Online education opinions/experience

[mdwest]

When I was doing hiring for a variety of Accounting related positions, I almost always discounted an online education.

Considering the most common online degree programs are business related.. (to include accounting, finance, and economics).. and most public brick and mortar schools these days offer their business programs (undergraduate and graduate) online in addition to in the classroom.. and there is no way to know if the student sat in the class.. or sat in the bathtub while taking the course these days.. Im guessing the time you were hiring accountants was a good while ago?

(my wife is a senior accounting director for a global fortune 500 firm that provides accounting consultants to other fortune firms like marriott, facebook, etc... and has a staff of more than 60 accountants that work for her.. many of whom have online degrees.. online doesnt appear to bother many of the fortune 500 anymore these days.. unless you are talking senior executives.. many see no difference at all in online v. school house degrees.. this is especially true in business fields..)

It's too easy to cheat or not really learn as much compared to a brick and mortar education.

Thats a pretty generalized statement.. cheating would have been just as hard (if not more difficult) in my program as it would have been at a brick and mortar program.. because all of my exams were proctored.. at a brick and mortar school (I took some exams at the University of TN.. and a few at King University).. considering that I was the only person in the room on a couple of occasions being monitored by the proctor.. Im thinking it would have been far harder for me to cheat, than someone sitting in a classroom with 40 other students taking a test with a single professor present..

Again, only in my experience, but the most skilled, productive and higher quality employees or applicants almost always came from brick and mortar education.

That's not to say online educations are not worth anything but my view was generally the view held by others I talked with in various fields.

again, I think your information/experience may be seriously dated.. recent studies actually show the exact opposite..

not to mention, a large segment of the people that used to pursue "executive MBA" programs (night and weekend programs) because thats all that their schedules would allow.. due to them working as senior managers and executives in business.. now pursue online MBAs... some schools have gone so far as to dissolve their executive mba programs and completely replace them with online programs (its simply a better business model for them)...

considering the "normal" student in an executive MBA program is exactly the person you describe above (most skilled, most productive, highest quality... and has as a result been promoted into management/leadership/executive position and now needs the degree to move any further.. I'd go so far as to say your experience has been flawed for the better part of the past century...

the movers and shakers in business.. if they dont pursue the MBA immediately after completing their bachelors (when they are young, and still relatively valueless).. very commonly have been executive mba grads.. and are now more and more online grads..



The above likely does not apply if were making an apples to oranges comparison.. and youre talking about how a hiring manager might look at a B&M degree from Ohio State vs an online degree from Univ of Phoenix..

If we're talking apples to apples however... I would challenge you to find more than 20% of the population of hiring managers in even the accounting world.. that would care if a degree earned from Columbia was earned in the bathtub or in a campus classroom.... or an accounting degree from the University of Memphis.. or one from Ohio State.. as long as we're talking the same university.. no one cares (or very, very few do..)

I would go so far as to say.. that those 20%.. are largely dinosaurs these days already.. and in 10 more years the number will be closer to 5%..

in 20 years it will be 0%.. and a significant number of the B&M campuses on the planet will have already ceased to exist..

 

[sofc]

Considering the most common online degree programs are business related.. (to include accounting, finance, and economics).. and most public brick and mortar schools these days offer their business programs (undergraduate and graduate) online in addition to in the classroom.. and there is no way to know if the student sat in the class.. or sat in the bathtub while taking the course these days.. Im guessing the time you were hiring accountants was a good while ago?

(my wife is a senior accounting director for a global fortune 500 firm that provides accounting consultants to other fortune firms like marriott, facebook, etc... and has a staff of more than 60 accountants that work for her.. many of whom have online degrees.. online doesnt appear to bother many of the fortune 500 anymore these days.. unless you are talking senior executives.. many see no difference at all in online v. school house degrees.. this is especially true in business fields..)



Thats a pretty generalized statement.. cheating would have been just as hard (if not more difficult) in my program as it would have been at a brick and mortar program.. because all of my exams were proctored.. at a brick and mortar school (I took some exams at the University of TN.. and a few at King University).. considering that I was the only person in the room on a couple of occasions being monitored by the proctor.. Im thinking it would have been far harder for me to cheat, than someone sitting in a classroom with 40 other students taking a test with a single professor present..




again, I think your information/experience may be seriously dated.. recent studies actually show the exact opposite..

not to mention, a large segment of the people that used to pursue "executive MBA" programs (night and weekend programs) because thats all that their schedules would allow.. due to them working as senior managers and executives in business.. now pursue online MBAs... some schools have gone so far as to dissolve their executive mba programs and completely replace them with online programs (its simply a better business model for them)...

considering the "normal" student in an executive MBA program is exactly the person you describe above (most skilled, most productive, highest quality... and has as a result been promoted into management/leadership/executive position and now needs the degree to move any further.. I'd go so far as to say your experience has been flawed for the better part of the past century...

the movers and shakers in business.. if they dont pursue the MBA immediately after completing their bachelors (when they are young, and still relatively valueless).. very commonly have been executive mba grads.. and are now more and more online grads..



The above likely does not apply if were making an apples to oranges comparison.. and youre talking about how a hiring manager might look at a B&M degree from Ohio State vs an online degree from Univ of Phoenix..

If we're talking apples to apples however... I would challenge you to find more than 20% of the population of hiring managers in even the accounting world.. that would care if a degree earned from Columbia was earned in the bathtub or in a campus classroom.... or an accounting degree from the University of Memphis.. or one from Ohio State.. as long as we're talking the same university.. no one cares (or very, very few do..)

I would go so far as to say.. that those 20%.. are largely dinosaurs these days already.. and in 10 more years the number will be closer to 5%..

in 20 years it will be 0%.. and a significant number of the B&M campuses on the planet will have already ceased to exist..

If you didn't write so long, I wouldn't have to read all that.

Ryan, I think it has been said but I would ask someone in the business you're interested in about their views. I know in my field, online degrees are not looked at with much respect but it could be because of the personal/interactional nature of it.

 

[TonyRome]

Good for you jerkface! You do know me and Mike are currently going to school right? My personal experience echoes what others have said I know when I updated my resume to include this schooling because I only have 3 classes left whoohoo. It has improved my bites and even though I took 80% online my degree simply says Central Michigan. No different designation we even walk in the same ceremony as main campus if we choose. The biggest downside I have discovered between the two is that it seems like online prof assign more busy work because you don't meet in person discussion boards and such. Since I started online I didn't discover this fact until last summer when I took my first face to face. Proctored exams can be a pain too but overall I'm glad I went back. I appreciate it more than I did when I went the first time also I find that because I have been in the real world it's easier to add context to the lessons.