I've seen a lot of discussion about Western New Mexico University, but not too much on ENMU. They offer online degrees at $162.50 per credit for undergrad., and $180.50 per credit for grad. I'm interested in ENMU because they offer a 100% online Masters in Secondary Education. Needless to say, I am a teacher interested in taking a step up the pay-scale! Has anybody here enrolled in any online programs at ENMU, specifically in the field of education? I'm interested in hearing about your experience. Thanks!
Their MBA program has gotten a decent amount of attention on this board, recently. It appears to be the cheapest DL/RA MBA in the country. I actually got my mom interested in the program. She is retiring after 35 years of university teaching and thinks it would be neat to go back to school and get an MBA.
I'm sorry to hijack the thread, but I just wanted to offer a piece of advice. As a fellow teacher, I can say that most teachers who have masters degrees have them in education. Does that make you a better teacher? Not exactly. I know a lot of teachers with MSEd's who shouldn't be in a classroom, yet they are. An education degree won't set you apart. My recommendation would be to get a content area masters. That will also open you up to other opportunities. That's why I'm doing the MA at WNMU. I already had an MSEd from Walden. I loved my program, but it did squat for me promotion wise. My MA, which I'm two courses away from finishing, is allowing me to adjunct at the community college, and I hope to move over there at some point. Regarding your pay increase, does your division differentiate the increase in pay based on the type of graduate degree earned? Mine just gives a flat 2K for a masters, and it does not matter what it is in. Some schools give you X rate for an MSEd, and Y rate for a masters in your field. Not to push WNMU again, but you can do education as one of your concentrations... -Matt
Hi Matt - This is an interesting distinction that I don't think I've seen expressed here in the past (maybe I've just been reading the wrong threads). Is it your impression that most public school systems DO NOT make a distinction? If that's the case then I think your idea makes total sense. If I was a History teacher I think I'd prefer to take a bunch of History courses rather than take a bunch of Education courses. On the other hand, what I've heard (sorry if this is a nasty thing to say) is that on average, an MEd is the easiest Masters degree to earn. So maybe people just want to go that route because their lives are already hard enough. I don't know. I think that the subject area specialization would be more interesting. If I was a High School English teacher I think I'd go for an MFA - Creative Writing and do what you described - keep the day job and try to break into the world of adjunct teaching. It gives me something to think about - thanks for the idea.
Matt, Thanks for your insight. I agree with you on the content area masters degree idea. However, I already have several graduate masters courses in education that I can transfer into a MEd. I've looked at the WNMU MAIS, and was very close to pulling the trigger on that one (with concentrations in History and Education) but I'm skeptical that a masters in interdisciplinary studies would allow me to teach history part-time at a community college. It really makes no difference for my pay increase what the masters degree is in. There is another teacher at my school with a JD (he teaches Spanish), and another with a doctoral degree in theology (he teaches Math). They both get paid the same as if they had PhDs in education.
Hi Kizmet, I've only see a handful of school divisions which actually make a distinction between an education masters and a content area masters in terms of pay. Generally they just give you stipend each year for whatever masters degree you have. Some school divisions (not mine, unfortunately) also give additional compensation for dual masters or masters plus 30 graduate credits. I don't think it's a nasty thing to say that an education degree is easy to get. I enjoyed my program, don't get me wrong, but the education courses I took were completely different in format than the history and political science courses I've taken. Most of my education courses were all about application and reflection, whereas history and political science were about research and analysis. Funny you mention it about the MEd, though. I know this discussion has been about education degrees, but I've heard people make similar comments about MBA's. In general, I think you'd have to take a look at the return on your investment for your degree. I paid about $10K for my MSEd from Walden, and I'm getting an extra $2K a year because of it. That means I have to work for 5 years to pay it off. If I stay in K-12 education for the long hall, it'll pay off. However, there are other divisions out there which pay up to $5K per year for a masters, so that'd really be good. But if I can break into the community college full time with my MA from WNMU, I'll get about a $10K a year raise AND have potential to get promoted based on years of experience and good instruction. That, in my mind, is a great return on my investment! -Matt
To answer the original posters question, I'm a student there. My degree is in Teaching and Pedagogy with an emphasis in Educational Foundations. I started with Western New Mexico, but decided I wanted a degree specificially in Education (I already have a MA degree) so I switched schools, but continue to take classes at both. They are both comparable and use the same distance learning platform. The professors are thorough and so far it's been a great experience. In enrolling in Eastern, I've switched disciplines, as I've taught for six years and have never taken a traditional education course. My previous courses were geared towards specific purposes (i.e., Bilingual Ed, ESOL, etc.) so, I've done a lot of reading and researching, but it's been interesting. I would recommend both schools to anyone who is interested.
