I
am more than halfway done with me Masters in SPED
at Walden and have mixed feelings. I chose an online
school because i have a yound family and cannot be
at a traditional university a few nights a week. Here's
my experience: Poitive:
All course materials are sent to
your home and included in the cost.
The DVDs are
useful and the presenters are usually pretty good.
The books
they send are practical.
The cost of the Master's
program is comparable to other brick and mortar schools (factor
in your gas, books and time)
Negative:
Many of
the discussions are irrelevent. Most of the material 'taught' is
knowledge you are familiar with and probably using.
There is
a ton of 'busy work'. Each week you have discussions
to participate in and papers to write in APA style.
This is overkill. I'd rather have a few meaningful assignments.
Master's coursework that I did at a local university would
not transfer in. The course syllabi were almost identical. So
I had to take the courses again. Walden made me
jump through many hoops and told me they'd transfer, in
the end they didn't.
The professors really don't teach, they
moderate. All education recieved in brought on through instrinsic motivation.
So there you have it. Am I happy with
the program? on some level, yes.
Am I positive I
will actually get my degree when all said and done?
again here, I'm skeptical.
By the way, I do
honestly think that Walden pays people to write good reviews.
The 'language' they use in the reviews mirrors the 'language'
they use when communicating with you, and in class discussions.
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