my experience in the Harvard ALM

No, I cast no aspersions on your work or academic program. (On the contrary, it sounds like an enviable degree and a wonderful experience.) Nor am I suggesting there's any problem with the availability of a small DL component at HES. After all, Harvard is a PhD oriented institution; few GSAS programs offer terminal master's degrees - it's not their concern.

What I'm wondering about is the, comparatively, very restrictive access this program has - LOOK at the deadlines! it likely takes one whole year - just to take complementary coursework
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2004-05/libarts/alm/courses/status.jsp
that other, arguably equally prestigious programs like Columbia and Penn, don't?!?

For example, Georgetown University's MALS program offers - with premission, access to relevant courses from GAS - and they still charge 20% more tution per regular course than HES does.

-Orson

 

An asside to Harvard ALM discussion:

The best prestige brand name for DL grad ed is probably Johns Hopkins.

They offer some 50 ot 60 courses online in their eight masters programs.
http://www.jhu.edu/advanced/online/courses/index.htm
These include:

Applied Economics
Bioinformatics
Biotechnology
Communication in Contemporary Society
Developmental Psychology
Environmental Sciences
Government
Liberal Arts
MS/MBA Biotechnology
Writing


As at Harvard, high-tech is well-served, but so are biotech, environmental science and allied programs. The latter advertises that is can be completed almost without campus attendence (eight out of ten courses).
http://www.enviroeducation.com/s/jhu-esp/
Only one or two online courses will apply to most of the rest.

This flexibility made it my second choice, only after University of London.

These eight degrees were formerly offered through an extension-like school (I forget the name it had), but it was folded into the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences few years back.

-Orson

 

Orson - Thanks for the tip. They are a bunch of good looking programs. Following the link however, it seems that the Developmental Psychology program is no longer on offer.
Jack

 

Quite right, Jack...

YES - quite right, Jack.

It seems they lost two profs and refocused the psych dept on brain sciences.

Alternatives? Communications and writing, it seems.

Orson

 

Orson:

I felt the need to clarify your post somewhat, at least from my reading of the JHU Web site. Johns Hopkins is indeed a "prestige brand name" but the DL component of their grad ed program is much smaller and more difficult to negotiate than your post appears to suggest. Although you do state that only one or two online courses apply to most of these, the statement is buried in the narrative and the listing of these eight programs makes it appear that JHU has eight graduate programs that can be completed substantially online. So, I wanted to clarify a bit.

From the JH A&S Advanced Academic Programs Web site:

In other words, one has to be admitted to the Johns Hopkins B&M programs in question. There is not (as is the case with some other B&M schools) a separate distance learning component to JHU. As it is a prestige brand name, it will probably be more competitive to get into than most DL programs. I'd be interested to learn if it's harder or not to get into than the Harvard Extension School. "Advanced Academic Programs" seems to be another way of saying "extension school" or "general education program," since they use the admission-here-doesn't-get-you-into-the-
other-parts-of-the-university language common to general education programs (http://www.jhu.edu/advanced/admissions/admission_requirements.html). However, admission into the biotechnology program is substantial, including the GRE, unless you already hold a graduate degree (http://www.jhu.edu/advanced/biotechnology/admissionRequirements.html).

Two of the first five courses have to be taken at one of the three JHU classroom sites. Of the eight programs, only two have a distance learning Web page: biotechnology and environmental science & policy. Only the latter specifically states that the program can be done from anywhere in the country, due to the fact that the residency requirement can be done in two 3-week intensive summer sessions. It looks as though biotech requires full-time sessions on campus, though the January and May interims might be possible if one could take 4-week vacations at those times.

The only other program with substantial online offerings is bioinformatics, whose course listings for Spring 2005 show 17 online of 36 offerings, perhaps enough to build a DL program, depending on requirements. Still, there are the two on-campus courses required.

Communication in Contemporary Society shows no online courses for Spring 2005. Government shows only one. Applied Economics, Liberal Arts, and Writing have none. If the Spring offerings are typical of online offerings in these programs, only bioinformatics, biotechnology, and environmental science have substantial online offerings. Of these only environmental science seems to make provision for true distance learning (i.e., not close enough to commute or able to take classes on campus).

Like Harvard, then, most of these programs require that you live within commuting distance, or take a large amount of time off of work, in order to complete the program.

I was particularly sad to find out that the MLA doesn't permit distance learning, though it doesn't surprise me. JHU has one of the older and more prestigious, truly interdisciplinary, MLA programs. Ditto for the Concentration in Digital Technologies in the Communication program, which I think used to be the Concentration in Digital Libraries. You'd think that if anything would be available online, that one would.

marilynd