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Announcing Online MS in Computer Science in Collaboration with Georgia Tech

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Re: Announcing Online MS in Computer Science in Collaboration with Georgia Tech

#161

Post by drharris »

k2xl wrote: post #148
drharris wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 d…

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 o…

I guess what I'm saying is that I do the professional networking stuff already. I'm at a point in my career where I do not need to get a referral from a professor or fellow student to get a job I'm interested in; I already have appropriate contacts in the relevant fields. I'm mainly talking about career path. I'm a Sr. Engineer/Project Manager now, but if I want to grow into a Principal engineering role or management I need an MS to speed things up. There are two ways to grow a career path; experience and education. I can wait twenty years until I naturally move up to that role, or I can get an MS (and other certifications) to prove my upward mobility and shave a few years off that.

So, as far as working together in teams, and real-world interactions, I have those in spades. I don't need that anymore. Were I to get an MS right after a BS, it'd be a different story. But 15 years in industry gives you that. I need the education itself: horizon expansion and prestige of the school name. That's it. And as far as information that comes from other people, I work around other engineers and people I already contact when I have issues. I estimate that there's not much in an MS non-thesis program that will truly challenge me at this point. Not in an arrogant way, just that industry experience does this for people.

GT may not yet be at the forefront of DL, but they're working closely with Udacity, which is. I will expect a quality program.

Re: Announcing Online MS in Computer Science in Collaboration with Georgia Tech

#162

Post by nnnnnnnninnnnnn »

eitally wrote: post #91
recuter wrote: post #4

http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/faq/ > How much does the degree program cost? We’re not yet ready to announce a specific program cost, but the plan is to offer the Georgia Tech OMS CS for a total cost of under $7,000—a fraction of the cost of Georgia Tech’s on-campus program and even less than that of comparable private universities. > The total workload is the same as the residential program; the weekly or hourly worklo…

Personal anecdote: I just finished an engineering MS from NC State via their Engineering Online ( http://engineeringonline.ncsu.edu ) program. The per-3hr-course cost for EOL courses is roughly $900. For the on campus version of the same thing, it's about $2200. For a 27 credit hour program, that came out to about $8k, which I thought was entirely reasonable given I [as a student local to the school] always had the o…

I assume the differentiating factor here is the quality of the courses, Georgia Tech is ranked in top 10 for CS grad school. Also your tuition was low due to the fact that you were an in state student, out of state tuition is much more expensive.

Re: Announcing Online MS in Computer Science in Collaboration with Georgia Tech

#163

Post by throwaway1979 »

rsanders wrote: post #138
throwaway1979 wrote: post #135

It's actually a dark day: 1) Until now, the majority of University-affiliated MOOCs have been free. This just changed. 2) I find it immensely frustrating that as CS people, we are lowering the bar for what it means to have a Masters degree in our field. I'd be happy with this sort of activity if it was being done in all other fields uniformly and/or we had unions representing CS workers. Unions, in principal aren't b…

First off, the MOOCs associated with this degree will still be free. The degree is not. The change here is that a) an entire MS worth of course material (and the systems to support it) from a respected institution are being created, b) the actual (O)MS degree just became a great deal less expensive. It remains to be seen whether this lowers the bar or merely opens up more opportunities. I don't think education is a z…

You're right that many things about this experiment remain to be seen. You make some very good, optimistic arguments and I hope we get to that future. I fear we won't

I absolutely agree that education is not a zero sum game. I actually find it sad that most education has become about job training or making money. Whatever happened to curiosity and knowledge for its own sake? But let me not get into that debate. Degrees and credentialing might be zero-sum, however.

Similarly, the majority of what students pay in tuition goes towards anything other than the salaries and funding of professors. Also, there is a big difference between top-10 schools which run based on a lot of grant money and smaller teaching institutions.

Look, I think I'm on the losing side of the wider argument. I am all for free access to knowledge. I'm just pointing out that we are likely shooting ourselves in the foot in the long-term.

This is the best sentence in your response (upvoted you btw). I really hope so.

Re: Announcing Online MS in Computer Science in Collaboration with Georgia Tech

#164

Post by throwaway1979 »

rsanders wrote: post #26
timtamboy63 wrote: post #15

On one hand, I think it's ridiculously awesome that Tech's doing this. Our CoC department is incredibly innovative, and one of the only administrative departments that recognize the need for innovation. However, I wonder if this would devalue a degree from Georgia Tech. You'd obviously have a lot more people taking the course than you would if it wasn't an MOOC. Thoughts?

The word "devalue" comes up a lot in conversations about this sort of thing, but I'm not sure exactly how that works. If half the student body at GT died before graduating, would your degree be worth twice as much?

Not twice as much but yes ... more valuable. This is well studied in agriculture and economics. When there is a bumper crop, farmers suffer.

Re: Announcing Online MS in Computer Science in Collaboration with Georgia Tech

#165

Post by rayiner »

k2xl wrote: post #86

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 go…

> 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...

Re: Announcing Online MS in Computer Science in Collaboration with Georgia Tech

#166

Post by chourobin »

k2xl wrote: post #86

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 go…

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.

Re: Announcing Online MS in Computer Science in Collaboration with Georgia Tech

#167

Post by otoburb »

techsupporter wrote: post #114
otoburb wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 to your points except the one about the "Online" in OMS being wishy-washy. I propose that this was not just a way to appease administrators, but is a pilot program that other institutions will be closely observing. If institutions can persuade students to accept an Oxx designation (online prefix), then administrations are modelling that they can not only increase revenues based on free MOOC numbers, but simultaneo…

> I am guessing that many online/distance-learning degrees are conferred without making it clear that the degree was earned in this way. Although this is great for students, I'm sure this causes angst in administrations for fear of brand dilution and obvious revenue threats. It also opens opportunities for smaller universities with decent programs to make a dent. My university recently did entirely away with the on-c…

>>If the quality of instruction and coursework is alleged to be equivalent, why not put the full standing of the University's name behind it?

The quality of the lecture instruction and coursework is alleged to be equivalent, but maybe they are now trying to differentiate on other dimensions such as physical access to on-campus facilities, easier/more direct access to professors or more implied individual attention.

>>To me, adding the caveat of "online" makes it seem like the school is admitting in advance that the degree isn't equivalent to "not-online" MSc degrees.

That's exactly what they're stating in no uncertain terms -- the two degrees are not equal. The preference for students and smaller universities is to go with an undifferentiated designation, but GT is drawing a line in the sand with this specific online offering. Note that GT offers other distance-learning masters degrees without differentiation, but at much higher cost.

The reduced cost is their justification for the O- prefix.

>> I wonder how my university was able to change its MSc offering (not Computer Science, though) to entirely-online without adding that word since both GATech and my college are covered by the same body.

This is why I suggested that the O- prefix was a deliberate choice that other major universities will push to protect the high fees of on-campus degrees.

Re: Announcing Online MS in Computer Science in Collaboration with Georgia Tech

#168

Post by DigitalTurk »

neilxdsouza wrote: post #55
recuter wrote: post #4

http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/faq/ > How much does the degree program cost? We’re not yet ready to announce a specific program cost, but the plan is to offer the Georgia Tech OMS CS for a total cost of under $7,000—a fraction of the cost of Georgia Tech’s on-campus program and even less than that of comparable private universities. > The total workload is the same as the residential program; the weekly or hourly worklo…

katholieke universiteit leuven offers a masters course in AI for about EUR 5000, on campus. I checked with them in Jan of 2012. I then asked the professor if this was for students of Belgium and what is the price for international students ( I am from India). He confirmed that the price was the same. The university is ranked about 68-75 in the world, of course that is subjective. I feel the USD 40,000-50,000 price is…

> He confirmed that the price was the same.

Hm. Unless this is a master's course that requires that you already have a different master degree, it should only cost about 500 euros for Belgian students.

Re: Announcing Online MS in Computer Science in Collaboration with Georgia Tech

#170

Post by beambot »

rayiner wrote: post #165
k2xl wrote: post #86

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 go…

> 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...

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?
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