Online Graduate Programs from Traditional Universities

The one thing missing from on-line degrees is the interaction with other students, professors, and other resources available at a brick and mortar institution. I would suspect that, for someone who has worked in a technical field for a number of years, this would be a great way of gaining the credentials to advance one's career. The key is it would be to couple the degree with actual work experience in a technical discipline.

I am not sure the brick and mortar institutions actually distinguish in their documentation whether the degree was gained on line or on campus.

One of the best engineers I have ever had the pleasure of working with had no engineering degree, but he had over forty years of diverse technical work experience, from machine shop to electronic testing lab. A very astute individual, a great problem solver. For those of us who worked with him, the lack of credentials in no way detracted from his position within the organization as the guru to go to when up against the wall.

For a young person, the degree from a recognized institution would most likely open doors that would not open with an Internet-only degree. For someone with advanced technical experience, the degree would most likely be most important from a self-satisfaction perspective...

Online degrees are great for those of us who're working full time with other family obligations. I am almost finished with my masters in engineering management online. Even though I had a couple of dozen schools to choose form to take this program as a distance learning program I choose a school that was just a half an hour away. For a couple of reasons: First it was much cheaper because of in state tuition prices, Second the program was offered both online and in class so I had my choice of classes to take. Third the school really stressed getting certified in the many specialty tracts that you can take in the program (i.e. PMP, CQE, CEM, etc...).

I would like to know how practical workshop training is given in such online courses. I did engineering when internet was not even born. We had to learn how to operate lathes,Milling machine, Shaping machine, Smithy shop , Fitting shop, Carpentry etc.

Suresh Sharma,

In looking for online EE programs, I rarely found any undergraduate programs offered. I believe this is due to the inability for an online student to participate. I found several graduate degree offerrings, I suppose because labs/workshops are not as common.

Maybe someone else can offer some input - since I was not an on-campus graduate student, are labs common in their degree plan?

I took a couple of courses in EE from Arizona State University and was very pleased. I would still be taking courses, but tuition increases simply priced me out of them. I believe the only time I would have to set foot on the actual campus was for the comprehensive oral final examination at the end of the Master's. The degree would not have been any different from an on-campus MSEE.

The class sessions were recorded and then posted on a class-specific website for streaming video (I don't think they could be downloaded). The instructor was excellent, which in my opinion, can make or break any course. He was almost always available by e-mail or telephone.

In some ways, it takes more dedication and self-dicipline than being in class in person. It's very easy to say, "I'll just watch this later."

I'm not sure how the majority of people view online (graduate) education, but I do think it will become more and more common as time goes by.

Hi Youngin,

I understand your problem. Graduate education in U.S if very expensive neither parrents nor students can easily afford it. That is the reason for shortages of Engineers in U.K. Here in India graduated education is higly subsidised by the Govt. So ordinary middle class family can afford it.

We also have Institution Engineers who conducts exams and after passing exams the degree is recognised by Govt. It is tougher than normal colleges. It conducts exams every year and students either study themselves from home or take help from coaching classes. Also students have to take practical training in the industry to be familiar with machines. I do not know if you have such Institutes in U.S.

Be a little cautious though on the curriculum requirements. Some "on line" classes require your presence at their campus to take the exams to preclude cheating. Few if any quality programs allow unsupervised examinations over the net. Some programs permit you to take their exam at another campus while being proctored by a staff member of that campus.