Masters Degree in Distance Education

Toonces

Are you "Toonces, the Cat Who Could Drive a Car"?

Just wondering... (I'll also be interested in reading the responses to your question about the "inferior" schools.)

 

"And if you're looking to vault
ahead at a new firm after graduation, flashing an e-MBA may not mean much. A
BUSINESS WEEK survey of corporate recruiters found that an overwhelming
majority haven't even considered applicants who earned their MBAs online. Of
the 247 companies who answered our survey, all but a handful said they
hadn't considered hiring an MBA with an online degree. And most, skeptical
of online B-school graduates' skills, don't plan to start looking. "

This article focused on non-traditional universities... i.e. not b&m schools that offer dl programs.

Similarly, the economist...

"It would be wrong to accept the common belief that distance-learning
programmes are at the bottom of a pecking order that begins with full-time
programmes. A reputable distance-learning programme is a match for
anything else that is on offer. Would-be students should ensure that they
are dealing with a reputable school and that the ultimate MBA degree
offered by distance learning is exactly the same as that offered by the
same school in its full-time or part-time programme"

I realize these are business programs but the situation is, IMO, worse in academia. Bottom line, virtual universities are at the bottom of the ladder... you are better off pursuing a traditional program from a traditional university via DL (and a uni with a great reputation, if possible).

 

Because it's Ken....anything American is automatically inferior.

If Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth got together and produced a totally exam-based MBA, Ken would probably ridicule and rail against it as a sham.

However, the 100% exam-based MBA offered by Heriot-Watt University is totally legitimate in his opinion.

Very interesting....especially because he started the H-W program at one point, and now will not tell us if he finished it or not. I've formed my own opinion.


Bruce

 

Yes, Toonces the cat who would drive a car...and now a computer. My roommates gave me the name back in college for some reason (maybe because I drove all the time), and it ended up sticking as a web-handle.

I did notice the *apparent* bias against American schools in Ken's earlier response, and I'm not sure given some of the schools that I've seen first hand or read about that I would take a DL Program from a traditional school, because it seems to me that part of the reason to take a DL program is to avoid many of the hassles and problems with the traditional programs.

But, that's just my opinion, and everybody is allowed to have their own. Life would be pretty boring on this planet, otherwise.

Toonces

 

The only ones that would be considered inferior are:
1) Jones International:
2) University of Maryland (assuming this is the University College and not one of the other schools in the UoM system)
3) Capella


Why is Capella considered inferior?

 

Just to pull this thread back to the matter of degrees available in the subject of distance education ... It seems Susan2 has a course that suits her, but I came across this interesting offering today.

Anyone after a master or PhD in distance education, amongst a heap of other subject areas, might at least want to look into the Universiti Sains Malaysia (Malaysia Science University).

I apologise if it has been covered in the forum before, but I can't recall that it has, and a search did not reveal much.

I found this place from Jonnie's Distance Learning Page (a great resource and I would like to add my name to those posters here who have recently congratulated Jonnie on his site: see http://www.geocities.com/liu_jonathan/distance.html).

Now, I know nothing more than what I've gleaned from their less than crystal-clear web site, except I can add that USM bachelor and masters degrees are considered by NOOSR to be equivalent to Australian bachelors and masters, so the university should pass GAAP muster (the NOOSR booklet was silent on doctorates, other to say that degrees other than bachelors and masters would be considered on a case by case basis.)

Subject areas:

Distance Education
Instructional Design
DE Programme Development
Planning and Management of DE
Use of Technology in DE
Teaching Methodologies

Pure Science
Biology
Chemistry
Mathematics
Physics

Arts (Social Science & Humanities)
Anthropology/Sociology
Economics
Political Science
Geography
History
Literature
Islamic Civilisation

All masters and PhD's are by research only. The minimum time for completion by distance appears to be three years. Proficiency to some extent in Bahasa Malaysia language is required (the official language of Malaysia). It appears foreign students can write their thesis in English (although the Malaysian language proficiency is probably still there). 15 days residency is required each year.

The most interesting part is the cost. The currency of Malaysia is the ringgit. There are about 4 ringgits to the US$ or about 2 to the AUS$.

According to my maths (which is often wonky - so do your own!) on my reading of their web site, a three year distance course, taking into account yearly tuition and one-off fees, should cost about 4,200 ringgit. That converts to something just over US$1,000 or AUS$2,000.

Now that's CHEAP. A GAAP PhD for US$1,000!!
http://www.usm.my/ppjj/main.html

Who knows? A serious enquirer might be able to negotiate the Malaysian language requirement and/or the 15 day per year residency?

If anyone does check it out, let me know the outcome. Heck, I might check it out myself.

Kind regards