job performance on a daily basis, then IMO it doesn't matter where you learned it.

But I don't think the degree will get as much credit as a larger well-known university. If you stack up the University of Phoenix degree vs a large local college, the local one will get more credibility.


Having said that, I'm seriously considering going back for a Masters degree through an online university. It's just so much more convenient.

[riverwed070707]

I've always thought that the real value in education is what you actually learn from the course.

If you actually learn what you're studying, and it improves your life/job performance on a daily basis, then IMO it doesn't matter where you learned it.

But I don't think the degree will get as much credit as a larger well-known university. If you stack up the University of Phoenix degree vs a large local college, the local one will get more credibility.


Having said that, I'm seriously considering going back for a Masters degree through an online university. It's just so much more convenient.

But it is a larger well-known university. One of the best, actually. He just won't be making the 50 minute drive to campus everyday.

[MonkeyMama]

My 2 cents:

I moved in the middle of getting a higher education degree. The state college where I lived had a top notch Masters program, and I don't think *any* programs existed anywhere near where I moved to. Certainly nothing *good.* Several of my old colleauges had gotten their degree at a private university in San Francisco, and since they had distant learning, I applied after moving.

I really did not like the online classes and ended up dropping out. But, there were a lot of factors in that decision. I was paying a heck of a lot more at the private university, for what I felt was a lesser quality education. So, that is the bulk of it.

It was a tax degree, and so I think there was a LOT of value to the classroom experience - lots of practical discussions about real-life scenarios. Maybe I simply had an *awesome* instructor for my first class and a terrible one for the online class. All I knew was I'd rather drive 2 hours once a week and finish my original degree where I started it.

I don't think any of this is as relevant to your situation - sounds like maybe more general ed type classes at the moment. To which I'd say - those may be great to just get done online.

But, I did have to say I had taken online classes. & meh. That was like 10 years ago, so maybe the process has improved??? I mean seriously, with features like skype and all, they can maybe more create a classroom type setting in classes where it is beneficial. So, I admit I am a bit of a dinosaur on my opinion. I don't know what all colleges have done to improve the process.

[snafu]

DH was Director of an on-line Master's program at a good Brick & Mortar university whose program was as demanding as any traditional course work. As mentioned, these programs from accredited schools are an alternative for self directed, highly motivated students who wish to complete or advance their education qualifications while continuing their current employment. Often people can't uproot families to take classes at a university that specializes in their field.

Typically, on-line courses are more expensive course by course but they are less expensive cumulatively without the extra fees, travel time/costs and incidentals. In many ways University of Phoenix demands more from their students as their instructors are one-one-one with each student, the deadlines are cast-in-stone, the work is demanding, the qualifications of instructors are high, there are no TAs [teaching assistants] who are grad students needing income or 'canned' lectures that have been delivered for years on Power Point.

If DH makes this commitment, it's very expensive to drop out or leave as in-complete.

[LuckyRobin]

[QUOTE=jpg7n16;320553]

But I don't think the degree will get as much credit as a larger well-known university. If you stack up the University of Phoenix degree vs a large local college, the local one will get more credibility.

QUOTE]

I think it depends on your field. In my husband's case he is in a field that it is quite often necessary to work and go to school at the same time if you want to advance, but almost impossible to go to an actual college because of rotating shifts, so they expect distance learning. In fact, they frown on big gaps in your work experience, even if it is to go to school. And it's not like the degree says distance learning on it. Your transcripts come from the actual college, as if you had attended it in person. I think the old bias against it has gone away in many cases.

[My English Castle]

My two cents

I teach online and face-to-face classes for a state university, and while it can be a good option for some students, our retention rates for online students are not so hot. Personally, I hate teaching online. I think students get about half as much as they do in a regular classroom. And even at a standard university, some online classes are just plain awful. My students always tell me about these horrible astronomy classes that only require a book and that they take a series of 15 quizzes. They're self-paced, and students can take the quizzes as often as they like. Many of them spend a few hours just hammering at the quizzes until they get a pass. They've learned nothing, and personally, I think the class should be taken out of the curriculum.

We won't accept students in our graduate program who have taken classes only online. The quality is all over the place. And yes, I know that happens in regular classrooms too, but the push to get everything online sometimes means a lack of oversight and quality.

[jpg7n16]

I must have been in an odd headspace this morning...

I see a difference between distance learning, and "online" colleges. ie - only online.


riverwed - I don't see any meaningful difference between attending physical classes, or getting the same classes through distance education. They won't put an * next to the degree or anything

A University of Iowa degree is a University of Iowa degree.

[bjl584]

I think that there is a growing trend of people doing exclusive online degrees and therefore it is becoming more accepted by business as a legitimate degree. One thing to ook out for is to make sure that the school is Accredited. An online school backed by a major player like the Univesity of Virginia for example would be a fine pick. Crazy Sammy's online business school would not.

[riverwed070707]

Glad to hear mostly positive responses. In regard to all online, I will say that the program requires you to have 60 credits from a physical school -- community college or otherwise -- to be accepted so the degree isn't earned entirely online even though all of the classes through the UofI are online.

I agree its going to take a certain amount of dedication and self motivation. I'm not sure he's sold on it. Wish we were a little closer or had some better degree options through the extension offices in our area.

[woodie96]

Distance Learning has opened up the doors to a lot of people who wouldn't be able to attend in person.
Personally, I would find it hard to do an online course because I would be minimizing the schoolwork and logging into saving advice dot com......

I need to be more self-disciplined.....