Question about distance MA program (Humanities, History, inter.)

Hello everyone. I've been browsing this site for some time, and have found some very helpful information about certain programs (all under $10 000 for out of state). For that, I am grateful. Now, having narrowed down my search, I have a few questions.

Currently, I teach high school history and would eventually like to obtain a
part-time gig at a community college and/or pursue a Phd in history at a
B&M school.

Would the following programs offer a solid foundation for any of those goals?


Chadron State College M.A. E.d., in History


MA in Interdisciplinary Arts w/History concentration, WMNU


Please comment on the strength of some of these programs if you have taken them.
For instance, does the WMNU program still allow for a thesis option in History? And,
does anyone know anything about the strength of the History dept. at Chadron State
College?

Thanks for your time.

 

The Master of Education is probably best for a teacher.

The master of education is a mainstream degree for a teacher and would possibly serve you better in your current work. It would also allow you to teach history at a college if it includes 18 hours of history and maybe education as well. My guess is that your state or system will see master of education and checkmark whatever form you need checked without much explanation.

Of course, if you really want a PhD in history you should go for a standard MA in history, of which there of plenty now available for cheap and through distance learning.

 

As a WNMU grad, I would DEFINITELY recommend that option. As far as getting an MAEd/MSEd/MEd, I'd say that so many people in education have those that you really wouldn't stand out. If you want to go into higher ed, I'd go with the WNMU program. (It worked for me, as I was just hired fulltime at my community college.) WNMU does allow you to do a thesis, and I'd recommend it. I did comps, and I'm a kicking myself for NOT doing the thesis. I seriously wish I could go back and do it over.

The good thing about WNMU is that you can pick up 2 fields. I did History and Political Science, and I teach both of them at the college. I'm not sure about your CC, but in ours promotion is heavily emphasized. To get promoted from Assistant Professor to Associate professor, I have to obtain at least 39 graduate hours in History. I'm going to go back and get some more. Then to go on to full professor I'd need to have a doctorate. Technically I could just jump into a doctoral program and kill two birds with one stone, but I'd like to go back and take a historiography class and a historical research methods class. APU offers those.

I would feel out the community college in your area. My area is very rural. Quite a bit of us teach in two or more fields. Even though my job was listed as "History", I was able to shine a bit because I had that second field. Plus, if you employer is like mine (both at the college and when I taught high school) there's probably a tuition reimbursement program. Be sure to take advantage of that!

I truly enjoyed my experience at WNMU. The only nitpicky negative thing I could say about them is that many of their courses in history and political science involve the Southwest and Latin America. Granted that makes sense given the location of the school, but it would've been great to see expanded offerings.

-Matt

 

Thanks for your help folks!

 

If you're serious about pursuing a PhD an MEd isn't suitable. PhD programs are choosey about what graduate credits they will accept and I doubt that any PhD program in history would accept MEd units. So, you'll end up repeating the 30 credits or so you did for the MEd. Education degrees in general are held in near contempt in the rest of academia.

I'm afraid that this would be most true also for an interdisciplinary MA at WNMU but I'm less certain. I would definately inquire at the PhD program that you are ultimately aiming at.

Check with your district as to what kind of degree they will accept for step increases. If you're serious about a PhD, try to get your distance MA from a school that has a PhD program (B&M or online) and be certain all your units will be counted.

 

Thanks for your response.

Yes, I've currently come to the same conclusion. I think that I might just pay a bit more and get a specialized MA in History ( from Sam Houston State or U of Nebraska). Ideally, I'd take some time off and do an MA at a local university. Unfortunately, I just can't afford to give up my job for 2 years.

Also, after doing some further research, it seems like that the Humanities MA from
California State, Dominguez Hills is pretty well regarded. LinkedIn lists many community college instructors with this degree, as well as those that have gone on to Phd programs.

 

I guess I should chime in again regarding WNMU. From my conversations with the professors there, the MA program was designed for teachers. It was NOT designed for researchers, and it isn't a "PhD Prep" program. That being said, there have been, at least according to the instructors, students who have gone on from it to PhD programs in their field. The downside to the WNMU program, if you really want to go for a PhD, is that they do not seem to offer standards like "Historiography" or "Historical Research Methods" courses. That's what I'm running into at the moment. I want to go back and take those.

Now, with all that being said, WNMU still has an excellent program.

-Matt

 

I thought they had a course on History & Theory.

 

Thanks, this info is much appreciated!

 

They have a course in the catalog which might be offered face-to-face, but in the three years I was in the program online, it was never offered. It's not in the course rotation list either. However, that being said, they're clearly offering more than they did before, so it wouldn't surprise me if a course like that ended up online.

-Matt

 

MA in history

Please permit me to clarify what I meant about transferable units. A typical PhD requires 60 units of coursework, an MA 30 units. So if the PhD program accepts the units, getting an MA cuts the coursework units in half.

To make sure that your MA units will be acceptable to a PhD program, it's best to inquire with the PhD program before starting the MA. There simply is no consistency among PhD programs in their willingness to accept MA units.

Good luck.

 

There's no good DL path to an American PhD in history.

In my opinion it's more practical to go the traditional route to a USA history PhD. To get one you'll eventually have to be near a program, anyway, and take classes on campus. It's probably much better to just join the program as a master's student, take the 24 semester hours and write a thesis or just join a PhD program like UGAs or Emory's, for example, that doesn't require a master's. If you can't eventually move near a big school and get accepted it's probably never going to happen, unless schools start opening history PhD programs to distance learning students.

The short of it is that if you're going to get a PhD in history, you' might as well wreck your life a year or two earlier and avoid the trouble of a DL master's that might not speed up the process anyway.

 

If you're looking for 18 hrs in history and 18 hrs in education, look up the MAT in History Education of the University of Alabama.

 

M.Ed. for college teaching?

I cannot disagree more emphatically with this post. Neither the medium-sized state university where I formerly taught or the selective liberal arts college where I am now would consider an MEd even for part-time adjunct work. Not only does it not contain enough pure history but the "education" courses are generally looked on with contempt by the rest of the academic community.

For community colleges, I am uncertain if it would be acceptable. Here's what California JCs ads in history say:

"• Master's degree in history; OR • Bachelor's degree in history AND Master's, with an emphasis in history, in political science, humanities, or social sciences; OR • The equivalent - Candidates not possessing the required qualification(s) as stated on this announcement, must complete the Request For Equivalency Form as part of the application process to explain in detail how their qualifications are equivalent to those above"​

This is so vague, it could be interpreted any number of ways.

https://www.cccregistry.org/jobs/

 

Though this thread is kind of old--not sure why it was brought back up again--I'll chime in to add that an M.Ed is viewed as the "underwater basketweaving" of graduate school. I honestly think it's unfair and reflects the continued snobbish attitude that researchers have against teaching, but the bias exists. There are only two real uses for an M.Ed. One is towards a state license for people who didn't go the undergraduate route and the other is for people who have an interest in higher education student affairs. The problem is that in the first case most states have started to pop-up with one year post-BA certification programs that didn't exist five years ago, therefore making an M.Ed less meaningful. In the second case there are now graduate degrees targeted towards that niche. So the use case for an M.Ed is now limited to those people who already have a education BA and want the master's for better pay or who want to switch between teaching and administration.

As I say, it's unfortunate. It's ironic that there are now classes in "on-line teaching" but the education degree is considered trash. But the sad reality is that it's a degree best avoided.

 

In my neighborhood people who are elementary and secondary school teachers typically are hired with a Bachelors plus a teaching cert/license. However, it has become quite common for schools to have a requirement that the teacher, hired as above, will earn a Masters degree within a specified time period (five years or 10 years or whatever). These days the most common route toward this goal is a DL MEd program.

 

Alternative certification programs (ACPs), i.e., the post-baccalaureate /accelerated route, e.g., certification hours)) programs have been around for more than five years. I completed the process in 2002 after years in both the military and subsequently the corporate environment. This alternative certification process was initiated by states as an alternate /fast-tracked credentialing means: 1) for those who did not do their undergraduate studies in a teaching discipline via a university department /school of education, 2) for obtaining an EC/PK-12 teaching qualification/s, and 3) for recruitment to help decrease teacher shortages in many states. In my case re the MEd; this degree path was primarily used as the criterion for state eligibility for educator licensure /certification as an administrator, diagnostician, and/or counselor licensure within a public school district—central office or campus level administration; or as already mentioned—salary increase, postsecondary management, student affairs, etc. Also in Texas, the campus principal licensure requires an additional 6-university post-graduate degree certification hours plus internship; the district superintendent licensure requires 16 post-graduate hours (e.g., certification hours /internship). Both the principal and superintendent certification /licensure hours are in addition to the MA, MS, MEd, MAT, EdS, EdD or PhD degree levels — and in addition, passing the applicable TExES exam/s.

Note: The practitioner degree (EdS) is not a usually offered program via Texas universities; although I believe Baylor University offers the EdS in Educational Psychology.