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Get Your Degree Online
Perhaps nowhere has the Internet's impact been greater than in the world of online education and distance learning. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of students taking distance education classes more than doubled between 1995 and 1998 and is expected to continue growing at a phenomenal rate.
It's easy to see why. Online courses offer incredible convenience; unlike a traditional class, online courses usually don't have regularly-scheduled meetings (there are still due dates for assignments and exams). This has huge implications for students trying to juggle their classes around a 9-to-5 job and a son's soccer practice -- suddenly they have the flexibility to fit their studies around their own schedule, whatever it may be. There's also the advantage of unlimited offerings, particularly for students in geographically remote areas. If a course or program isn't offered in your area, you can almost always find an online school that offers a comparable distance learning program.
Distance learning allows interaction (through emails, chat rooms, discussion boards, etc.), but it obviously takes away from the direct contact between people. Since face-to-face group work is so important to many business programs, some question whether you can receive a quality degree without it. In truth, many professionals are doing more and more business via email and videoconferencing, making a distance learning program a great practice arena. The biggest question then becomes the accreditation of Masters distance learning programs: how can you tell if a particular online Masters degree is worth it?
The accreditation of online schools has become a tricky issue and still hasn't reached a resolution. For example, most accreditation is done by regional agencies -- but online schools usually cross geographic, and often political, borders. There is a major accrediting agency for distance learning schools -- The Distance Education and Training Council. But, for the time being, distance learning institutions are being judged according to the same standards (and accrediting agencies) as their real-world counterparts. The key is to check to see if your school is accredited, then double-check to see that their accreditation agency is legitimate, too. If things don't check out, find out why. Are they applying for accreditation? Were they turned down?
With many top business schools starting to offer their own online courses and the growing reputation of quality Masters distance learning programs from schools like University of Phoenix and DeVry University's Keller Graduate School of Management, students can be relatively assured that their online Masters degree will be respected in the real-world. The best way to be sure, however, is to chat with potential employers and to verify that they're studying at an accredited school. The value of your degree could hinge on the answers to these questions, so make sure you ask.
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