Thursday, April 12, 2012

Thinking Of A Master Degree Online? The Residency Issue

Whether you are looking to a residency program or not should also be on your mind when you consider a master degree online. If you are new to the master degree online environment you might not be aware of the fact that online degrees are not all entirely online-based. Some actually do require you to spend some hours in a physical classroom or lab.

At this point you might be thinking that it is not necessary to even explore the ones that require this time commitment. These programs actually appeal for many reasons. The number one reason is of course improved networking among master degree online students who engage occasionally in a physical classroom.

Face-to-face interaction is of course the best method for networking. This is the advantage of programs with opportunities like these. There are also academic benefits from this increased interaction.

It is easier to ask for help from your peers and professors if they are within your reach. There is speedy exchange of knowledge. There is sometimes a lag in the response time online.

Furthermore, some courses are just better off with residencies. This is because they have a strong focus on practical learning. Some courses place a great value on practical experience, and if yours does as well then you should definitely choose an online program that offers a lot of classroom time.

Take note that this may not be as urgent if you are in a field that is knowledge-based. These programs are fully capable of delivering the entire program online. In cases like this students don’t worry too much about residencies.

Should you see the benefits of a residency, you need to consider just how much time you can commit to it. The residencies are different for each school. You could be expected to do half the course online, the other half practically on site.

Time being a huge factor, those who don’t have too much to spare will seek out programs that are not too demanding residency wise. It's possible to find programs with just a few days in a semester as part of their residency component. Others have single-semester requirements for the entire program.

These programs also have 'big brother' versions that demand a lot of time on campus. You must take your limitations into account though, no matter what program you choose. After all, a lot of people pick an online program to spare themselves the trouble of having to go to campus, among other things.

Of course one of the biggest concerns with regards to the residencies offered by master degree online programs is your distance from the actual institution. The further you are from the institution, the less likely you are to take up too many residence requirements. Not only will this spare you all the effort, it will also help you avoid the travel costs.

Monday, April 9, 2012

The Basics of Online Masters Degrees


Online masters degrees may be found in majority of the institutions in the country. Just as majority of human activities are being facilitated now by the Net, even education provided through it is becoming more popular. The doors opened by Net-based studies lead to paths that people could never have accessed before, due to their commitments warring with each other.

These days, you shall find that every course in a college has a Net-based studying version already. The student can have his pick of a fine array of programs and courses, from Business courses to Education degrees. The typical duration of these programs, at least in the US, is about a couple of years or so.

One of the benefits of studying online is that the student is left with the option to look for a job while pursuing the online Masters class. A number of college graduates decide to go straight to a post-university class, but along the way decide to look for a job. This is perfectly fine when studying online.

There shall always be those students who started families of their own following their undergraduate education too. A lot of women actually do end up doing this sort of thing. A lot of them eventually come back to the idea of continuing their education, though, as may be seen in the number of parents in online masters courses.

The way the Web-based classes are structured renders them ideal for those with other commitments… like children. Typically, a single mother or father will study at times when the child is abed. Then there are those who are handling occupations: they can go through lessons once they get off work.

People who were too swamped with work, family, and other things before can thus get the schooling they need in an Internet-facilitated program. The Internet is also where most students apply or register for the classes. Some people even opt to pay for their tuition and other expenses over the Net.

Just about every activity in such studies will be Internet-facilitated. The readings are typically in digital format for easy distribution. And since the person receives the study texts even before classes begin, he can get an early start.

Most exams are going to be administered by the student himself. The student can easily see how well he is doing by looking at the answers, which are usually given with the exams too. This honor system is dependent on the awareness of the individual that if he cheats, he is the loser.

Other activities may include real-time online tasks. Sometimes, video streams are provided as material, and the persons in the course have to set aside time for that. Another possibility is that the program calls for a webinar of some kind, or talks among class members.

It is expected of students that they shall monitor their own progress and work towards it. If you do badly in the lessons, you shall hardly be able to blame anyone else but yourself. The consequence of being in online masters degrees is that of self-improvement and self-betterment in more ways than one.

What Practical Obstacles Go With a Masters Degree Online?

The masters degree online is the reward for anyone who has finished a distance learning course nowadays. This type of education is now very popular for its practical advantages, but this does not mean it has no disadvantages. Many of the things that people love about this type of learning are also things that could become potential obstacles to education.

These courses are currently provided by many schools. It is no longer surprising that even the more traditional, older establishments, Stanford and Harvard included, are joining the bandwagon. It has come to the point where any college that has not Net-based programs is in the minority group.

A crucial drawback, for some people, is that distance learning permits no competition to prod the student. Whether students or teachers admit it or not, there is competition going on in the classroom in which students ceaselessly try to outdo each other. It is this sort of cmpetitive energy that fosters better academic experiences.

The other people in the class may well be your yardstick for measuring your achievements, and a good motivating factor. These people become positive influences even as they engage in competition. The constant attempts to outdo each other lead to the people in the class raising the bar for their own learning higher an dhigher.

Because they keep attempting to outdo each other, they end up performing better and better. Net-based classes cannot offer this type of motivation. Even those arranged in cohorts still due not get the stimulation people in classrooms do.

As a result, you have no choice but to find your competition against yourself. Since this is a characteristic found among the most successful workers, this could well be your chance to turn the obstacle into a stepping stone. The individual thus gets to challenge himself repeatedly.

In this type of education, the individual has to come to grips with his teachers not being physically present. The student therefore requires firm dedication to an aim and the ability to get to it. He doesn’t need any supervision and should not make any excuses if he misses any deadline, does not complete an assignment or does not pass the self-examinations.

Online schooling trains learners to be responsible, proactive and independent. The online learner is someone who is self-motivated, which means that he cannot afford to draw his motivation from other persons. Often, doing these may involve additional research and side-reference studies.

Those who have a lot on their plates are expected to be capable of dealing with several things at once too. Indeed, why else would you choose a distance learning program otherwise? You are thus expected to know how to manage your time well for yourself.

In some cases, students will be required to set a specific time to accommodate online chat-room discussions, live video streaming, and real-time webinars. You should be capable of fitting these into your itinerary when that happens. Obviously, you shall have to deal with quite a few things with a masters degree online, although it will reward you later.

The Beauty and Ugliness of MBA Online Degree Programs

As is the case for other courses, MBA online degree programs sport upsides and downsides. Web-based studies have two sides, like many other things. What is paramount is that you know all of them before you settle on this path.

It is expected that your pay grade shall go up, but by how much depends on several factors. It is worthwhile to note that less noteworthy advances in the pay grades are found for those who achieved their diplomas through public schools. Students who expected higher salaries after graduation may thus have difficulties with their finances if they are in such situations where the salary went up by only a little.

That said, you may well find yourself being selected more often for jobs with your degree. More corporations are likely to consider you if you have credentials of this type. There might be a little problem with this due to the weak economy, though, as many companies at the moment are letting go of employees who ask for more money, in order to keep themselves afloat in stormy financial seas.

This is a time when many Americans are questioning just how good their education is. It bears mentioning that there are fewer persons against the concept of Web-based education compared to before. This learning style has inspired a good number of colleges to provide classes of this type.

The crucial selling point to any MBA program online is the ability to access lectures and readings 24 hours a day and 7 days a week online. This means that the people in the course have greater flexibility. That does not necessarily translate to an easier course of study, mind you, and many are discovering this.

Curricula are almost equal for the two kinds of masters degrees, though. Note that the online students do benefit from their format in the sense that it genuinely demands of them certain virtues that are not as necessary in the conventional study. This means that online students only need their diplomas to prove that they are truly responsible enough for job posts.

However, most academic works are completed online with little opportunities for personal interaction. This tends to make networking harder, and that can be a liability if you are in commerce. For other online degree programs aside from an MBA, however, this may not be too big an issue.

The beauty of studying over the Internet is that courses are generally not as expensive. Distance learning programs also eliminate the need to consider traveling expenditures. Because you no longer need to waste time on the trip, you can use that freed-up time for study or work.

One has to be careful about the college too. One has to be wary of the fact that there are more fraudulent players in this game than ever before. Invest some time in researching colleges in order to figure out which ones are scams and which are real.

MBA online degree programs should not be viewed as always trounced by their campus-based counterparts. It simply provides the individual with more options for personal and professional growth. You shall find that there are more pros than cons to actually finishing the course.