<p>In the Parents Cafe I started a thread and have come to another question which I thought was more appropriate for the Parents Forum.</p>
<p>The college student in question this time is a parent, it's me. After a long time of being a part time college student, I've finally finished my BS. I think what I want to do is work at a college on the staff side of things. I've applied for several jobs at the local CC and local university with no luck, most likely because I lack experience and education.</p>
<p>Here's the deal...my local university here does have a MS in Educational Administration which they describe as being for people who want to work as principals or in higher education.<br>
I also found that the University of Southern Maine has an MS in Adult and Higher Education offered entirely on-line. I've taken on-line classes and I really miss the classroom environment but the degree is higher ed specific.</p>
<p>What is your opinion about on-line degrees? As an employer, would you look more favorably on a degree gotten the traditional way that was not tailored exclusively to the job opening or an on-line degree that was? I've been out of the work place for so long and my husband is military, so I truly have no idea what the general consensus is concerning on-line degrees.</p>
<p>I used to work with a guy (we were both corporate support engineers) - neither of us had degrees but we both eventually got them. He was in a correspondence program at a Canadian University. He got his degree and then got his Masters at a local university. He went through the process of becoming a consulting engineer (vast majority of engineers don’t get to this stage in the companies that I’ve work for). So it can work in a practical sense but like you, I’d miss the classroom experience and interaction.</p>
<p>Most programs nowadays don’t have any indication on their transcript or diploma that would show whether the program was on-line or brick-and-mortar. So don’t worry about that! What you do need to worry about is whether or not the program you pursue will actually help you get the kind of job that you want. In my observation, a lot of the on-line M.Ed. programs are designed for teachers or school administrators who are already working, and who need another degree to move up the pay-scale.</p>
<p>I hire people for my department, and they sometimes have on-line courses or degrees on their resumes. I never set a formal policy, but I found myself comfortable with on-line courses from real universities but suspicious of ones from for-profit colleges and especially ones from schools that exist only on-line. </p>
<p>My reasoning is that a real university has a reputation to protect and thus is very likely to expend effort and money to ensure the quality is there for their on-line program. With a new totally on-line school you don’t know what you are getting.</p>
<p>I have my Masters degree via a distance learning program from the University of Tennessee. There is no indication on my degree or transcript that the program was administered remotely; part of the reason is because many of the classes were conducted both online and in person. That is when I logged in at 5pm to take my class, some of my classmates were in a classroom on campus in Knoxville, while the rest of us were in our homes or offices. Same professors, same requirements. We all graduated in the same ceremony; it was so fun to finally see people we knew well after spending 3 years together. </p>
<p>Some things to consider:</p>
<ul>
<li>Is it a “for profit” institution (like Phoenix) vs. a non-profit?</li>
<li>Are classes synchronous (i.e. everyone has to login at the same time for a live class) or asynchronous (i.e. you have to complete the requirements for week 5 anytime from Sunday-Friday?) Our classes were synchronous so I don’t feel I missed anything in terms of classroom interaction. We could all answer yes and no to questions live; we could raise our virtual hands; the teacher was live and we could ask questions; we all gave live presentations; we all chatted with one another in the text chat area. </li>
</ul>
<p>I started my Masters in person at Rutgers but we moved. I will say that I bonded more with my virtual classmates than my inperson classmates because when I was at Rutgers I had to bolt out of class to pick up my kids at school. For those of us who spend a good deal of time in the virtual world (i.e. here at CC and Facebook, etc.) it’s not so hard to get used to an online program.</p>
<p>Positions in student affairs areas (admissions, financial aid, advising, etc) most always require a graduate degree and experience as a graduate assistant in some student affairs area. Make sure you get some part-time work experience also.</p>
<p>W and I have both had long careers in higher Ed admin including student affairs and have loved it.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone, I very much appreciate it.</p>
<p>I know that University of Southern Maine is a not for profit college with a real campus. I don’t know if the classes are synchronous or not, something to check out. </p>
<p>Check the prerequisites for the MEd. in Administration, as they usually require a minimum of 3 years of classroom teaching before entering the program.</p>
<p>I did my Ed. Tech. degree from GWU online and loved it. The program was rigorous, valuable, and completely online. </p>
<p>I think astute employers (at least in the for profit world) would prefer traditional (or at least blended). Yes, some programs may be difficult to tell, they are online, but if the applicant is working part time, married with a family, an out of town school may be a tip off that it is an on line program.</p>
<p>I know someone who took a graduate program for working adults at an out of state flagship. It involved going to their campus for a 3 day weekend one time per month (involved a flight), and her current employment paid for much of the program.</p>
<p>Boston University has an MBA program that’s an intense weekend program. A former manager did this and I believe that he spent the weekends in Boston to take the program.</p>
<p>My SIL received her Masters from a program that had them doing online coursework and then she’d go for three week intensives. My D, in order to stay on track, has taken a class or two online while she also attended classes. Both examples were thru accredited university programs. And I think that’s what you need to be most mindful about. Being a phoenix? Probably not a good idea IMO.</p>
<p>I also know someone else who got her masters in education through an off campus program. It was offered at a hs local at night and it was actually affordable for the family (only one parent working with several children attending expensive private schools at that time).</p>
<p>Frankly, I would love to see similar programs available for UG and grad school and I have noticed that start to happen recently. I just have my doubts that they are affordable to most people, but have not looked into pricing.</p>
<p>A company that I used to work for had remote courses from one of the big schools in Boston. I think that it was over a video link into a special conference room. There were other companies in the Greater Boston area that participated in this. I never took one of these courses but heard about them - a great option for the many that didn’t have degrees to get their degrees. These days, this is done over the internet privately. A benefit of the older approach, though, is that you get the quasi-classroom feel because there are others sitting with you in lecture and discussion.</p>
<p>When we visited UNC-A, they had such a program on their campus (video in the classroom at another UNC campus classroom). I spoke with a student taking such classes and he told me that his degree would list both schools/ programs on his diploma. He referred to it as a dual degree for his 4 years in UG. It was offered since UNC-A did not offer the major that they were able to offer via video.</p>
<p>I earned an online Masters in my current employment field within the last 5 years. (I switched career areas after my DH’s death 6 years ago.)</p>
<p>I’ve not had any issues with having earned my degree online. (There’s no indication on my transcript or diploma and my degree is from a top 5 program in my field.)</p>
<p>The big downside I found was that having an online degree degree made it difficult to network and intern, and the job placement support from the issuing university is all but non-existent for online program students.</p>
<p>While I don’t think having a degree from an online institution will hurt you in the job market, the lack of networking will. If you want to work in your local area, esp at an institution which has ties to the state U program, then it might be worthwhile to go there. No because the online degree will hurt you, but because of the better networking opportunities it will afford. To be honest, my experience has been that my potential employers could care less what the name on my diploma was; what mattered was that they either knew me (from volunteering, from interning, from my involvement in local professional organizations, and in one case from my journal publication/award) or knew the person recommending me. Particularly true for the first job after being out of job market and then re-entering in a new field.</p>
<p>I know someone who had this problem after graduating from a small LAC as an undergraduate student. She resolved this by taking a short additional certification program at a big U in a major city (very expensive btw). Her professor from this program had connections to help her find her first job.</p>
<p>My suggestion would probably be to keep diligently applying for jobs at your local university in ANY capacity. Once in, then pursue your masters there. Not only will you begin the networking process, but oftentimes they’ll contribute toward your advanced degree. Once you receive your M.Ed, you’ll have the internal connections that should give you a leg up in the hiring phase. Bear in mind, though, it will most likely take time before landing the job you seek.</p>
<p>If you simply cannot get your foot in the door, I would then suggest you work at a job in some type of educational capacity while simultaneously pursuing your masters (either on-line or in the evenings at your local university). You need to gain experience within the field to be marketable; usually it’s a stepping stone process. For instance, I now teach at a reputable private prep that only hires those with advanced degrees (my career goal). Although I had 2 B.A.s and an M.A. in Education, I lacked significant experience. I worked at an inner-city public for a few years, accrued classroom time, and was then able to make the transfer. I found it rewarding to help at-risk students, and my current private had the added benefit of having a teacher with a different perspective than many of its faculty members. </p>