When Diane Penney decided to go back to school to get an advanced degree, her time as a co-ed at the University of Alabama seemed a distant memory. In fact, her son Ryan is now a college student attending Samford University in Birmingham.
“I majored in communications many years ago, and I lived in advertising and broadcasting through my early 30s,” she says. “Then I had my son and just did odd jobs, trying to be as flexible as possible. I worked part time here and there, trying to cobble an income together.”
Once her son went off to school, she was ready to commit herself to a full-time career again. She didn’t want to go back to her old field, and she had no illusions about how difficult it might be to get back in the workforce, no matter the job.
“Using my degree in the same capacity would be extremely difficult,” she says. “I was in sales, and entering the sales force in middle age would be really tough. It takes a toll on your nerves.”
She loves children, however, and decided to pursue a master’s degree in education from Lipscomb University.
“I love having control of my own environment, so the idea of my own classroom appealed to me,” she says. She chose Lipscomb because she thought it offered a great program. She went to classes on campus and loved it.
Then Ryan was injured in an accident, and she moved to Birmingham a little more than a year ago to help him stay in school. She took a semester off, then returned to school. This time, however, the bulk of her work is conducted online.
“I didn’t know that it would be an option, or that they offered so many classes online since it is not an ‘online university,’” Penney says. Last semester she had to drive in for a class she needed that was not offered online, a total of six Fridays. She moved back to Nashville for the summer to take two more, and the rest have all been done from her computer in Alabama.
Lipscomb is not the only school offering online options. Just last month, in fact, Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced the launch of a learning initiative that offers a range of course materials online so students can learn at their own pace. It will feature online labs, student-to-student connectivity and operate on an open-source infrastructure to make it freely available.
But the idea of online learning can still conjure ideas of for-profit schools offering program certificates, or the University of Phoenix offering “Real degrees designed for the real world” and “Higher education made highly accessible.”
“I feel confident when I look at degrees from Belmont, Lipscomb, Vanderbilt, that this is going to be a really bright, articulate person who I am going to really be confident picking up the phone and having a conversation about a job,” says Matt Lowney, a recruiting professional with a decade of experience, primarily in health care. He also leads the local recruiting association, Talent Acquisition Networking Source.
“The content is probably largely the same, but there is a certain level of commitment that, by definition, the at-home folks do not have. That is the reason they do it online. I am in the same boat. I can’t just stop working for the next few years to get an MBA from Vanderbilt. I get that it has a niche, but it certainly is not as impactful on a resume in my experience.”
Penney agrees, saying that while there is something missing from the online experience, it is in no way easy.
“I really miss the camaraderie and in-class discussions,” she says. “Even though they offer ways to connect and talk online, it is just not the same. It is a great convenience, but the workload is heavier. They definitely try to make up for the fact that it is convenient by giving you more to do.”
Bottom line, Lowney says, there is value to any job seeker in an advanced degree, no matter the source. Some jobs he helps companies fill have a minimum set of requirements, including an MBA. A degree from an online university will help a job seeker be eligible for those jobs.
“The traditional reputations are going to out-shadow the online degrees, but I can’t hire you if you don’t have your MBA,” he says. “At least you can check that box if you have done an online accredited program and move forward in the process.”
For Penney, whose sister is also getting her master’s in education from Lipscomb, the flexibility of taking classes online has afforded her the opportunity to start a new career while caring for her son. She finishes her coursework this semester and will student teach in the fall.
“If I had to take every class on campus I couldn’t do it,” she says.