Music/Humanities M.A. through DL?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Pete North, Aug 4, 2001.

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  1. Pete North

    Pete North New Member

    I'm wondering if the collective wisdom here could recommend an M.A. program in the Humanities (preferably in music) that is taught through DL. Here is my situation, so please bear with me. (no pun intended)

    I am already gainfully employed in the Humanities field as a teacher. How I did it with just a Bachelors and half-finished masters was through a combination of luck, hustle, tech-savy, and I know my stuff. My attempts to go back to grad school were frustrating. Scheduling was difficult, and I realized that I had been in the real world for way too long. The prof and other students were career ivory tower residents, and I had been teaching in the Humanities trenches. I was not really learning anything. (OK, the school was not all that great) At this point, an accredited master's in any topic would do. I just need the legitimization that a master's confers. A master's is a standard prerequisite in the Humanities/teaching field. How is that Cal State, Dominguez Hills program? Are there any other similar places?
     
  2. Bill Highsmith

    Bill Highsmith New Member

    I've no personal experience with the CSUDH program, but have heard only good things about it. Do a search here on "hux" or "csudh" because there has be considerable discussion about it. This one: (http://www.degreeinfo.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000368.html), called "Tom Head's HUX Review" is useful because Tom is a graduate and there is commentary by someone at the program office (Nicole-Hux).
     
  3. >>
    How is that Cal State, Dominguez Hills program?
    <<

    I'm currently enrolled in the HUX program and find it quite worthwhile. You can concentrate in music, as you may have already gathered from the school's website. All of the course packets are reproduced on line, so you can get a good feeling for what the studies entail before you enroll.

    I see in your profile that you are a fellow New Yorker. If you would like to get together to discuss HUX feel free to email at [email protected].

    - Phillip M. Perry www.pmperry.com
     
  4. 4Q

    4Q New Member

    No offense but it "Pete North" your real name or is it just a selected user name?
     
  5. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I'm a graduate of CSUDH HUX (MA, May 2000).

    I think that it sounds like a good fit for you. It isn't really prestigious, nor is it a high pressure academic experience like graduate school at Berkeley. But it will certainly give you a masters degree from a well known university system. Any school district would accept it from a teacher, I'm sure.

    It consists of semester long courses that are assessed almost entirely by the papers you write. The rule of thumb is ten pages per unit, so expect about 30 required pages for a three unit class. Usually that's divided up as the instructor sees fit: two 15s or three 10s. So your scheduling problems are taken care of. You can read and write anytime that fits your schedule. The only real issue is how many courses you want to take per semester, which is a function of the time you have available, I guess.

    One feature that I liked a lot was the intellectual independence it gave me. (That's the main reason I chose the program in the first place.) I could more or less customize most of the courses I was taking to address issues of interest to me. Not only do they permit that, they encourage it. It was less like a conventional class where the agenda is set by the professor and by the interests of the rest of the students. HUX is like taking every course by faculty-guided independent study.

    The flip side of that is the possibility of being an academic "lone ranger". The worst aspect of CSUDH-HUX by far is its low interactivity. (Though as I just suggested, it's paradoxically also a strength.) In traditional classes the professor and other students aren't idiots, and their interests are things that are often stimulating. Besides exposing you to lots of stuff you may not have discovered, it helps socialize you into a academic community, and that's important.

    But from your "ivory tower" comment, I guess that you aren't aiming at becoming a professor or a lifetime (higher education) academic. So this socialization aspect may be of less importance to a secondary school teacher or whatever.

    Faculty are generally available and many try hard to be helpful to you. But you will have to contact them because they won't take the initiative in contacting you. If you just want to write your papers, talk to noone and get your grade, you can. Or you can strike up a relationship with some of them. Think of it as office hours. You have to go visit them and a few may try to tell you that they are too busy to talk to you. But it's something you should do, especially if you want references and stuff. Again, it's like taking a class on-campus by independent study.

    The cost of the program is one of its best features. It is one of the least expensive RA DL masters degrees available. The admissions process is easy and the mechanics of dealing with them throughout the program are straightforward. The one exception is the process immediately prior to finally graduating. That is very backed up and takes months. So speed is not a strength here.

    As far as music goes specifically, I can't say much. That wasn't my thing. But because of the format, you probably shouldn't think of a big performance component. I think that they can work some things out and receive tapes of your local performances, but that's unusual. They do have some people doing composition things, and I understand some people have even submitted scores in place of a conventional thesis.

    But the main thrust is interdisciplinary humanities. That would mean putting music in its cultural context. So the strength of HUX is probably in music history, conceived broadly.

    Finally let me comment on the people in the HUX office. They are unfailingly friendly and helpful. Things will inevitably go wrong now and then, and they knock themselves out to help you. That's expecially helpful when you complete the program and the bureaucracy is tremendous. So for God's sake don't stew and worry like so many students do. Call them. They can usually reassure you or fix your problem in seconds.

    Anyway, those are my observations of CSUDH-HUX. Personally I think its something you should consider.
     

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