Formal admission into the OMS CS program will require a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from an accredited institution, or a related Bachelor of Science degree with a possible need to take and pass remedial courses
Personally, I have benefited more from the human interaction and relationships formed while attending university, in person, than from many of the classes themselves. The people I got to know helps me more than the formulas I learned.
I believe the people is what you're paying for when you attend an ivy league school. The math is the same.
I see this degree as a huge boon for folks in the technology sector who are already working, but want to pick up a masters degree (for professional development or promotion). This isn't a replacement for the face to face college experience, but individuals who are working full-time don't necessarily want/need that socialization.
This is cheap enough that I could easy see tech companies offering to subsidize this degree as a perk for their employees, assuming the employee gets accepted to the program.
There's quite a barrier to a student with an existing undergraduate degree wanting to expand into a masters in a different field, particularly technical fields like engineering or computer science.
mooc's like Georgia Tech's offer a middle-of-the-road option between a tradition masters w/ placement testing (or a whole second bachelor for some) and professionally 'doing without' any accredited education and relying solely on chops and applied experience. I think there is a clear hole in the educational market for these 'transitional' services, and online courses seem to fill it well.
The real questions (VikingCoder stated above) are:
to what degree does that $6600 certificate raise your earning potential?
AND
how effective, in contrast to traditional degrees or self-directed studies, are these online courses at educating people to professionally acceptable standards?
San José State University just suspended the MOOCs -- their library school masters program (for example) is still mostly all on-line/ distance education
The article isn't very clear, but I think this SJSU/EdX collaboration was an attempt by SJSU administrators to save money by doing a "flipped classroom" with MIT educational materials. Maybe it's not politically correct to say so, but an average failing grade by SJSU students on MIT curricula does not surprise me at all. SJSU only has a 47% six year graduation rate.
One counterpoint to this is daphne coller's claim that pass rate is about 70 percent for people who paid $50 for a special track that includes verification of identity and means to prevent cheating.
My experience with MOOC's: They're still expensive, over-priced education.
I've taken many online courses, and I've always felt as if I could have just researched things on my own and bought a book or two. I have yet to take an online course that I felt was worth my money. All of them consisted of: Buy these books, read this material, answer these questions. Well I can do that on my own for free thank you.
I think they provide a structure, and some people really benefit from it. If you are paying -- even if it's a few hundred instead of thousands of dollars per month -- and have a clear schedule, you are much more likely to stick with it and actually make the effort to learn the subject.
"On your own" is not an accredited institute of higher learning that you can put on your resume.
Note: GREAT employers won't care whether you learned material on your own, or in an accredited degree program. Merely Good employers can be forgiven for thinking there's a difference. HR personnel who often get to screen resumes simply cannot be expected to understand that someone with a Masters is not inherently any more qualified than someone without a Masters.
So, the question becomes, does an Online Masters add $6,000 or more to your lifetime earning potential?
This is an aside, but I wonder how much longer the law schools will be able to deny admission to the bar to people with on-line law degrees.
You are allowed to take the California bar with an on-line law degree, but that's unusual.
Obviously, the law schools have a huge incentive to prevent this from happening, and they hold an ace card that traditional MS degrees don't have - it is flat out illegal (illegal as in you can be put in prison) to practice law unless you do the education exactly as specified by the law schools.
Computer Science departments may confer a useful degree and body of knowledge, but there's no professional association that can deny (under threat of fines and imprisonment) people without an MS in CS from writing code.
I'll probably come back & post more on this later, but one thing to note is that it is not the law schools denying admission to the bar, its the bar denying admission to people who have not gone to law school. Also, it's not illegal to practice law without the education - it's illegal to practice without the bar. The ace card isn't really the law schools so much as it's the bar associations. Meanwhile the bar associations are filled with attorneys who have JD's and want to keep the value of that degree up, so they have a vested interest in requiring JD's for admittance into their profession. It's kinda a circular & self reinforcing system, but like Mark Twain said, every profession is a conspiracy against the world.
I think the focus on legal education should not be getting online right now, but to change the JD to a 2 year degree, or start offering LLM's or something equivalent without the need for a JD and allow people to practice with those degrees. I've heard many law professors talk about how the final year of law school is pointless. Unfortunately, making a JD take 3 years is like Alka-seltzer coming up with the ad where they put in 2 tablets instead of one -- they're making money off it because people think it's needed.
Law schools are over priced, but they're also producing more than enough lawyers, so I don't really see accessbility as a bottleneck that needs to be solved, which is what most of the MOOCs are solving. Price is an issue that needs to be solved, but given the self perpetuating old boys network that is the legal profession any changes need to come through slow reforms, not major disruption.
Finally, firms & government agencies aren't going to hire people with online degrees even if they are admitted. School's name recognition carries more weight than it should (in my opinion) in this profession. It will be extremely hard for grads to gain the skills and prove themselves when they're not able to plug into existing networks after taking an online degree.
If Pre-reqs met, ($245/credit in-state / $742/credit out-of-state) x 41 credits = $10-30K
My story: 31, attending a decent PA state school getting a 2nd (and maybe 3rd) BS in Physics and CS, in-state full tuition < $9k/year. Went to a more expensive school in Philadelphia for my first Bachelors in Information Systems. Moved back to PA from Bay Area, had Data Analyst-type skills, applied to Startup School and got denied (naturally), but didn't have strong programming experience to get in a startup. Hope to return to the Bay, only prepared this time.
Yeah, I could've spent years self-teaching everything I needed to know, but found it helpful to go through a formal academic program to save time. However, I'm also supplementing my learning through Codecademy and MIT OCW.
But we definitely need more rigorous and legitimate online programs because so many people want to go back to school but can't because of family/work obligations, and the popularized online degree programs are degree mills at best.
Subjects such as CS and EE can be taught well online, but to teach Lab Sciences online would be impossible, unless simulations would be considered a substitute for actual Lab work. Medical School's another impossibility.
But if I knew about these online programs beforehand, I would've strongly considered it before quitting my job and being a full-time student.
I was thinking an interesting startup would be one that matches people taking online courses into study/support groups. Then each person has to put down say a $100 deposit, and the group only gets their deposit back if everyone in the group completes the course.*
As a bonus the money taken from groups that don't complete the course could be distributed to the groups that did so you could actually make money from taking courses.
Yes I'd be interested in working on this (email in profile). I think it could be similar to http://www.gym-pact.com/ but for MOOCs (i.e. "get paid to finish MOOCs"). It could also expand to coders who have trouble finishing their side-projects (I had this idea recently).
I think these guys - http://functionspace.org have some kind of subject groups and articles. They announced some upcoming courses a little while back, perhaps they're on this idea.
In the past, the only way to acquire a deep understanding of a topic was to attend a university and study in a traditional class setting. As such, employers made hiring decisions based on the merits of one's Alma mater; in the early days of higher education, individuals attending top schools were the only ones who had access to the highest quality instruction.
Today, the biggest threat to Higher-ed is the movement towards open courseware, largely spearheaded by MIT (see here: http://bit.ly/9GawDQ). However, open courseware cannot be a threat to large institutions as long as hiring is based on a paper degree rather than the amount of acquired knowledge and specialized skill one has attained.
I believe these online degrees are a rather expensive way to solve this problem.
My only concern is that some ongoing identification/verification takes place so the degree doesn't get "gamed" by being on line, thusly lowering it's value.
This is going to change the higher education not only in USA but worldwide .... kudos to all who put this kind of effort in disrupting the long due stagnant eco-system ... it is going to be proven as a god-sent-gift for a student coming from a poor financial background from 3rd world countries ...
This is a great first step, but what America needs is a quality, inexpensive, Bachelor's degree program. I hope it will happen, but it's not an obvious evolution from this GT initiative.
[+] [-] brs|12 years ago|reply
Self-taught computer scientists should also note:
Formal admission into the OMS CS program will require a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from an accredited institution, or a related Bachelor of Science degree with a possible need to take and pass remedial courses
[+] [-] draugadrotten|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] runjake|12 years ago|reply
This sort of thing, if it produces quality people, lowers the education bar and that's never a bad thing.
[+] [-] mcburton|12 years ago|reply
This is cheap enough that I could easy see tech companies offering to subsidize this degree as a perk for their employees, assuming the employee gets accepted to the program.
[+] [-] bradleysmith|12 years ago|reply
There's quite a barrier to a student with an existing undergraduate degree wanting to expand into a masters in a different field, particularly technical fields like engineering or computer science.
mooc's like Georgia Tech's offer a middle-of-the-road option between a tradition masters w/ placement testing (or a whole second bachelor for some) and professionally 'doing without' any accredited education and relying solely on chops and applied experience. I think there is a clear hole in the educational market for these 'transitional' services, and online courses seem to fill it well.
The real questions (VikingCoder stated above) are: to what degree does that $6600 certificate raise your earning potential?
AND
how effective, in contrast to traditional degrees or self-directed studies, are these online courses at educating people to professionally acceptable standards?
[+] [-] pstuart|12 years ago|reply
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/San-Jose-State-suspends-o...
[+] [-] ceejayoz|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tingletech|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jurassic|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ippisl|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fnordfnordfnord|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dreamdu5t|12 years ago|reply
I've taken many online courses, and I've always felt as if I could have just researched things on my own and bought a book or two. I have yet to take an online course that I felt was worth my money. All of them consisted of: Buy these books, read this material, answer these questions. Well I can do that on my own for free thank you.
[+] [-] rubinelli|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] VikingCoder|12 years ago|reply
Note: GREAT employers won't care whether you learned material on your own, or in an accredited degree program. Merely Good employers can be forgiven for thinking there's a difference. HR personnel who often get to screen resumes simply cannot be expected to understand that someone with a Masters is not inherently any more qualified than someone without a Masters.
So, the question becomes, does an Online Masters add $6,000 or more to your lifetime earning potential?
[+] [-] astine|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] geebee|12 years ago|reply
You are allowed to take the California bar with an on-line law degree, but that's unusual.
Obviously, the law schools have a huge incentive to prevent this from happening, and they hold an ace card that traditional MS degrees don't have - it is flat out illegal (illegal as in you can be put in prison) to practice law unless you do the education exactly as specified by the law schools.
Computer Science departments may confer a useful degree and body of knowledge, but there's no professional association that can deny (under threat of fines and imprisonment) people without an MS in CS from writing code.
[+] [-] VandyILL|12 years ago|reply
I think the focus on legal education should not be getting online right now, but to change the JD to a 2 year degree, or start offering LLM's or something equivalent without the need for a JD and allow people to practice with those degrees. I've heard many law professors talk about how the final year of law school is pointless. Unfortunately, making a JD take 3 years is like Alka-seltzer coming up with the ad where they put in 2 tablets instead of one -- they're making money off it because people think it's needed.
Law schools are over priced, but they're also producing more than enough lawyers, so I don't really see accessbility as a bottleneck that needs to be solved, which is what most of the MOOCs are solving. Price is an issue that needs to be solved, but given the self perpetuating old boys network that is the legal profession any changes need to come through slow reforms, not major disruption.
Finally, firms & government agencies aren't going to hire people with online degrees even if they are admitted. School's name recognition carries more weight than it should (in my opinion) in this profession. It will be extremely hard for grads to gain the skills and prove themselves when they're not able to plug into existing networks after taking an online degree.
[+] [-] milhous|12 years ago|reply
Just wanted to chime with a few other interesting online degree programs, particular helpful for :
1. Post-Bac Computer Science B.S. Program from Oregon State. Takes 1-3 years to complete: http://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-degrees/undergraduate/...
$450/credit x 60 credits = $27K
2. Stony Brook University Electrical Engineering Online: http://beeol.ee.sunysb.edu/index.shtml
If Pre-reqs met, ($245/credit in-state / $742/credit out-of-state) x 41 credits = $10-30K
My story: 31, attending a decent PA state school getting a 2nd (and maybe 3rd) BS in Physics and CS, in-state full tuition < $9k/year. Went to a more expensive school in Philadelphia for my first Bachelors in Information Systems. Moved back to PA from Bay Area, had Data Analyst-type skills, applied to Startup School and got denied (naturally), but didn't have strong programming experience to get in a startup. Hope to return to the Bay, only prepared this time.
Yeah, I could've spent years self-teaching everything I needed to know, but found it helpful to go through a formal academic program to save time. However, I'm also supplementing my learning through Codecademy and MIT OCW.
But we definitely need more rigorous and legitimate online programs because so many people want to go back to school but can't because of family/work obligations, and the popularized online degree programs are degree mills at best.
Subjects such as CS and EE can be taught well online, but to teach Lab Sciences online would be impossible, unless simulations would be considered a substitute for actual Lab work. Medical School's another impossibility.
But if I knew about these online programs beforehand, I would've strongly considered it before quitting my job and being a full-time student.
[+] [-] tocomment|12 years ago|reply
As a bonus the money taken from groups that don't complete the course could be distributed to the groups that did so you could actually make money from taking courses.
Anyone interested in working on this??
* There would be exceptions for illness, etc.
[+] [-] michaelrbock|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ridersofnorth|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ylem|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Plough_Jogger|12 years ago|reply
Today, the biggest threat to Higher-ed is the movement towards open courseware, largely spearheaded by MIT (see here: http://bit.ly/9GawDQ). However, open courseware cannot be a threat to large institutions as long as hiring is based on a paper degree rather than the amount of acquired knowledge and specialized skill one has attained.
I believe these online degrees are a rather expensive way to solve this problem.
[+] [-] xradionut|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] newsign|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] auctiontheory|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kozikow|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] viennacoder|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] newsign|12 years ago|reply