Chapter 6

The Best Program (Chapter 6)

You know what you would like to earn a master’s degree in, and you know why. But now you have to figure out which program is best for you. There are several factors to consider when deciding which online programs to apply to and, eventually, to enroll in:

• Accreditation

  Accreditation will be addressed more fully later in this article, but it’s a very important factor to consider when choosing an online master’s degree program. Employers, regulating agencies, and other academic institutions might not view a master’s degree granted by an institution that is not accredited as legitimate. To save yourself some grief, only apply to schools that are accredited by a well-respected, U.S. Department of Education approved accrediting agency.

• Residency Requirements

  One of the appeals of an online master’s degree program is that it’s online rather than on-site. While most online programs conduct a majority of their courses and assignments online, be aware that some will have residency requirements. Some schools have no residency requirements, and your entire degree will be done online and not on-campus. Other schools have limited residency requirements, where you’ll be asked to spend one semester or less on campus. These usually include weekend seminars, one-week stints, or summer institutes, and are a good way to meet and interact with the students and faculty who you normally only “see” online. Extended residency requirements might ask you to study on-site for one semester or more. This can give you a more traditional postgraduate experience (which you may prefer), but it may be more difficult to arrange if you work full-time, live far from the campus, or have other responsibilities. Blended, or hybrid programs, which will be discussed in further detail later, will have you on-site consistently throughout your degree program, though they will make use of online courses and assignments. If the programs you’re interested in have residency requirements, consider how much time you’ll be on-site, how far you will have to travel to get there, and how much it will cost to do so.

• Course Format

  The format of the courses included in your program of study will likely have an impact on which school and program you choose. Although earning a master’s degree online can bring independence and flexibility, some courses will be set up so that you will need to be at your computer at a specific time. Courses in which all students must login, or sign in, at the same time are called synchronous courses. These may occur when lectures need to be seen live or when discussions are held via video-conferencing. Asynchronous courses allow students to login at any time to view lectures or to comment on assignments. If you need more flexibility to pursue a master’s degree online, make sure that your courses are asynchronous. If the school from which you’re earning your degree is in another time zone, be sure to take that into account when choosing synchronous courses. If your program requires you to sit for exams, some schools will ask you to use a proctor, someone who is certified to oversee a test. Most public libraries and universities have proctoring services, and your school should provide you with a list.

• Communication/Interactions

  How you communicate and interact with your department’s faculty and classmates can help or hinder your learning process depending on your preferences. If you have little or no difficulty collecting information from email communications and online discussion boards, and can learn well on your own, then an online master’s program that primarily uses these tools of communication will suit you fine. Some schools and programs offer video conferencing between students and professors, and for small-group seminars. These can be nice if you tend to understand ideas and concepts better when you hear them (as opposed to when you read them). As mentioned above, some online master’s programs have residency requirements that allow you to meet your faculty and classmates in person, thus making future communication easier. Master’s degree programs tend to be based on close interaction with a few professors and a small group of classmates; figure out which forms of communication work best for you and how reliable they are within that program. Make sure that the virtual learning systems, such as WebCT and Blackboard Learning System, used by your program are compatible with your hardware.

• Faculty

  Although you may not see the faculty of your online master’s program every day, they will play an integral role in your program and your culminating project (if you have one). As with any program of study, you want to make sure the people teaching you are qualified to do so. Professors should have their education history and curriculum vitae (CVs) available for you. Check to see if a potential school’s faculty has degrees from accredited institutions, or that their practical knowledge and work history are appropriate for what they are teaching. Master’s degree programs tend to be the point at which you begin to specialize your area of study. It’s important to work with professors whose research interests align with, or at the very least, support your own interests. A literature professor who focuses on 19th century American novels can offer only so much aid to a student studying 15th century Italian biographies. Remember, you want to find a good match in a master’s degree program, not just be accepted to one.

• Resources

  In the 21st century, more and more things can be found and done online. The Internet, however, has not yet fully replaced libraries and science labs and it is essential that you know what kind of resources you will have access to in an online program. If you choose to enroll in an online program through a brick-and-mortar institution, you will most likely have access to their libraries, labs, and support services. While universities are including more library information and resources online, especially with online articles and research databases like JSTOR and Web of Science, there are still some items that can only be found in the library itself. Look at your potential programs to see what resources are available to you. If it is unclear, ask. The availability of resources can have a huge impact on the work you do at the master’s level.

• Theses and/or Comprehensive Exams

  A program’s milestones and methods of evaluation can vary depending on the field of study and the institution where you enroll. At the end of the coursework, you may have to sit for a comprehensive exam or you may need to write a lengthy research paper, called a thesis or dissertation. It’s important to understand what is expected of you in each program, how you will be evaluated, and what is required to pass.