Are MOOC Primarily a Source of Cheap Post-graduate Professional Development Education?

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education reported research information on students in MOOC. Among other things ... it was revealed that the majority of students are males; the majority already have college degrees; and the majority live outside of North America. Apparently, for many of the students MOOC serve as an inexpensive way to get post-graduate professional development education. If so, then the MOOC are doing a great service to these students. The professional development-based demand for MOOC could help assure that MOOC stay available to regular undergraduates ... those who do not have an existing degree.

Link to Georgetown University Online Master of Science in Finance

I recently added a link to the online Master of Science in Finance from Georgetown University. Click here to see the link as it is precented on my website

Can Consortiums Help Universities Avoid Price Gouging and Excessive Costs as Educational Technology Advances?

As the evolution of educational technology proceeds, universities will have to anticipate the implications on costs and competition. For example, consider this story in the Chronicle of Higher Education on alleged price gouging on electronic textbooks.

In my opinion there is a tendency in modern technology marketplaces for users to seek "the standard", thereby facilitating greater standardization but also enabling the owner of the new standard to collect monopolistic revenue. I think that kind of phenomenon accounts in part for how the price gouging can take place.

The Chronicle has also recently reported that three leading universities are forming an online course technology consortium, and that could help them avoid being caught up in monopolistic technology binds. That story is at http://chronicle.com/article/Universities-in-Consortium/139919/ . Perhaps by banding together the universities can avoid being hammered by price-gouging and other nonproductive cost increases.

(If you need info about specific online graduate degree programs I hope you will consider using my website at> http://OnlineGraduateSchool.tripod.com/All.htm . )

I Added and Updated Certain Free Links at http://OnlineGraduateSchool.tripod.com/All.htm

On my website at http://OnlineGraduateSchool.tripod.com/All.htm I updated the degree listing for the link to Rochester Institute Of Technology, and added links to Western Governors University and Thomas Edison State College. Western Governors offers very favorable tuition plans, especially for students who are taking classes full time. For undergrads, I like Thomas Edison's "Comprehensive Tutition Plan" ( http://www.tesc.edu/tuition/Comprehensive-Tuition-Plan.cfm ) which seems to be a very good deal for New Jersey residents as well as out-of-state students.

Obama Proposed Student Loan Repayment Reforms That May Benefit Graduate Students

President Obama has proposed reforms to the federal student loan repayment system with the effect that those with grad school degrees may benefit from lower payments and greater forgiveness. See: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-09/grad-students-with-debt-could-win-big-as-obama-slashes-payments

Master Degrees in Analytics and Informatics Are in Very High Demand.

Is there a specific type of grad school degree that is in really high demand? The Chronicle of Education says that people with Master degrees in analytics and informatics are in extremely high demand ( http://chronicle.com/article/As-Data-Proliferate-So-Do/144363/ ). These jobs require a combination of statistical know-how, computer skills, and an analytical mind-set that equips the worker to understand, interpret, and communicate "what all that data means". Much of our economy is now technology and data driven, and as a result people with these type of advanced skills/degrees are needed, but at the same time there is also a high level of demand for places in these analytics and informatics graduate degree programs. People in our economy often have to compete for their jobs with overseas workers who may be willing to work for much less money. Clearly it would benefit America if its workforce can advance its skills into jobs that are relevant to the new more advanced and competitive global economy. Obviously the generation of "big data", and the resulting need to analyze and use the data, is an opportunity to create such advanced jobs in America. One major way for people to get into these jobs is through the avenue of earning an advanced graduate degree in analytics or informatics. Obviously the need for advanced data analysis will not go away, so these types of jobs should continue to be available for a long time. A study, cited in the article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, predicts "a work-force gap of 1.5 million managers and analysts with the skills to decipher and translate data patterns for decision-making". There are such technology degree programs online, and advanced technology degree are listed on my online graduate degree directory website's "Technology degrees" page: http://onlinegraduateschool.tripod.com/tech.htm.

By the way, I do have a BlogSpot photo blog at http://see10.blogspot.com.

Research Show Big Earning Benefits From Earning a Graduate Degree, But The Amount Varies With The Student's Field

Georgetown University research has shown that those who have a graduate degree make substantially much more income on average than those with just a bachelor's degree. Based on the information provided in the report (http://cew.georgetown.edu/whatsitworth/) those with a graduate degrees earn around 40 percent more than those with just the bachelor. However, there was a lot of variation depending on the student's college major.

Those with bachelor degrees in "Health and Medical Preparatory" averaged 190% more earnings when they had a graduate degree, and those with bachelor degrees in "Miscellaneous Social Sciences" averaged 134% more. However, those with bachelor degrees in Psychology/Social Work averaged only 43% more; those in Health, 50%; in Business, 40%; and in Education, 33%. In a few fields, such as Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Studio Arts, and Petroleum Engineering the boost from a graduate degree was very small (in the single digits).

Once you earn a graduate degree it essentially “lasts" for the rest of your career, and you continue to benefit from it for all those years, so, it is very likely to be worth your while to earn the graduate degree money-wise. When you consider the how much you learn, the increase in academic prestige, it is easy to see how earning a graduate degree can really help you.

In a prior post I mentioned that liberal arts majors are particularly likely to benefit from a graduate degree. A study by the Association of American Colleges and Universities found that liberal arts majors make significantly less than professional majors when just out of college, but the liberal arts major’s median salaries are similar to those with the other majors if the liberal arts majors got a graduate degree. The Chronicle of Higher Education article is at http://chronicle.com/article/How-Liberal-Arts-Majors-Fare/144133/ .

I have a similar post on the blog of my website (My website is a direcotry to online graduate degree programs): http://onlinegraduateschool.tripod.com/blog2.htm#geo.