5 ms·

Gt alum here. Gt is a great school, but who says that is a forecast of how well an online class will be? Online classes have been around for about a decade now

by k2xl 13y ago

Gt alum here. Gt is a great school, but who says that is a forecast of how well an online class will be? Online classes have been around for about a decade now. But i cant see how taking a class online from Georgia Tech aint gonna be different than taking an online class from another university. The benefits of getting a CS degree at a university is gaining that physical connection with the professors. There isn't going to be a single thing these online classes will have that you wouldn't be able to find online yourself or at another online course at another institution. But what you miss is the personal interaction with the professors and students - something you can't get from an online chat room. Especially at Masters level - where your interaction with professors is much closer. This is a step in the wrong direction. If this was for a BS, I could understand. Especially because it gives access to those who don't have access to that education. But the real benefit of higher education is the personal connections IMO. There isn't really any additional "knowledge" CS pieces that is taught at MIT and not at a normal university. what separates universities is those personal connections with the faculty and the community. At GT (I received a BS in Computational Media), the real value came from the people - individual connections that help pave your way through career choices and research topics. I mean come on, what's next? PhD in CS with 3000 other students? Defending your thesis to a random professor thousands of miles away who you only have email contact?

vasyainv 13y ago
You have a point, but you are also missing the point. Quite a few people who could benefit from a formal Master's program in CS which is also from a competitive University, may not have the time due to career and family to attend classes full time. But this way they can still get their education
- k2xl 13y ago
  But that isn't what a masters degree is about. If you have a career and family to take care of and don't have time to go to classes, you probably don't have time to commit to a masters degree. And again there is no evidence that an online class from Georgia Tech would be any better than an online classes from anywhere else. Georgia Tech is reputable because of the faculty and research. How does that correlate to online classes?
  - rsanders 13y ago
    I fit into that category, and I'm taking 1-2 significant MOOCs (compilers, ML, data science, etc.) at a time right now. I can just make it work, but I wouldn't if I had to show up for class. The fixed schedule format of Coursera adds a bit of pressure, but probably also a bit of motivation. I agree that online classes from GT aren't guaranteed to be better than online classes from other places. Perhaps one day we'll see an a la carte degree offered by Udacity, so you can pick the courses from the universities or instructors you prefer. That said, branding and standardization are important. Even if the classes are no better, the perceived value of the degree might be higher than one from Podunk State Online.
    - k2xl 13y ago
      That I guess is the 7000$ question. Is the perceived value of an online masters class worth it? Consider this question. How many employers do you know say, "Oh we hire Ga Tech grads all the time! They are great to work with" I hear that quite a lot around where I live. I think it is due to the culture that Georgia Tech has as well as the in person interaction.
      - rsanders 13y ago
        I attended GT a long time ago (early 90's), so I might be out of date, but I wouldn't go far as to call it "culture". I kid, I kid! :-) It's a notoriously demanding program. I hope they can adapt their "Take a look at the people to your left and right. One of you will not make it to graduation." scare speech/boast to the online format.
marknutter 13y ago
Some people benefit form personal contact, others don't. Don't assume your experience is the blueprint for everybody to follow. I got very little out of my college education from personal contact with professors.
- vecter 13y ago
  For me, faculty connections were worthless. The real driving force behind my college education was the quality of my peers. They forced me to study extra hard and learn the material incredibly well to fight for an A. I suspect this will be the case for most people: if they're measured against a population with a high mean, then they'll be forced to work harder to keep up.
cdrxndr 13y ago
Hey bruv, another fellow alum from the engineering school. I agree with your sentiment regarding the value of connections, and that's where the premium cost of on-campus MS programs comes in. But there is a clear value to getting a degree with a reputation and accreditation versus learning the same material independently. Additionally, defending a thesis to a random professor thousands of miles away isn't far off from my real-world work environment. Worked for IBM and literally never met my manager during my tenure. Currently work at a firm with colleagues predominantly across the world and have to manage direct reports, solve problems, and build rapport all the same. Getting things done despite being remote is the direction.
hydralist 13y ago
Rare sensible comment in this thread. Anything higher than a Bachelors online is self-defeating until widespread group chat at least minimizes the blow of no professors. Maybe one day with a partnership with Oculus Rift lol
zura 13y ago
Yes, I'd love to do PhD in CS from home, and defend the thesis with my slippers.
drharris 13y ago
It's perfect for me. I also attended GT as an undergrad, but have since moved on with life, have a full time job and family, etc. I would love to interact on campus again, but it would hinder both my professional and personal life to do so. I don't plan on being in academia, but a MSCS degree will allow me more career opportunities. Online makes it easy for me to take the classes on a non-thesis track (which I'd be doing anyway, not planning to go into academia) at my own pace. Traditional grad school pace is not conducive to those living a full-time professional life. I think what makes this more attractive than a simple distance education version of most masters degrees is the following: - Prestige of a decent school (but, USC Viterbi offers a distance degree along with others) - Low cost (can't get a fellowship or assistantship if working full time) - High standard for classes (still have to earn the degree) - Custom pace (my life's schedule no longer fits into semesters) - Being on the forefront of education (how cool to tell your grandkids you obtained one of the first OMS degrees?) Interaction with people is only one of the many facets of a grad school course. For those intending to go the PhD route, absolutely go on campus, do research, network, etc. But don't assume that's what everybody needs.
- k2xl 13y ago
  I have to respectfully disagree with much of what you said. Just because it is from Georgia Tech doesn't mean the quality will be high. Georgia Tech is not the forefront of distance learning. Believe it or not, online classes are completely different than regular classes. Being in an online class you simply work with the material you have. There is nothing you will learn in an online masters class you couldn't find online elsewhere already. It is just an extended bachelors degree. Your job prospects for having an Online Masters in CS from Georgia Tech will not change too much IMO. The way you will get the job you want is from connections - the kinds that you build while AT a university. Most jobs that people get are from referrals. In most high skilled MS requiring jobs you have to INTERACT with people. You have to work together in teams. You have to have real world interactions. These are skills you don't obtain from an online masters class.
  - rsanders 13y ago
    There's nothing I could learn from the Coursera compilers class I couldn't have learned from a $10 used textbook, and yet the Coursera class did make a huge difference. As Good Will Hunting sort of mis-stated it -- you can get access to a $150,000 education's worth of information for the cost of a library card and some late charges. Or, given Khan Academy and all the MOOC companies, with a cheap netbook and an Internet connection. None of that information may cross the book/brain barrier, of course. This clearly isn't a completely replacement for the existing Masters program. Yet it's a huge improvement over a stack of dusty books, and possibly, in some cases, an improvement over a stack of "Certificates of Accomplishment" from non-accredited MOOCs. I don't think this is necessarily aimed at people just exiting a BS program. It has a strong "professional" focus. If you haven't learned to interact with people fruitfully and work in teams in your professional life, you're at a disadvantage. As I said elsewhere, I believe a program like this requires more of the student than a traditional degree. You have to bring greater discipline, the ability to learn without interaction with the instructor, and as you point out, an assortment of other skills that you have acquired on your own. I do hope that online educators find some way to foster similarly valuable interaction between students on team projects as opposed to keeping everybody in individual solipsistic relationships with the course automaton. It's a challenging problem -- who wants to depend on somebody without any, or much, skin in the game? How would it even work with the flexible schedules this kind of thing will attract?
rayiner 13y ago
> Gt alum here. Gt is a great school, but who says that is a forecast of how well an online class will be? Also GT alum here... GT is a great school, but frankly the online classes couldn't be worse than the in real life classes. I bet they'll even be taught by professors, rather than severely English-challenged TA's...
- beambot 13y ago
  I took a lot of grad classes (in CS and ECE). Not one was taught by a TA. Did you take grad classes, or were you and undergrad?
  - rayiner 13y ago
    I was an undergrad. The couple of grad classes I took were indeed taught by an English-speaking professor, but the undergraduate classes were awful and left a bad taste in my mouth.
- DennisP 13y ago
  The nice thing about this is the courses are free, so you can sample them or even take them all and do homeworks, before deciding whether you want to pay for credentialing.
chourobin 13y ago
Kind of agree with this, while it would be great to get your CS masters at such low cost, you end up missing out on the personal interaction/lifelong connections with other students. It would be nice if online students were able to go on campus or attend lectures as an option.

by k2xl 13y ago

vasyainv 13y ago

You have a point, but you are also missing the point. Quite a few people who could benefit from a formal Master's program in CS which is also from a competitive University, may not have the time due to career and family to attend classes full time. But this way they can still get their education

k2xl 13y ago
But that isn't what a masters degree is about. If you have a career and family to take care of and don't have time to go to classes, you probably don't have time to commit to a masters degree. And again there is no evidence that an online class from Georgia Tech would be any better than an online classes from anywhere else. Georgia Tech is reputable because of the faculty and research. How does that correlate to online classes?
- rsanders 13y ago
  I fit into that category, and I'm taking 1-2 significant MOOCs (compilers, ML, data science, etc.) at a time right now. I can just make it work, but I wouldn't if I had to show up for class. The fixed schedule format of Coursera adds a bit of pressure, but probably also a bit of motivation. I agree that online classes from GT aren't guaranteed to be better than online classes from other places. Perhaps one day we'll see an a la carte degree offered by Udacity, so you can pick the courses from the universities or instructors you prefer. That said, branding and standardization are important. Even if the classes are no better, the perceived value of the degree might be higher than one from Podunk State Online.
  - k2xl 13y ago
    That I guess is the 7000$ question. Is the perceived value of an online masters class worth it? Consider this question. How many employers do you know say, "Oh we hire Ga Tech grads all the time! They are great to work with" I hear that quite a lot around where I live. I think it is due to the culture that Georgia Tech has as well as the in person interaction.
    - rsanders 13y ago
      I attended GT a long time ago (early 90's), so I might be out of date, but I wouldn't go far as to call it "culture". I kid, I kid! :-) It's a notoriously demanding program. I hope they can adapt their "Take a look at the people to your left and right. One of you will not make it to graduation." scare speech/boast to the online format.

marknutter 13y ago

Some people benefit form personal contact, others don't. Don't assume your experience is the blueprint for everybody to follow. I got very little out of my college education from personal contact with professors.

vecter 13y ago
For me, faculty connections were worthless. The real driving force behind my college education was the quality of my peers. They forced me to study extra hard and learn the material incredibly well to fight for an A. I suspect this will be the case for most people: if they're measured against a population with a high mean, then they'll be forced to work harder to keep up.

cdrxndr 13y ago

Hey bruv, another fellow alum from the engineering school. I agree with your sentiment regarding the value of connections, and that's where the premium cost of on-campus MS programs comes in. But there is a clear value to getting a degree with a reputation and accreditation versus learning the same material independently. Additionally, defending a thesis to a random professor thousands of miles away isn't far off from my real-world work environment. Worked for IBM and literally never met my manager during my tenure. Currently work at a firm with colleagues predominantly across the world and have to manage direct reports, solve problems, and build rapport all the same. Getting things done despite being remote is the direction.

hydralist 13y ago

Rare sensible comment in this thread. Anything higher than a Bachelors online is self-defeating until widespread group chat at least minimizes the blow of no professors. Maybe one day with a partnership with Oculus Rift lol

zura 13y ago

Yes, I'd love to do PhD in CS from home, and defend the thesis with my slippers.

drharris 13y ago

It's perfect for me. I also attended GT as an undergrad, but have since moved on with life, have a full time job and family, etc. I would love to interact on campus again, but it would hinder both my professional and personal life to do so. I don't plan on being in academia, but a MSCS degree will allow me more career opportunities. Online makes it easy for me to take the classes on a non-thesis track (which I'd be doing anyway, not planning to go into academia) at my own pace. Traditional grad school pace is not conducive to those living a full-time professional life. I think what makes this more attractive than a simple distance education version of most masters degrees is the following: - Prestige of a decent school (but, USC Viterbi offers a distance degree along with others) - Low cost (can't get a fellowship or assistantship if working full time) - High standard for classes (still have to earn the degree) - Custom pace (my life's schedule no longer fits into semesters) - Being on the forefront of education (how cool to tell your grandkids you obtained one of the first OMS degrees?) Interaction with people is only one of the many facets of a grad school course. For those intending to go the PhD route, absolutely go on campus, do research, network, etc. But don't assume that's what everybody needs.

k2xl 13y ago
I have to respectfully disagree with much of what you said. Just because it is from Georgia Tech doesn't mean the quality will be high. Georgia Tech is not the forefront of distance learning. Believe it or not, online classes are completely different than regular classes. Being in an online class you simply work with the material you have. There is nothing you will learn in an online masters class you couldn't find online elsewhere already. It is just an extended bachelors degree. Your job prospects for having an Online Masters in CS from Georgia Tech will not change too much IMO. The way you will get the job you want is from connections - the kinds that you build while AT a university. Most jobs that people get are from referrals. In most high skilled MS requiring jobs you have to INTERACT with people. You have to work together in teams. You have to have real world interactions. These are skills you don't obtain from an online masters class.
- rsanders 13y ago
  There's nothing I could learn from the Coursera compilers class I couldn't have learned from a $10 used textbook, and yet the Coursera class did make a huge difference. As Good Will Hunting sort of mis-stated it -- you can get access to a $150,000 education's worth of information for the cost of a library card and some late charges. Or, given Khan Academy and all the MOOC companies, with a cheap netbook and an Internet connection. None of that information may cross the book/brain barrier, of course. This clearly isn't a completely replacement for the existing Masters program. Yet it's a huge improvement over a stack of dusty books, and possibly, in some cases, an improvement over a stack of "Certificates of Accomplishment" from non-accredited MOOCs. I don't think this is necessarily aimed at people just exiting a BS program. It has a strong "professional" focus. If you haven't learned to interact with people fruitfully and work in teams in your professional life, you're at a disadvantage. As I said elsewhere, I believe a program like this requires more of the student than a traditional degree. You have to bring greater discipline, the ability to learn without interaction with the instructor, and as you point out, an assortment of other skills that you have acquired on your own. I do hope that online educators find some way to foster similarly valuable interaction between students on team projects as opposed to keeping everybody in individual solipsistic relationships with the course automaton. It's a challenging problem -- who wants to depend on somebody without any, or much, skin in the game? How would it even work with the flexible schedules this kind of thing will attract?

rayiner 13y ago

> Gt alum here. Gt is a great school, but who says that is a forecast of how well an online class will be? Also GT alum here... GT is a great school, but frankly the online classes couldn't be worse than the in real life classes. I bet they'll even be taught by professors, rather than severely English-challenged TA's...

beambot 13y ago
I took a lot of grad classes (in CS and ECE). Not one was taught by a TA. Did you take grad classes, or were you and undergrad?
- rayiner 13y ago
  I was an undergrad. The couple of grad classes I took were indeed taught by an English-speaking professor, but the undergraduate classes were awful and left a bad taste in my mouth.
DennisP 13y ago
The nice thing about this is the courses are free, so you can sample them or even take them all and do homeworks, before deciding whether you want to pay for credentialing.

chourobin 13y ago

Kind of agree with this, while it would be great to get your CS masters at such low cost, you end up missing out on the personal interaction/lifelong connections with other students. It would be nice if online students were able to go on campus or attend lectures as an option.