How do online degrees measure up?
As Internet universities grow in prominence, employers are going to see a lot more "'.com"s on resumes. Host Tess Vigeland asks pollster John Zogby how the perception of online degree programs is changing in the workplace.
John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International (Zogby)
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Tess Vigeland: Graduates clutching online degrees have to compete with job seekers from actual halls of learning. Polls show employers don't think distance learning is on par with traditional college -- yet.
The gap is shrinking, according to pollster John Zogby. His new book "The Way We'll Be" predicts that online education will become a way of life.
Thanks for being here.
John Zogby: Hey Tess. How are you?
Vigeland: I'm fine, thank you. So in your book you compare online college degrees to the trend of flexcars, which are like timeshares for cars. Explain for us what the overlap is.
Zogby: It's all part of a new paradigm where Americans, in many ways from the bottom up, are creating new and more flexible institutions and so in a world where more and more Americans are seeking advanced degrees or college degrees or certificate courses, they're also working for 40, 50 and 60 hours a week in the workplace and have other responsibilities as well. And so here come the online universities to offer very busy people the option of improving themselves with an education.
Vigeland: The obvious benefits are that you can adapt it to your schedule, it's most likely cheaper, you don't have to pick up and move somewhere to a campus, but there must be tradeoffs here as well.
Zogby: I mean right now, to be very honest, online education is not viewed with the same level of respect by professionals, by academics, by business leaders, in fact, for that matter, even the students themselves the same way that a traditional brick-and-mortar education is. I can tell you purely anecdotally that as an employer I have people with masters degrees from both very, very good top universities in this country and also those who have gotten online degrees and in many instances, the people are very, very good. In a few instances, I would have to admit that some of the ones with online degrees, not as advanced as those with brick-and-mortar, but we have reason to believe from the polling that we have done over the last couple of years that the level of acceptance for the online degree is growing.
Vigeland: I wonder if there's any guidance in terms of what these online institutions have to do to make themselves more viable, more understood, more relevant?
Zogby: It's going to be very difficult to have a virtual football team, now isn't it?
Vigeland: Right!
Zogby: Or for that matter, fans. But you're going to see all-out efforts at recruiting stars: star faculty, star authors, genuine experts in the field of research and so on, which in fact then draws the best students and problems, as I mentioned earlier, iron themselves out. Members of the old paradigm -- public universities, major public universities -- decide this is wave of our future and we can bring students in at a much lower overhead and offer them a very good education and they have the skills and the technology to do it all at home.
Vigeland: John Zogby's latest book is "The Way We'll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream" and he's been chatting with us about the value of online education. Thanks so much for your time.
Zogby: Thanks so much Tess.
Comments
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From Burke, VA, 01/07/2009
Mr. Zogby is totally wrong on the whole distance education concept. FYI, those who are the same age with me, and graduated from "brick and mortar" colleges make 50% less than I do. Of course, I chose Distance Learning due to Military obligation and jobs.
From IL, 01/06/2009
What about the students who receive their education via distance learning FROM brick and mortar universities? Something tells me he doesn't know very much about this subject. Traditional universities also offer degrees at a distance. These degrees are the same exact degrees that on campus students earn and there is no indication that the degrees were earned online. I think Zogby was referring to online institutions that have no brick and mortar element.
From Alexandria, VA, 01/06/2009
Mr. Zogby seems to be trying to belatedly jump to the front of a parade that's been ongoing for some time -- his comments betray a rather shallow understanding of distance learning today. For example, he makes an artificial distinction between online schools and brick and mortar schools, even though traditional institutions have been offering online programs for over a decade now. And his suggestion that distance learning students don't think highly of their own education is a pretty remarkable claim. Most employers don't even ask candidates whether their degrees were earned online or on campus anymore. It's just not that significant a difference.
From Miami, FL, 01/06/2009
I am in the field of counseling and also teach part-time at a local college. I have a "brick and mortar" school graduate degree and another one from an online university. At my college I cannot discern any lower opinion of online degrees. As a matter of fact, some faculty that are well respected have acquired Ph.D.'s online. In my private counseling practice I find that I have greater respect among patients and also among colleagues regardless of whether my doctorate is from an online institution or not. It helps that I am a very good psychotherapist with great patient referrals continuing to roll in.
Samuel Lopez De Victoria, Ph.D., L.M.H.C., N.C.C.
http://www.DrSam.tv
From Arlington, VA, 11/24/2008
Actualy the online programs I have seen can be more expensive than the on-campus ones. At University of Phoenix, online is 30% more. As far as emploers, wouldn't it matter more which online school you went to? I would think a Penn State online degree would pull more weight then an oncampus degree at a mediocre institution.
Brian
From OVERSEAS, CA, 11/22/2008
Online degrees has been an asset for me and my coherts - the United States Navy. I received my B.S. and working on my MBA while being on "travel" onboard a United States Ship. The military (I feel) are not included with the research and also not given credit with the experience and degrees they would have when they depart the military.
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