Which nontraditional doctorates are most respected within the academy?

Or perhaps I should have asked, "Are there *any* nontraditional doctorates respected within the academy?" More precisely, is there any one program that is so excellent, whose reputation is so unassailable, that few--inside or outside DE circles--could find much to condemn in it? I'm not naive enough to expect unanimity--least of all from this group--but I'm interested in the kind of response this question will generate.

Here's my situation: I have Master's and Specialist's degrees in Library Science via distance education from the University of South Carolina, a very respected brick-and-mortar institution here in the Southeast. I found my distance-ed experience quite positive; in fact, I learned more, and learned better, via DE than I did slogging through night school at Georgia State (I never quite understood what "magic" the on-campus experience was supposed to hold). No one has ever questioned my credentials, but I suspect that it may be due to the fact that they may not be clear that my degree was obtained at a distance, since the University of South Carolina isn't usually associated with DE.

Now that I'm ready to pursue a doctorate in education, I'm faced with the following choices: Brave the downtown traffic to attend dear old Georgia State's inconveniently scheduled classes, just to earn a degree that I find rather uninspired; drive even farther to Athens, Ga., to the University of Georgia, a distance of about 120 miles, round trip; or look into some distance education options. I'd gladly earn another DE degree because, as I've said, I've had previous positive DE experiences. My fear, though, is that if I obtain my doctorate from a university that grants *only* distance-learning degrees (like Capella) or is *perceived* to grant only such degrees (like Nova Southeastern), then I will have worked very hard to earn an award that will be looked down upon and might even be a hindrance.

 

As I have said before in this forum, and I think it is good rule-of-thumb;

If you have an undergraduate degree from a respectable school (US News Tier 1 or Tier 2 - It sounds like you do!) and are currently employed in a profession in which you think you need additional credentialing, then Nova is the perfect solution (I heartily recommend it!) (Especially if your company has tuition reimbursement)

If you want a DL Doctoral degree in the hopes that it gets you a job in a field in which university degrees are considered particularly important (i.e. Full-Time Faculty in a Tier 1 or Tier 2 school or Fellow status in a research group at any High-Tech or Bio-Tech company) forget it! Get into the best brick-and-mortar school you can and forget about DL doctoral schools! Doctorates are special DL creaters that in many cases require on-campus residencies anyway.

Remember, a DL Doctoral degree is a perfect symbol to enhance expertise gathered during years of professional experience, not in place of one.

Owl, Ph.D. (Nova Southeastern University 2001)

 

Michael,

I wouldn't buy completely into what Owl is saying. You will want to read the thread on Nova Southeastern University. As for respect of your pedigree I think you will find a wide range of opinions. I am sure that Harvard and Yale grads arm wrestle as to whom has the better degree.

Nova has some very traditional offerings as well as a DL component so I am not sure where you got the idea that Nova grants only DE degrees. When looking into doctoral programs you must decide on which one will best suit your career goals. A doctorate is a significant investment in time, energy, and money.

Therefore, examine what you want to do and pick a program that will help get you there. When choosing a DL doctoral program just be sure that it is regionally accredited (RA) or if you choose a foreign DL doctoral program it should meet GAAP criteria. Other search on this newsgroup will illuminate you as to GAAP.

John

 

Thanks for your reply, John. I'm aware that Nova is a brick-and-mortar institution, but you'd be surprised at how many people aren't. Even in my home state, which is contiguous to Florida, most folks don't know that Nova has an actual campus.

I've been a member of this newsgroup, and the ill-fated a.e.d. before it, for quite awhile, so I'm pretty well aware of which schools are worthwhile and which aren't. I'm impressed with Nova Southeastern, myself, particularly its program in Instructional Technology and Distance Education.

I guess what I'm really trying to get a handle on is not the perceptions of those in the know, but of those who *don't* know. Often, unfortunately, it's those who are unenlightened who are doing the hiring. During a recent discussion of the proliferation of distance education degrees, the official in charge of hiring adjuncts at our school remarked that he was "seeing more and more of that kind of thing," and would "like to throw every vita in the trash" that had the name of a DE school listed on it.

Any ideas on schools whose names don't inspire such revulsion among the more traditional-minded? I'm aware that Pepperdine, for instance, has a DE EdD in Educational Technology, but I didn't know if it was particularly well-regarded.

Cheers,

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Michael Wilson

 

At this point in the history of nontraditional and distance learning options, I think we have to be honest about it: A regionally-accredited, DL doctorate is generally not going to be an affirmative asset in terms of gaining acceptance within the traditional academy. DL Ph.D. holders who snag tenure-track appointments at traditional schools often do so because they have other very strong qualifications that get them in the door.

This is not a slam on DL. Rather, it reflects the traditional, often hidebound attitudes of the academy. Ph.D.s who went through the usual grad school route, often at prestigious universities, carry their biases into the process of evaluating and hiring future colleagues.

Lists prepared by Union and other DL programs and institutions suggest that small numbers of DL Ph.D.s are managing to work their way into private and state colleges and universities with primarily local or regional orientations. And certainly the two-year colleges are much less obsessed about credentialing in the traditional sense. But it may take a long time -- if ever -- before the so-called national research universities and liberal arts colleges open their arms to DL doctorate holders.

 

I would think that because DL is becoming pervasive the lines are becoming blurred. Even many schools that offer traditional doctorates have afforded their students shorter residency options with study outside of campus. I know of several examples where this has been done and I also believe Dr. Bear has commented on this in the past.

I firmly beleive that the DL community needs to fully support its RA DL doctorates.

John

 

It would be nice to know if there are, as Michael asks, one or two DL doctorates that are afforded more respect than others. If there are, what gives them that advantage?


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David E. Fraser

 

Hi Michael -- check out Regent University in VA Beach. They have a one week residency each summer in the Ed doctoral program. I'm waiting now to find out when I can start. I will probably be there for the residency this summer [And they do have a very nice brick-and-mortar campus!]

Sunnie
*who is VERY relieved to have the doctoral decision made and out of the way after more than a year of searching]

 

A few miscellaneous penses (a word I use solely because a few people had the chutzpah to use the term academy . . .

First, Nova Southeastern has always had a mickey-mouse reputation in some educational circles. However, virtually every time I've heard a negative comment, it's been on the level of, "Yeah [accompanying snide look], that [school superintendent/principal/senior administrator] got his Ed.D. from freakin' Nova." But generally, the speaker has no answer as to why the subject has qualified to be the superintendent, principal, or senior administrator in the first place.

I did not do a Nova doctorate (I'm a Union guy), but having examined their Ed.D. program closely, it remains, IMO, one of the most outstanding programs out there, distance or otherwise. If, even today, some people have a problem with a NSU degree, it's just that - their problem.

Having said that, perhaps the question should be rephrased to, "What D/L doctorates, if any, have a negative reputation in academe?" In which case I would tend to answer, any doctorate that comes from a proprietary (profit-making) school as opposed to a non-profit school. Yes, I'm talking about Capella, Walden, and Argosy in its many forms. (I have often felt that the programs at U. Sarasota, part of the Argosy group, were quite excellent in their design and execution, but their reputation is somewhat open to question in academe. Even though regionally accredited - and I would have considered going for a U. Sarasota degree myself at one point - they seem to be increasingly swallowed up by Argosy's corporate mentality.)

Finally, a brief comment on Regent University. I think their D/L programs are quite excellent, especially with Jason Baker now at the helm of some of their operations. However, readers should be aware of the separate set of prejudices that come along with a Regent degree - namely, the school's founding by, and affiliation with, Pat Robertson. Again, an outstanding institution in terms of quality, but hardly taken seriously in secular academe. (Of course, the same can be said about Liberty University, founded by Jerry Falwell - an outstanding school and one that achieved regional accreditation in near-record time. But, like Regent, still identified with evangelicalism, which, for better or worse, will not set well in the secular university community.) Moreover, even though the D/L programs at Regent and Liberty tend not to be as pervasively sectarian as their residential programs, I would not recommend them to people who are not comfortable with the evangelical culture.

IMO, of all the D/L institutions out there, Union has always had teh best reputation in academe. (Keep in mind that I'm prejudiced.) Indeed, David's reference to a "small" list is somewhat humorous; I haven't checked TUI's web site for a while, but last time I did, I hardly found the list small. In the end run, however, there will always be more universal acceptance for a doctorate, regardless of how it was earned, from any traditional brick-and-mortar school.