Dear All,

In message , David L. Browman <[log in to unmask]> writes
>Josh and Carl
>
>There is a problem of quality control in on-line distant learning
>programs.  No one I know, for example, really takes a degree from the
>University of Phoenix seriously.  I'd be willing to bet that you would be
>wholly unable to find a single institution in Nroth America that would be
>willing to accept on on-line M.A. as part of the training for a Ph.D.
>
>dave b.

I think the reason that both undergraduate and graduate programmes are
taken seriously here is a combination of factors.  First, the programmes
have to jump through the same accreditation hoops and verification that
more traditional degrees do.

Second, our traditional degrees don't involve that much contact time.
For example, my assistant is currently taking the distance MA in Museum
Studies at Leicester, and I asked her how different she found it to her
traditional first degree: not a lot of difference, she replied: after
all in her final year she only had 8 hours contact time a week (that is
8 hrs of lectures, seminars and tutorials!)

It's something which I noticed as an MA student: Americans were
genuinely shocked at how little they were actively 'taught'.

The main concerns I would have with distance programmes are the lack of
support and supervision (although regularly scheduled real meetings and
the internet are great at making this negligible), and the lack of
access to libraries.  The Open University (with which I've taken one and
a half credits) is a good example of how this can be overcome, at least
at the undergraduate and MA level.  At the PhD level everyone has
access-to-library problems: while I can't drop by the library in York,
the admiralty charts I need right now aren't there anyway.

Best wishes to all (and thanks for information on Post Office Stones - I
will try contacting colleagues in SA museums)

Pat
(BA: Traditional
MA x 2 : Traditional
Postgraduate Diploma (incomplete, distance)
PhD : in progress, distance)



--
Pat Reynolds
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   "It might look a bit messy now,
                    but just you come back in 500 years time"
   (T. Pratchett)