Ivy League Schools Offering Online Degrees? (master, pay, program, graduate)

[SiddharthaGautama]

Does anyone know of any Ivy league schools that currently offer online graduate degrees?

[Bette]

Let me know if you find one.

[asiablue]

There are some Ivy league schools that offer free online lectures but they do not count toward a degree. I believe they are Princeton, Harvard and Yale.

[MissShona]

Well, in what field are you looking to obtain a graduate degree?

Carnegie Mellon offers graduate programs online such as Online Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) :: Carnegie Mellon . I don't know if CMU is considered "Ivy League"; but it is a very prestigious technology/science school and is very competitive to gain admission.

[SmerkyGrl]

Isn't the reason one pays for an Ivy League education for the insight of the top-notch professors and the company of like-minded intellectuals?

[MissShona]

Originally Posted by SmerkyGrl

Isn't the reason one pays for an Ivy League education for the insight of the top-notch professors and the company of like-minded intellectuals?

Why can't you get that online?

You may want to check out http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/ed...=1&oref=slogin which is about a world-renowned physics professor at MIT who offers lectures online.

[SmerkyGrl]

Originally Posted by MissShona

Why can't you get that online?

You may want to check out http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/ed...=1&oref=slogin which is about a world-renowned physics professor at MIT who offers lectures online.

Because not everyone is like the world-renown physics professor and the majority of today's top-knotch education still takes place in the classroom.

[MissShona]

Originally Posted by SmerkyGrl

Because not everyone is like the world-renown physics professor and the majority of today's top-knotch education still takes place in the classroom.

Well the majority of all higher education, good or bad, takes place in the classroom.

Keep in mind, Ivy League schools have huge endowments and development of quality online coursework does take some monetary investment (I believe that particular professor put over $100,000 into his online course). So it really should be of no surprise that Ivy League schools would be able to keep their high standards in online courses as well.

Welcome to the 21st millennium.

[SiddharthaGautama]

Originally Posted by SmerkyGrl

Isn't the reason one pays for an Ivy League education for the insight of the top-notch professors and the company of like-minded intellectuals?

A lot of people go to these schools simply because of the name on the degree. And the fact is when taking online courses, not only do you interact with your professors but your classmates as well on a daily basis. And some people may be more productive and outspoken when learning online. More and more schools are starting to offer online degrees and I'm sure its just a matter of time until Ivy League schools offer them.

Ivy League Schools

Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth University, Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Yale University

[sflms]

Originally Posted by SmerkyGrl

Isn't the reason one pays for an Ivy League education for the insight of the top-notch professors and the company of like-minded intellectuals?

The assumption that online learning is not effective because of the lack of contact with professorial insight and like-minded students, I think, is completely wrong.

I worked in the cyber campus department of Academy of Art University. The only thing that makes those courses stellar are the professors that run them and the manner in which they bring students together to collaborate. The actual course material is boring at best, Here's why:

In my particular case, the director of the department had come from bio-tech. Having little experience in elearning, instructional design or web development he was given the helm due to his Harvard diploma. (There's another thread in there!) Anyway, the success of the program as indicated by student feedback is consistently a result of the instructors being engaged with the students. At AAU they are the same instructors that teach the on-site classes.

What gives people a bad taste for eLearning is bad material, like that produced under the leadership of Director Brenner, which is typically just text sprinkled with graphics and an irrelevant Flash slideshow every so often in order to claim the multimedia element. In the late 90's asynchronous eLearning progressed because interface design, instructional design and multimedia where combined in a user-centric way which inspired people. But subsequently, schools didn't (and still don't) pay the professionals that can create that stuff what they deserve, nor do many managers like Daniel Brenner at Academy of Art even understand what they should be doing.

So my bottom-line opinion is: sign up for Harvard extension! You will get a valuable education because the instructors will give it to you. Don't focus on the possible blandness of the browser-based material or the distance as a barrier to learning because great instructors easily overcome those problems.