[game_edu] Online-only degrees (was Re: Where to post academic job offers?)

[David Thomas]

Hello:

 

My school does not have a game design program, but we do run a large number
of online courses and degrees. Mark is correct, at least as far as we are
concerned - our accreditation is the same for online and in the classroom.
And other than a small section marker, there is no indication as to whether
an individual course is online or not.  The diploma and transcripts do not
say whether the degree or any specific courses were delivered online or not.

 

That said, there are plenty of example of cheap and dirty conversions of
traditional curriculum to online delivery. Or, as I like to say, take a
lecture course and put it only and you take something bad and make it worse.

 

So, the only accurate thing you can say is that online and classroom are two
respective delivery formats, each with their benefits and issues.

 

As to the idea of the value of an online degree-the proof is always going to
be in the graduates. If a program places quality graduates year after year,
no one is going to spend a lot of time asking about your coursework. To wit,
I spoke to a program director at a large, successful, school with a
reputable game dev program. I was told that some recent internships from
that school had been problematic because the students were not up to snuff.
In other words, even you are a top on-the-ground program you have to worry
about reputation based on graduate performance more than curriculum.

 

Don't know if that helps. But as a personal point of view, I'd like to see
more online curriculum in the area of games. It's a new curriculum track, so
why not take advantage of technologies that are younger than 300 year old
(no offence lecture hall and seminar table).

 

David

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