I am interested in doing a 100% online doctorate in education. I got my masters from California State Hayward online and it was great (put still challenging). Northcentral just started offering the PhD in Education and Touro has been a player for a while. They cost about the same, so which to choose? Touro uses CD's and NCU uses textbooks. I am a school administrator and will probably not teach at a university. Which one is better perceived? Any red flags that makes one superior over the other? BTW, I have already done a search on thread for both schools and go the information that is already there. Thanks!
Probably Touro I just checked, and it appears as if Touro is now accepting PhD applications. Assuming the accreditation issue has been resolved, Touro is probably the better choice. I personally like them a little better than NCU because they have been around for a while, and because they are affiliated with a traditional campus based college in NY. Touro is also home to an ABA approved law school, as well to TUCOM medical school.
I completed my MS from TUI and I am on my second class at NCU. I can not tell you about the "perception" issue, but I can tell you about what I think as from a "material" issue. I like NCU better and it is not because I am currently there. I like the responsiveness of the administrative staff (customer service) and I like the fact that they use books. Yes, it does cost an extra $100 or so per class but I feel you get a lot more out of the class than reading a couple of webpages and writing a paper about the marketing effort of Harley-Davidson. After all, I did have to get some text books and read them to clarify the points the class was trying to make. I used The Ten Day MBA by Steven Silbiger alot. Now don't get me wrong, I learned a lot at TUI, but I think NCU has them beat.
NCU I'm accepted at NCU and am just talking to some folks there (Lorrain, Dr. Harman, etc.) and waiting to hear from Nova before finally deciding. In any event, Touro's curriculum is inferior to NCU's for my purpose, which is finance. I guess every person must compare their experience and prior maters degree to determine what the "package" will look like when integrated into a doctoral curriculum. I like NCUs waiver of most of the "foundation" type courses for those who've already taken them, such that a learner can load up the program with spialization courses and methods (statistics, etc.). Not having a clearly defined specialization at Touro seems to be a problem because I wanted to document 18 hours in my specialization so I could meet Florida's community college requirement that teachers have this. I too appreciate the text book style courses. I beleive any PhD will tell you that having a personal library is important. I use the internet constanlty, but would not like to be separated from my text books. I have about 100 of them for cross reference, even to see how different authors deal with a similar issue.
Adrienne, not to answer for Randell, but NCU has the usual fare, Proquest, Worldcat, etc... They are doing server maintenance so I couldn't login to give you all the areas. Additionally, NCU will pay for you to have a library card to your local library and its resources. Did you have a specific area, topic , or database in mind? Kevin
if you mean www.jstor.org I don't see NCU listed as a participant. However the NCU ELRC does have access to full-text and abstracts of journals. I'll follow up with the NCU resource folks next week.
NCU Thanks. I left a message with Dr. Harman Friday and will talk to him Monday. The field of economics and finance has been doing more essay compilations for dissertations; like 3 articles thematically related rolled into a dissertation. I'm going to ask him if anyone is doing that. What what I gathered online, NCU's phd's are mostly single topic dissertations. NCU also does not ask about your research areas in the admissions statement. This is ratically different than a B & M, who will only accept a student if and only if they can match the research interest to a faculty member. Thus, I'm going to ask Dr. Harman if I can bend my finance dissertation towards real estate finance and valuation. I want to know now rather than later whether the "mentor" will get on board in an area that might not be there forte. NCU seems to be accomodating where a rational request is made, so I'm hopeful that they will work with me on this dissertation topic.
Adrienne - I've done s ome looking at on-line library resources and I think that NSU has most everyone beat. Besides looking at the on-line database list, I checked the NSF Caspar site for library expenditures. NSU spends a tremendous amount on library resources compared to its on-line competitors. Because of the broad base of programs at NSU and their connection with Boward county the list of databases is very strong. Further, they have a significant library staff. Oh yes, they havd JSTOR. Regards - Andy
Randell, You mentioned that your experience with Touro (master's level) didn't include textbooks and that NCU (doctoral level) uses them. Do you know if Touro's doctoral-level programs also do not use textbooks and whether NCU's master's programs use them? (We don't want to be comparing apples and oranges...) Thanks! Arch
Hi Thinktank, If it's reputation you're after, you should consider the PhD and EdD education leadership programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While they are not officially labeled by the university as "online degrees" (since students may switch from one mode to the other or do a combination), they CAN now be completed 100% online. Arch
The NCU masters and doctoral classes both use text books. I do not think the TUI PhD courses use books but someone can confirm this.
NCU library resources Cheers, Kevin and Andy, Thanks for the info. I've found that for my research so far in OB areas, the databases provided by EBSCO, specifically Business Source Premier, to be the best electronic source for me in OB/HR topics. I was just wondering if NCU also provided the EBSCO databases. One thing that I really liked about Walden's e-database offering was that of the EBSCO ones they have, they include the Military and Government database -- something that Capella doen't subscribe to (which I think is a great oversight, given the goodly number of active-duty students enrolled). Cheers, Adrienne
TUI PHd... I'm in TUI's PhD program, and it is the same as the Master's class- all electronic resources. I'd have to add that I on the otherhand don't neccessarily think the absence of books equates to less quality. I think it is a personal preference. After 'going electronic' and having done a Masters at a B&M school, I don't feel I've missed out. You are expected, and do have to do extensive on-line research at TUI. You are also made aware that you are missing out on many resources if that is the only thing you do. I visit our public library, as well as Northwestern's library frequently. In my case I feel that I get out of it what I put in. The difference is not the fact that my class sources are electronic as oppopsed to traditional. The move to electronic text is not limited to dl institutions. I also feel that at TUI, while there might not be the focus another program has, allows the student to commit a focus of their own. At the PhD level this can be very convenient. While I’m in the E-Learning program, which traditionally covers higher edu, I’ve been able to concentrate my studies on the K-12 market, and the prof’s have been very accomodating. Reggie
Time to complete If one enters the TUI and NCU program with an MBA, does anyone know the nominal time required to complete the respective programs? It appears that Touro would take about three and 1/2 to four years minimum.
Re: Time to complete B & M traditional programs can control the pace and if you can't cut it, you can bail or be booted out. These DL programs are a funtion of one's time inputs as a working adult with a career and life outside of the program. I got a 30 hour credit against NCU curriculum of 81 hours. So with 51 hours and based on my particular degree plan, 30 are dissertation/methods/statistics, leaving 7 specialization courses. Of the 30 methods/diss/stats, 12 hours are non course, leaving 18 hours, or 6 more courses. Thus in total, I've got 12 "courses" to complete, prior to candidacy and moving into the dissertation. You do the math. At 2 per term (and there are three terms per year), you'd be taking the comp in 2 calander years. If one understand how to align course papers to the dissertation topic determined in advance, then the dissertation can be done in a year, for a total of 3 years. For me, I'm planning on 4. I run this out in excel with all course elements (courses, non hour items, etc.) on the Y (vertical) axis and time on the X axis. I move the hours out the the right to accomodate program sequencing requirements and time for non course items, like the comps, etc. For me, I'm planning 4 years to hooding. I'm quite sure I could do it in 3, so that's my range. NCU's tuition billing by the hour makes flexibility more rational. I am no fan of this revenue driven mentality of charging by the term, regardless of whether one takes one or a hundred courses. This pricing strategy is wrong and userous in my opinion.
The Lincoln Question Thank you all for the feedback. This has been great. I looked into the PhD from Nebraska, but I am concerned about a semester format that is based on a traditional school. I also found the school somewhat difficult to navigate for information. I have called multiple times and finally found that they offer an EdD for the K-12 environment (called the “Joint Program”) and the PhD for the post secondary administrator. Then I must ask whether I want a Phd from TUI or NCU or an EdD from Lincoln. The Lincoln PhD is much cheaper however.
Thinktank, originally you mentioned 100% online. But if you are willing to look at some residencies: http://distance.nmsu.edu/programs/prog_tec.html Cheapest program I know of in its type. Looks traditional in nature.
