My oldest will graduate high school this year. I’ve told myself the last several years that when she went to college, I needed to go back and get a master’s degree, but from where should I get it? A local university? Or an online university? Convenience dictates online degree programs, but what about cost? When looking at online opportunities, I found Western Governors University. WGU is fully accredited, but a non-profit organization which makes their programs very affordable.
One of the degrees that I looked at was the master of Education in Learning and Technology. With my current teaching assignment, this one makes lots of sense. An important notation that I noticed when looking at this program is that WGU is the only exclusively online teacher education institution in the nation to receive NCATE accreditation. That’s certainly a bonus. Something else I noticed and found useful is that your degree is based on “knowledge/competencies” instead of necessarily in courses. As I find myself pretty technologically literate, this might be a big plus. They also have high expectations which I find a plus. While all courses in this particular program are pass/fail, it takes a B to get a “pass.”
I’m not sure exactly what degree I want yet, but if I decided to take the steps towards a masters online, WGU looks like it would be worth a second look.
