[bayesianhorse]

I'm in favor of furthering online education, moocs, educational content in general and even certification programs along these lines.

But I also have to ask: If this degree costs 20% of a traditional Master's education, is it even worth 20% as much? The degree clearly states "Online Master".

We might see a value developing here, but there is an equal chance that the early students get ripped off big time. They might learn a lot, but are they really getting their money's worth in additional skill marketability?

[marquis]

While I agree, in that attending college is in part the social experience in interacting with peers, one-on-one time with lecturers/TAs and lab work, this is a step forward to allowing anyone who wants to learn have that opportunity, and use the technology we have to improve on that technology so future-learning just gets better and better. Tiny steps.

An enterprising person may well setup a facilitator experience, where students gather to watch online lectures and do group labs, at a fraction of the cost (plus not having to pay board away from home) and having the best materials to work with.

[zanny]

This hits on what I think is key to breaking out of the borked education system. You need to put like minded learners together with bountiful educational texts and resources to solve the problems both independently and together.

It is less about stuffing random facts in the brain than developing group oriented problem solving skills in a specialized discipline.

[oblique63]

The fact that this:

> They might learn a lot

does not imply this:

> "additional skill marketability"

really troubles me, but in this case you're unfortunately right.

I should note that I'm ignoring the instance of "might" here because I've encountered many 'traditional' masters students that haven't exactly "mastered" their material by the end of their studies either, so I'm assuming the differences in this aspect will be negligible. Either way, the traditional application process students have to go through is largely what bases the perceived weight of degree, so this course still keeping that 'metric' in-tact should help with its 'marketability'. However this program will still face an uphill battle regardless, simply because its biggest problem is it being 'non-traditional'; which is unfortunate.

[pnathan]

I would personally not consider an "online" masters as worth more than a certification. Taking classes ain't the point of grad school.