Professor Doom

Professor Doom just needs to understand that when he paints online education with a broad brush and speaks of vitas which include them finding their way to dumpsters, he's spitting at schools like: Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, UC Berkeley, Columbia, Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Carnegie Melon, Georgetown, Purdue, Cambridge, U of London, London School of Economics, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, North Carolina State, NYU, USC, UCLA, Rutgers, Pace, Penn State, Ohio State, Temple, George Washington, Florida, Florida State, South Florida, Colorado State, Arizona, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, Boston University, Auburn, UMass, Nebraska, Syracuse, Creighton, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Mississippi, Mississippi State, UW-Whitewater, Old Dominion, Kansas State, Wichita State, Emporia State, Fort Hays State, Nevada-Reno, UNLV, Iowa, Houston, Drexel, Michigan State, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh Biz School, Aston, UNISA, South Dakota State, UNC-Greensboro, St. Johns, Eastern Kentucky, Western Kentucky, Wright State, Ball State, TESC, WTAM, UTD, etc. etc. etc.

Universities, elite and lower-tier and everything in between have spoken: for a motivated student, online is a legitimate way to obtain an education. By the way, I wish to maintain my anonymity, but every university I've attended as well as the university where I teach is in that list.

 

Because this site is primarily focused on DL, and because most people here are earning degrees while continuing their work, I only list those degrees I earned nontraditionally while simultaneously working. Oh, right. That would be all of them.

I began advising working students on nontraditional higher education when I was an education specialist in the Air Force in the late 1970s. That's 37 years ago. I earned my first degree (an associate's from Regents) in 1979 and my latest degree very recently, and a PhD specializing in this very field along the way. I don't know who this guy is, but I'm sure he's welcome to post here if he has a concern.

 

I list the one degree I'm earning traditionally to show that people can go from nontraditional programs to a traditional program. There was an article I came across a couple of years ago where HR professionals admitted that it is becoming very difficult to tell when a degree was earned online because many traditional universities are offering online programs. When one earns a degree online at one of the Penn State schools, there is nothing on the degree or transcript that denotes that the degree was earned online. People don't earn their degrees from Penn State World Campus; they earn their degrees from one of the Penn State System's brick and mortar schools.

 

I had thought of listing a few responses to Professor Doom's posting. First and foremost, my objective this morning was to counter his/her anecdotal evidence ("every interview committee I've been on...") with the numerous links we previously posted to individuals, some at very well respected institutions, who have tenure track positions despite having degrees from for-profit schools.

But, at the end of the day, all of that information is here to be found.

I'm not willing to engage in a back-and-forth with Professor Doom where I write on this forum and s/he replies on a personal blog. If the professor wishes to discuss with us I think we would all enjoy the exchange. If not, then I suggest we just let this thread die and let the good Professor go back to ranting about other topics.

 

Well said mate, well said. rivateeye:

 

I found him!

I think I found him. Don't know if it's the same guy or not. Doesn't seem to have the best teaching style. I have reason to believe he got his PhD for one reason...to study doom, and to exact his wrath and revenge on others. lol.

 

"You know, it's amazing how many super villains have advanced degrees. Graduate schools should do a better job of screening those people out."

-- Sheldon Cooper

 

Hahahaha. Gotta love Sheldon and Big Bang. Great quote!