Are online college degree programs helpful to your career?

Yes

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by Jeffrey Graf

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Because the emergence of on-line degrees is a relatively recent trend in higher education, there tends to be a presumption that there must be some content which they cannot deliver in an appropriate manner. I wish to counter that many fields themselves are being transformed by the same changes in technology that are transforming education. That means that employers will increasingly expect that prospective employees be more than just "computer literate", but they in fact be "completely connected".

In fact, on-line technology has transformed the job search and hiring process in many of the same ways that it has impacted education. New graduates are more likely to be searching for job prospects posted on Internet databases, and will make their first contact with their prospective employer via the web.Obviously,those students who can make a big impression with their mastery of related technology will have the greatest advantage.

Is it fair to assume that all brick and mortar educational programs have remained current throughout the electronic revolution? In a word,no. In fact, many programs have not only been slow to integrate technological updates into their programs, they have failed to do so completely. Good examples are programs in the medical and biological fields. Programs related to medicine and health are very often "cast in stone" as a function of their certification requirements, and as a result, their graduates may be at a disadvantage when viewed by employers who are looking for new employees to bring the company into the information age.

Perhaps obviously, there are examples of educational experiences which cannot be appropriately duplicated on-line. Examples of these are courses which require large amounts of laboratory time, such as chemistry or biology, or programs which require clinical time such as physical therapy or nursing. In most cases, colleges offering on-line degrees understand what is appropriate and what is not. But, having recently taken advanced molecular biology laboratory oriented classes at a traditional university, I can say that an increasing proportion of the challenge of such a course relates to the "bioinformatics" portion of the course, not the laboratory technique portion of the course. It would already be passe to say that the molecular biology laboratory of the future looks like a bunch of computer terminals connected to automated processes because many if not all of the most labor intensive processes have already been automated. In short, in fields such as molecular biology, understanding the problem is much more important than extensive lab experience. If an employment prospect demonstrates they can use their head in such challenging positions as molecular biologist, an employer will give them all the laboratory experience they want, and then move them up the ladder into the front office.

One other thing to consider when evaluating on-line programs is the degree to which they not only allow, but require students to interact and cooperate with each other. Having just graduated from a traditional education graduate program, I can say that one of the primary foundations of that program was the emphasis on cooperative work. The social aspect of education, or the ability to make major contributions to a cooperative project. In educational terms, this is one of the pillars of the "constructivist" model of cognitive psychology, and examples of cooperative work is one thing that employers want to see examples of. If you choose an on-line program, make sure there are many opportunities for cooperative work with your fellow students.

How far will the on-line degree trend go? Will non-traditional educational programs ever challenge the nations medical schools? That may be a topic for another article, but in some sense traditions are already faltering. While on vacation a few years ago I visited the remote island of Saba in the Caribbean. For those of you who are not familiar, which I am sure accounts for most of you, Saba is a volcano rising out of the sea into a permanent cloud bank and rain forest. At it's top is a small town which is home to a medical school. Medical students spend two years on the Island, and then do their clinical requirements in the United States. In short, the Caribbean is becoming an archipelago of non-traditional medical schools. It is my observation that once traditions start falling, they go over like dominoes.

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