|
By George Lorenzo
The business world is a competitive place. With more and
more MBA-waving applicants out there, professionals are
seeking highly specialized graduate degree programs to
bolster their expert-level status and make them more
marketable.
To answer the demand, degrees with career specializations -
also referred to as "concentrations" or "tracks" - are fast
becoming commonplace at institutions across the country.
Prospective graduate students can find specialized online
programs in everything from sports leadership, higher
education enrollment management, and automotive systems
engineering, to information assurance, information
technology management, and business ethics.
Online graduate degree programs in education and business
curriculums, for example, offer a wide variety of
concentrations. At the University of Phoenix, online
graduate education students can choose from concentrations
in administration and supervision, curriculum and
instruction, computer education, and much more.
At Capella University, cyber business students can
specialize in finance or marketing. At the University of
Maryland University College (UMUC), online students can
enroll in a new global master of business administration
program.
A look inside some of these specialized programs reveals a
host of robust and unique coursework that can put
prospective students on the fast track to success.
Leadership and Ethics
At Duquesne University's School of Leadership and
Professional Advancement, an online master of science in
leadership and business ethics (MSLBE) is growing in
popularity since it was launched in 2002. The program covers
ethical issues in the workplace and provides decision-making
frameworks to resolve such dilemmas.
In addition to participating in plenty of meaningful online
discussions, generated by such courses as "Conflict
Resolution," "Information Ethics," and "Global Ethics," a
capstone project is required in which virtual teams of three
to five students work together on an investigation of a
modern-day ethical issue.
For example, in a capstone course taught by MSLBE Program
Director and Professor Jim Weber, one project featured an
analysis of reality TV. "Students do an analysis of the
first episode of 'Survivor' by [examining] the moral
reasoning between the participants," explains Weber. "We
also had students do various survey work, such as an
analysis of consumer privacy in relation to information
technology providers," he says.
MSLBE student Bob McCarthy, a U.S. Air Force captain and an
orbital evaluator at the Cheyenne Mountain Space Control
Center in Colorado Springs, CO, says he enrolled in the
program because he wanted a degree that would be applicable
to his world. "I wanted something I could use in the
civilian world, that would benefit me in the Air Force, and
that I would feel passionate about," he says.
Part of that passion was brought to life by working with his
classmates, McCarthy explains. "I have all these friends -
my classmates whom I have never spoken to or seen. You get a
different angle on learning when you are reading what people
have to say and [preparing] what you have to write. You get
time to think about things and respond."
Information Assurance
Being able to think and respond appropriately is also a big
part of a master of science in information science and
computer systems management with a new information assurance
track, offered by UMUC.
The information assurance track consists of five courses
that, combined, have been designated as a Center of Academic
Excellence in Information Assurance Education by the
National Security Agency (NSA), which protects U.S.
government information systems. The track prepares students
for dealing with potential security threats in corporate,
government, and nonprofit information technology areas.
Don Goff, a professor in the UMUC program and executive
director of the university's Security Studies Laboratory,
explains that in the state of Maryland alone, there is a
current need for up to 7,000 professionals with information
assurance computer security skills. He cites increasing
dependence on computers and Internet connections as the
cause of such high demand.
Those professionals who will have an edge? "Ones who can
safeguard databases and make sure online connectivity is
secure, especially credit card transactions," says Goff.
"It's a hot topic, and people are finding what they are
looking for in this program in terms of its substance and
depth." Since it launched on campus in 2002 and then became
a fully online modality in 2004, the program has enrolled
more than 1,200 students, he adds.
Valerie Frazier, an information assurance manager who is a
working civilian for the Department of the Navy at the
Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, was awarded a full
scholarship to earn her master's degree in computer systems
management with a concentration in information assurance.
The scholarship is part of a $330,000 NSA grant awarded to
UMUC to increase the number of qualified students entering
the field of information assurance.
Frazier, who began her studies in January, says her first
foray into the world of online learning - in a Security
Policy, Ethics, and the Legal Environment course - was
intense. "But the professor understood that we were all
working adults, and he helped us get through the weekly
online conferences where you are required to participate in
discussions," she explains. With faculty support, Frazier
made it through three tough papers and successfully
completed a final exam for the course.
Automotive Systems Engineering
Any online student will tell you that online courses are
just as intense and challenging as traditional, on-campus
courses.
At the University of Michigan at Dearborn's College of
Engineering and Computer Science, for instance, an online
master of science in automotive systems engineering is a
carbon copy of its on-campus counterpart. All of the
program's three-hour, on-campus courses are held inside a
studio classroom with audio and video equipment that enables
online learners to hear and view the very same classroom
experience as on-campus students. The lectures are also
saved as video streams that can be accessed online at
students' convenience through the program's course
management system.
According to PK Mallick, mechanical engineering professor
and director of interdisciplinary programs, the program
provides knowledge about advanced technologies that are
already in place today, or coming in the future.
"Vehicle electronics, vehicle safety systems, advanced
materials, lightweight materials, ergonomic techniques - you
name it - all of these courses are advanced technology
courses," he says.
Online student Andrew Wassef, a vehicle electronics systems
engineer for Delphi Energy and Chassis Systems in Brighton,
MI, has been in the Dearborn program for one year. So far,
he's impressed and would recommend it to any working
professional.
"The courses are well-designed. The course Web site is
really easy to access from anywhere," he says. "It's almost
like being in class [on campus]."
Wassef also enjoyed participating in a virtual group project
in which he and three other students (all working
professionals in the automotive field) - one in Greece, one
in Indiana, and another in Michigan - designed and simulated
a hybrid vehicle.
"We used MSN Messenger to hold weekly meetings online," he
says. "We put things together, shared our thoughts, and
divided up the work. I was impressed with how smooth it
went," he recalls. The simulation portion of the project was
another benefit. The software tool, Simplorer, was extremely
useful, Wassef says. "We can all use it at work in our daily
routines."
MBA in Information Technology Management
For online students who work better individually, Western
Governors University (WGU) has a number of degree programs
that can be earned through self-paced courses. Its new
master of business administration program with an emphasis
in information technology management provides students with
solo study of related domains of knowledge, and then allows
them to earn credit based on the successful completion of
competency-based tests.
Although it's a self-paced program, students do have the
option of enrolling in online courses to help them gain the
knowledge to pass the tests.
Students are also assigned a faculty mentor with a
background in the field. "They work with students and help
them identify appropriate learning - what we call learning
opportunities," says Dennis Bromley, WGU's director of
business programs. These learning opportunities can be
online courses offered by partnering institutions, such as
Chadron State College, Aspen University, and California
National University, all of which provide graduate-level
online MBA degrees.
Learning opportunities can also be developed through
self-directed study using textbooks, information from Web
sites, online learning modules created by Thomson Netg, and
case studies from Harvard Business Online. Additionally,
students are required to complete a capstone project of
their own design, based on their personal world of work,
says Bromley.
"Our program is designed for students to integrate the
knowledge they gain in the program with their career.
Students are driven to really look at the interface between
the IT function and the business strategy," he explains.
Upon completion of the program, students are eligible for
the Certified MBA? (CMBA) designation - a nationally
recognized acknowledgement of business knowledge competence.
Debbie Austin, director of applications for Portland,
OR-based Knowledge Learning Corporation, a childcare
provider in early childhood through school-age education,
graduated from WGU's online undergraduate degree program in
information technology in 2002 and waited for the MBA
program to be offered online before pursuing her graduate
degree. She earned her bachelor of science degree from WGU
in 2002 in a record-breaking -; she plans to
complete her graduate studies by January 2006.
Austin says she goes into "a very accelerated mode" while
pursuing her studies, utilizing her vacation time and
weekends for coursework completion and to prepare for the
competency-based tests. "It is quite different in that it is
a lot more challenging," she explains.
Austin adds that having 20 years of experience working in
the field of information technology has been a great asset.
"You can pull from the knowledge that you have gained," she
says. "In the IT domains, both the undergraduate program and
the MBA program have been relatively straightforward because
that is what I have been doing for a living."
Working Professionals
The vast majority of students in these online programs are
mature working professionals, with plenty of other
responsibilities. Austin, for example, is 45, married, and
has two grown children. McCarthy is 37 and married with
three children, ranging from - old to 13. Frazier is
46 and married, with a 14-year-old and a 22-year-old. Wassef
is 38 and single, and he travels frequently for his job and
visits with family in Montreal, Canada.
All these students have the drive, determination, and
self-direction, which Austin believes is necessary to be a
successful online learner. "It really works well for people
who have a career, have some learning under their belt, and
have developed good disciplinary practices in their lives,"
notes Austin. "It's not going to work for students who need
to be held accountable every step of the way."
|