Korean Job Discussion Forums

[almosthome]

If you are simply looking for a credential, convenience, and good learning resources (course material), online is an acceptable route.

I completed my first masters online, then decided to complete my second on-campus. The main reasons:

1. Even reputable schools can have more relaxed admissions policies (either official or unofficial) for online graduate students than for their campus programs. About half my online classmates (in 500-level introductory courses) wrote at the middle or high school level. Being stuck in small discussion groups with these people was pretty darn awful. As the program progressed, unprepared students dropped out due to low grades, so discussion quality did eventually improve. But why were the unprepared students admitted? MONEY. Universities can charge online students the same tuition while saving money on buildings and professors.

2. How do they save money on professors? Don't online programs have qualified professors? Yes and no. Universities these days often use a standard lecture or power point series for their online courses. They hire recent doctoral graduates (often graduates of non-program-accredited doctoral programs themselves, whatever that means to you...) to facilitate discussion and grade your work, paying them only $2-3K per course ($100/student). That's it. In one course, I paid $900 for a professor to tell me "good job" on a 22-page research paper-- no other comments on any of my work in the entire course. Again, things were better in the 600/700-level courses because the university assigned these sections to on-campus, tenured teachers. But in the lower graduate levels, you might find that your professor has 200 other papers to grade...without a graduate assistant's help.

3. On-campus professors make better references. In fact, some of my online professors will not provide any academic references because they never see their students face-to-face. How are they to know someone else didn't complete the course for the student?

[WadRUG'naDoo]

[Swampfox10mm]

[I'm With You]

[diver]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[ren546]

I have worked with people with M.A.s, M. Ed.s, and Ph.D.s from reputable, highly-ranked programs. I have also worked with people who have graduate degrees that they obtained online. I also know several people on hiring committees at universities.

I think I've posted this on a different thread, but anyone who says that online degrees are equivalent across the board to on-campus degrees is just wrong. Of course, there are many high-quality Master's programs in education with an online component, but that's because a lot of people who pursue those degrees are usually working, not looking for an easy way out, and they also often have a small on-campus requirement (at least the higher quality ones do).

Online degree offerings have blown up recently for a number of obvious reasons, not the least of which is for universities to make more money. Thus, you need to be very careful about which one you select.

Anyway, the obvious differences:

1. Graduate school is not just about passing courses. It's also about learning how to be a graduate student, in all senses of the word. This means making contacts, working directly with an adviser, preparing for and attending conferences, and in general, just being part of the academic community. It will be much harder, if not impossible, for you to do this online.

2. People will perceive your CV differently. There is no question that a candidate with a Master's degree from an online program has different academic qualifications than a candidate who completed an on-campus program. Committee members here at top universities are aware of the difference (some know which universities have online degrees because they are now looking for it).

3. Graduate programs in every field are ranked. Some have better reputations than others. There are some "online" programs that have a good reputation, but usually they have an on-site requirement of some sort (e.g. programs in the UK). Others may just make you look like a fool (particularly outside of Korea) for spending ridiculous amounts of money on some vacuous professional qualification.

I know this is going to sound bad, and I apologize in advance, but I've worked incredibly hard for my graduate degrees, and I feel like many people who get online Master's degrees from unranked programs without an on-site requirement don't quite understand this. I relocated several times, lived off of measly stipends for years, and generally busted my ass as most graduate students have done. I am offended when people who have acquired online qualifications in their free-time, while working cushy full-time jobs say, "Oh! I'm working on my Ph.D. too! Samesies!" NOT QUITE THE SAME!!!

So if you do decide to get an online degree, just call a spade a spade and admit that you want to make more money in any way that you can, and that you're not really trying to be an academic...you're just interested in teaching. Also, don't be too surprised when university hiring committees ask you to talk about your degrees and your research, because it will happen, and certainly more often in the future.

[misher]

[Seoulman69]

[big_fella1]

My understanding is a coursework masters is designed for gaining extra qualifications for work and a research masters is designed for those that want to get into academia.

I did my masters on campus, and I'm now doing a DBA online, nowhere near equivelent of a PhD for academic pursuits.

However my lecturers are the same lecturers that are teaching on campus, and our work is graded in the same way. The difference is we don't go to lectures, which means we need to find other ways to discuss the material, using bulletin boards and the like. Hence my point that if someone can get through in the online environment then they have acheived a great thing.

Would I like to be a poor student again living on student grants, probably not. Do I have that choice as a husband and father, absolutely not.

Now I chose the DBA for one important reason, to get out of teaching and return to the business world. Yes for more money, but not for more money from a university.

"I teach for the money" said no teacher ever. (anonymous,????)

My degree includes coursework and a small thesis of 30,000 to 40,000 words. But it must pass 2 external academic examiners and meet the requirement that it solves a business problem. This is very different to a PhD, lesser for academia, but better for working in business.

Most English teachers here aren't expected to be academics, that's why they aren't paid as academics.

I mean how many of us even have access to databases from our office computers? How can one publish if one can't access research?

[timhorton]

Context.

The context in which you receive an education is what determines what you have learned. This means one cannot simply isolate MA degrees based on how and where is was delivered. That's something I learned in my MA. Context is everything! Yes, it is possible for either ( online student or BM student ) to obtain a more enriched learning experience over the other. Anyone with proper graduate education and research would be able to wrap their heads around this explanation. Now, put that in your pipe and smoke it!

[ren546]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[12ax7]

It rubs me the wrong way when I hear someone refer to a degree acquired through distance education as an "online degree". I make a distinction between online and distance degrees.

When I think of "online degrees", I think of degrees from a number of for-profit universities (the most popular of which are American) who don't even make it on any of the world university ranking lists.

Distance education, on the other hand, is characterized, in my opinion, by programmes from well respected brick and mortar universities whose requirements and content are equal to their on-campus programmes.