cheap, low residency, self-designed masters?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by selfdirected, Feb 6, 2010.

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  1. selfdirected

    selfdirected New Member

    Does such a thing exist? I am interested in a masters program were I can design my own program. Ones that look appealing to me are the programs at Goddard and Prescott, but they are expensive. I am interested in the following topics: education, sociology, anthropology, educational psychology, transformative studies, environmental studies, interdisciplinary studies.

    What I am not interested in is a degree where you can pick from a wide array of pre-designed courses, which is often what people mean when they say "self-designed." I want to write my own curriculum. Again, the MA degrees at Goddard and Prescott are ideal, but I don't want to pay over $20,000 total.

    (Or should I just bite the bullet and take out a ton of loans for a degree I might not "do" anything with?)
     
  2. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

  3. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I'm not sure what you are seeking.

    Cal State Dominguez Hill's HUX program provides an interdisciplinary take on philosophy, art history, history, music and literature. They welcome students shaping material from those fields to address a theme of their own choosing.

    HUX is accepting students (many California university programs have closed admissions for financial reasons). It charges $225 unit to students located anywhere in the world. $225/unit x 30 units = $ 6,750. You pay as you go, so you can spread it out.

    They encourage students to take two self-designed independent study classes (6 units), which when combined with the thesis (4 units) represents 1/3 of the program designed by the student. The other 20 units are chosen by the student from the various offerings so as to meet the distribution requirements, which may or may not suit you.

    My own experience was that professors in those classes were very open about letting me tailor my papers around broader interdisciplinary issues of interest to me. Nobody ever objected and they often seemed interested. Everything was interdisciplinary in that sense.

    http://www.csudh.edu/hux/program.html

    You may or may not like it. Anyway, there it is.
     
  4. selfdirected

    selfdirected New Member

    Thanks. I have looked a lot at this thread but I found that most were of the "pick all the different courses from this set list" type. The ones that were truly self-designed were expensive. Maybe I missed something. Even though I have been looking for a while I found one I hadn't before: Skidmore's MALS. But of course, it doesn't meet the 'cheap' criteria at nearly $30,000....

    The CSUDH-HUX program looks interesting. I was put-off by the "this program doesn't cover" section... as those are more like the things I want to study!! My main concern is this: I want to study Education, but not how it is taught by mainstream programs, as I have worked in alternative education for many years and the K-12 stuff doesn't apply. I want to study emotional + psychological aspects of learning, self-directed learning, transformative education. I know what I want my thesis to be in: barriers to learning how to live more sustainably. Maybe you didn't want to know all that.... sorry just getting discouraged.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 6, 2010
  5. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

  6. selfdirected

    selfdirected New Member

    Also, I completed about half a MA at San Francisco State in Education with a "special interest" years ago. I thought I would have more freedom than I did so I got frustrated and dropped out. Additionally, the quality of education was extremely poor. I was stuck doing "chapter reviews", something I hadn't done since middle school! - in a grad program. I don't want to repeat that experience.
     
  7. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

    You didn't mention why you want to do such a degree ... if it's just for personal interest, the DETC accredited MA program from Harrison Middleton might fit what you want:

    http://www.chumsci.edu/
     
  8. burner001a

    burner001a New Member

    Hey. Old thread I know, but I'm looking for something similar. Did you ever find a program that fit your criteria?
     
  9. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I'm not sure that the members involved in the original part of this thread are still around. The links are still good though and they probably represent the larger portion of the available programs.
     
  10. Paidagogos

    Paidagogos Member

    I'm not sure if it is still the case, but a few years ago when I got my master's from WNMU it was one of the most affordable programs around. I believe they have sociology and psychology concentrations for their MAIS degree, so they may certainly fit the bill for the original poster's needs. At any rate, they are worth considering.
     
  11. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Sociology and Psychology are not among WNMU's options for the MAIS, though Social Work and Counseling are.
     
  12. Paidagogos

    Paidagogos Member

    Good update, Ted!
     
  13. burner001a

    burner001a New Member

    Cool, thanks for taking the time.
     
  14. Graves

    Graves Member

  15. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

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