Is A Distance Learning Master’s Program Looked As Highly Upon As…?
I’m interested in taking advantage of St. Joseph’s University’s online Master’s degree in education. This is a fully functioning brick and mortar university that happens to offer distance learning. The school has been around since 1851 and offers undergrad, master’s and doctoral programs. It is not a FOR profit school like University of Phoenix. Will this be looked upon as highly as if I attended the university in person for my courses?
Thankshttp://www.sju.edu/
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“The proof of the pudding is in the eating”
Of course it will. We have the same idea here in the UK with the Open University, and a lot of universities see the benefit of having at least some of their coursework online.
You will be expected to work just as hard as any conventional student, and you will have the same work-load.
Anyone who feels that a conventional university education is better than that offered via distance learning needs to be brought up to date with the ideas of modern education practices.
A Degree or MA earned through such an establishment is just as valid – distance learning students can expect to work in the same world as any other student. In many cases, they have had to work harder to get their qualifications.
There are some dubious pay-for-a-qualification “establishments” out there, but the quality of a certificate earned is reflected in the confidence shown by students. You can not buy an education – it has to be earned.
As an employer I have a director who is getting his masters online and I’m very impressed with the program. A lot depends on the school that offers the program but generally I would actually prefer someone who had taken their masters online. The reason is because I know the person is an early adopter of new technology and has the self discipline to accomplish the goal. Additionally, it has been shown that online tranining is more effective than the classroom where learning is paced at the speed of the common denominator rather than everyone moving at their own speed.
Since you are going into education I would hope most employers would recognize this as being viable.
Once you graduate if you are interested in working in a non-traditional school please let me know. We are always looking for good talent at Spa Tech.
This will be held to be far closer to an in person degree than if it came from UoP. Though some places are still not fully convinced that an online degree is as good, most are, if it comes from a school like this.
Go for it.