JockNerd: Your prof was comparing a state college versus... an ivy-league college? The discussion was on online degrees, not alma mater prestige. Whether your degree is from Harvard or Podunk State won't matter much if you're a great researcher and academic. Having an online degree is different, a point your prof might agree with. The very nature of an online degree necessarily imposes limitations. There's no way someone getting a degree online could possibly compare with even the most feeble PhD program (or even PsyD, for someone who wants to do a little research) in terms of research.
Actually, the point wasn't about alma mater prestige but the reality that prestige isn't the only thing that opens professional doors, but skills, experience, and accomplishments as well.
The very nature of academic programs the world over impose limitations, not just online programs. To insinuate that all campus-based programs are equivalent while online ones are are not is to just perpetuate the myth that online learning is
by design inferior to campus-based learning when the
opposite has often been shown to be true (c.f. Barry & Runyan, 1995; Carey, 2001; Cheng, Lehman & Armstrong, 1991; DeNeui & Dodge, 2006; Lee, Carter-Wells, Glaeser, Ivers, & Street, 2006; Qing & Akins, 2005; Russell, 1999; Shachar & Neumann, 2003).
Do you really think that the Podunk U (U of Montana?) grad is going to have been exposed to the same sort of experiences as the Harvard grad -- no, of course not. But one would be hard pressed to ascertain the differences between Podunk U, Backwater U, and Middle-of-Nowhere U. And here's the kicker -- assuming all are regionally accredited, the degree from Harvard, Podunk, Backwater, and Middle-of-Nowhere are all just as valid.
What I hate to see is the repetition of this unsupported prejudice. Isn't the point of accreditation to certify minimum standards? If a school is regionally accredited, then its programs are real, its degrees are real and one should be able to assume the skills and knowledge of its graduates are real as well. So why are you insinuating -- especially in a profession where a fair number of graduate students enter seeking to become
clinicians, not academics or researchers -- that you would not question the degree from Harvard, Podunk, Backwater, or Middle-of-Nowhere, but if someone had a regionally accredited degree from Online U
THAT raises a red flag?
[Note to paramour: Hey, I even know a graduate from an online doctoral program in psychology whose dissertation has been nominated for an APA division's annual award for excellence!
]
JockNerd: Degree of debt is a factor. A $10000 debt (no matter what program) is significantly different from a $100 000 debt. In a nonfunded program (PhD or PsyD) you're going to have trouble with your debt load after grad. If you have a degree from an online school with a questionable record, you'll have trouble securing anything to start repaying that.
Of course, debt load is a factor, which I acknowledged in my original post.
However, it is not the
only factor.
And, my point was that debt load is not solely a problem with online programs.
Let's say one wants to be a teacher and is "lucky" enough to be admitted to Harvard University. Your Bachelor's will cost $185,800 ($46,450 x 4), and then your Master's $55,128 for a grand total of:
$240,928.
(Source: Harvard University admission materials, 2007)
Before you start frothing at the mouth, I know that big schools like Harvard do offer aid packages. But looking at both the undergraduate and Graduate School of Education materials, the word LOAN appears quite a bit.
So, here is a top flight school -- one which I doubt anyone would ever question its legitimacy.
Would you advise a prospective teacher to not (potentially) go a
QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS into debt to earn the appropriate credential from Harvard University for that profession? Yet, regardless of what aid package was received, some people will defy economic logic and choose to attend Harvard and then
actually work in their chosen field even though it does not guarantee riches and a favorable debt-to-earnings ratio.
JockNerd: Not to rehash anything that's been talked about on the board a million times over, but I'd hate for someone to stumble across the above post, see it undisputed, and decide "hey, all programs are the same; I'll get a hundred-grand online degree!"
But of course, you went ahead and recycled the old insinuatory chestnuts about how online learning is inherently inferior.
What makes you think the OP (or any subsequent reader) is unable to critically process the ample information provided without another thinly veiled "online learning - bad" screed?
References:
Barry, M., and Runyan, G. (1995). A review of distance learning studies in the U.S. military. The American Journal of Distance Education, 9 (3): 37–47.
Carey, J. M. (2001). Effective Student Outcomes: A Comparison of Online and Face-to-Face Delivery Modes. DEOSNEWS, 11(9). ISSN 1062-9416
Cheng, H. C., Lehman, J. & Armstrong, P. (1991). Comparison of performance and attitude in traditional and computer conferencing classes. The American Journal of Distance Education 5 (3): 51–64.
DeNeui, D. L. & Dodge, T. L. (2006) Asynchronous Learning Networks and Student Outcomes: The Utility of Online Learning Components in Hybrid Courses. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 33(4). 256 - 259.
Lee, J., Carter-Wells, J., Glaeser, B., Ivers, K., & Street, C. (2006). Facilitating the development of a learning community in an online graduate program. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 7(1). 13 - 33.
Qing L. & Akins, M. (2005) Sixteen myths about online teaching and learning in higher education: Don't believe everything you hear. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 49(4). 51 - 60.
Russell, T. L. (1999). The no significant difference phenomenon. Chapel Hill, NC: Office of Instructional Telecommunications, North Carolina State University.
Shachar, M., & Neumann, Y., (2003). Differences Between Traditional and Distance Education Academic Performances: A meta-analytic approach International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 4(2).