I recently completed an MBA program at the University of Phoenix (the campus version) and am contemplating going for a PhD. However, I am a bit discouraged by the DL offerings available at this point in time. My desire to pursue a PhD is one part "personal goal", one part "current career advancement" and one part "want to teach college some day when I grow up". I would be interested in the opinions of those on this board qualified to offer their perspective on the worth of any of the DL PhD programs out there. Thank you in advance for your help. DC
There are MANY out there. What accreditation status? Residency? Costs? You may also want to do a search, there any many thread on this.
There are MANY out there. What accreditation status? Residency? Costs? I am only interested in regionally accredited schools. A short residency is not out of the question. The cost factor is not as important as the other two.
I'm not sure that I'm "qualified" to address your question as I don't have a PhD. However, I am in the process of researching doctoral programs to determine which would be best for me. From that perspective, I offer the following opinion: Any RA DL doctoral program would more than likely enhance your career. However, entering academia will probably be more difficult because perception by many in academia is that the DL degree is inferior. That being said, it is not impossible to get a teaching job with a DL degree. If you do a search (Google) with some of the well known DL schools (e.g., Capella, Walden, Nova, UIU, Fielding, etc) you'll find quite a few people teaching at well known (and not so well known) schools with DL degrees. There are a multitude of DL Doctoral programs from which to choose and many members of this board have personal experience with many if not all of the progams that are available. I suggest you search this forum and read past opinions about the schools in which you have an interest to gain a little more insight about your options are.
I disagree, I think that the accreditiaton is the issue much more than the way you get the degree. I understand your point, and think there is bias out there about DL in general, but tide are changing.
Kristie, There is alot of anecdotal evidence on this forum that indicates that a bias against DL still exists in academia. While I agree that accreditation is the most issue, you cannot overlook the fact that in many quarters of academia the DL degree is still looked upon as inferior. However, I agree that the tide is changing, but I think that there will always be bias against DL. I see it as similar to way some people view ivy league schools compared to state schools. Just a natural pecking order.....
I appreciate all of the feed back so far. One clarifying question that I still have is will, in your collective opinion, a DL PhD degree be generally sufficient to enhance my opportunity to teach at a smaller state type school? Once again, thanks for your feed back.
Here is my experience. I am attending an AACSB DBA and am going on a year part time teaching at a large university. I have found the smaller schools are all political, and you won't get in the door with a great degree from a B&M school. Get started now teaching, pick up one class. Also, I went down to the Dean's and asked him what he thought, and he said AACSB was the key. Also, one of the professor's said the faculty to student ratio is the mos timportant - looks like it all depends, so go and ask!
Being published also helps My faculty friends say that being the author of books, papers, and journal articles also helps.
I agree with Kristie. The main issue is not the way you got your degree but all the political aspect in some universities. The best way is to get a part time position and develop connections and good course evaluations from students. Also, it is very important to have a good publication record. Most of the DL PhDs don't encourage students to publish in top journals so that is one of their main weakness, if you can show that you can teach and conduct top research then the origin of the doctorate won't much of a problem.
There ARE many very well recognized programs that meet your need. But, what area are you interested in pursuing? Business, Education, Science, Engineering, Philosophy, or what? I am currently in a Phd program that has both DL and on-campus students, and for which you can not tell from the records which version.
I suggest you take a look at Northcentral University - www.ncu.edu I personally love it so far. Good luck!
Get into the most prestigious program you can - not just one that is "regionally accredited" if you want to keep your options as open as possible.
I agree with jimnagrom. Get into the most prestigious accredited program that you can afford that suits your study needs. If possible, obtain the doctorate from a B&M school that runs a parallel DL program. This way, it won't raise too many unecessary questions. This might require some residency, perhaps 1 to 4 weeks per year, but it's worth every penny in the long run. I know it's kind of snobby to say this, but a prestigious degree goes a long way. It can open many doors that were once closed and could change your life. Your doctorate is the most important degree, since it is generally the last one. Often, faculty professors only list their final degree in their profiles: For example, John Q. Public, Ph.D.(Harvard) Jane Q. Doe, D.Phil.(Oxford) When you get to that stage in your life, the undergraduate days have long since faded into unimportance.
I wonder how NCU will perform in academia. So far, I only found one faculty member at Devry where the vast majority of members only have a master's degree so I guess it is not a good example. www.devry.edu/uscatalog/general_admin_online.html It is important that the school has a proven record of graduates teaching full time at some reputable universities.
Americans usually list only the highest degree, but the Brits would list all the degrees with fancy university abbreviations like "Oxon" and "Cantab," with a few fellowships in various royal societies thrown in.
I think that your three-part goal probably sounds familiar to many of the people on this forum. Any decent accredited PhD program will get you to your first goal and will likely help you on your way toward your second as well. I would guess that a few articles, a book or a few well attended seminars would get you the rest of the way to goal #2. Your third goal could quite possibly prove to be more elusive as there a people with B&M PhDs from well known schools who sometimes have difficulty in obtaining full-time, tenure track teaching positions. I've read on this very forum that doctoral degrees can actually be an obstacle in obtaining positions at the community college level. I think that publishing research takes on a new level of importance for those who hope to break into the university teaching workforce and this may well be the key for people like you (and me) who wonder if this could be a new career direction in the years to come. Let us know how you choose. Good luck. Jack (by the way, you didn't specifically ask for references to specific PhD programs. What area(s) are you considering?)
I totally agree with your comment here. The political aspect can be the key. Look, recall a few years back when that lady at Emory was a professor down there with an EdD from a mill called "St. Georges University International"? Obviously they didn't look at her doctorate but my guess is she had some political inroad. I have taught at a decent smaller private university(RA), only needing a master's, and I have talked with some of the profs there. Talk about the politcal crap you have to go through there. All that for that kind of pay? A buddy of mine finished his PhD in physics last year. He's having a dickens of a time finding a job at a school. He got his the old fashioned way...regular residence.
