Online Graduate Engineering Programs

By Stephen Asztalos, PhD, IECA (CA)

Because of the combined pressures of technology, cost, and convenience, it seems inexorable that online graduate programs would eventually penetrate the higher education market. Indeed, online master’s engineering programs are on the verge becoming commonplace, but certainly not to the degree that they have become an indispensable, or even common, staple in an IEC’s toolkit. With the appearance of numerous well-regarded online programs, however, it is a propitious time to survey the field. For the sake of specificity, I will restrict myself to online engineering master’s degrees, although I imagine that the conclusions drawn can readily be extrapolated to other disciplines. To my knowledge, there are no credible online PhD programs in the country, at least in the engineering disciplines.

Distance Education

Online education falls under the broader rubric of distance education, which has a longer history than might be naively anticipated: the first recorded instance of distance learning occurred in the 1840’s in England, when Sir Isaac Pitman established a series of correspondence colleges that taught shorthand via the exchange of postcards and transcription between teacher and student. Fast forward 150 years to the appearance of the world’s first fully online university, the Open University of Catalonia in 1994, followed five years later by the equivalent in the United States, only 10 years after the creation of the World Wide Web. By 2011 it was estimated that one out of every three postsecondary students had taken an accredited online course. In the physics department at Cal State East Bay where I teach, online courses were first offered in 2012 and now comprise about 20% of our course offerings. (My online astronomy course regularly draws nearly double that of an identical on-campus course.)

It is only natural that online master’s programs would enter the scene later than their undergraduate counterparts. Although it wasn’t possible to construct an exact timeline, it’s safe to say that there were few, if any, accredited online master’s courses prior to 2005. Acceptance has been slow, but steady. A casual search of the Internet these days reveals dozens of online master’s programs in engineering, including those from the country’s most prestigious graduate programs. Arizona State University (ASU) has offered graduate engineering online courses for 16 years and has a strong online advertising presence.

I contacted a staff member from the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering at ASU, which according to its website is ranked at 14 out of more than 80 other online engineering graduate programs. For the sake of specificity, I focused on their materials science master’s degree. In ensuing conversation and email exchanges, I learned that online students are allowed up to six years to complete a nominal two-year MS degree in material science. As many as 12 of the 30 units required for completion of the graduate degree can be transferred in (if they have been taken within the past three years, a B or better has been earned, and they have not been applied to another degree program). The 2016–17 materials science cohort is 20 students, with 362 students overall enrolled in 10 online graduate engineering programs.

Advantages

Clearly, the major advantage afforded by an online degree is convenience. According to ASU’s website, a vast majority of online graduate degree seekers are currently employed—what could be more inconvenient than quitting a potentially good paying job and possibly relocating for school? Then there’s the added convenience of not having to commute to campus. Where I teach, it is not uncommon for students to travel more than an hour in each direction to attend class—two hours that could, in principle, be put to much more productive use. Of course, not quitting a job and not commuting have their own implications, such as the need to carve out time to do the work and not be sidelined by distractions.

Disadvantages

What are some disadvantages of an online program? Surprisingly, cost falls into this category. The cost (tuition plus fees) per unit for an online graduate degree in engineering at ASU is roughly $1,000, which is nearly three times that for an in-state resident attending class on campus. Another important drawback is the lack of personal interaction with faculty. Even more important is the lack of access to lab facilities—hands-on learning being one of the main reasons why students pursue an engineering degree in the first place. In fact, it is the cutting-edge tools available on campus and the physical ties with industry that make engineering programs so worthwhile.

Good Candidates

Who is a likely candidate for an online master’s degree? An employed engineering degree holder looking for some sort of edge. Cursory investigation shows that an overwhelming majority (greater than 95%) of students who pursue online master’s degrees in engineering are already employed. That corroborates my own experience that engineering master’s degrees are generally pursued to either increase one’s knowledge or marketability in a field that is closely aligned with their undergraduate degree. This includes individuals who have hit a knowledge barrier or have sufficient technical knowledge but are otherwise unable to distinguish themselves for promotion. Conversely, I would not suggest an online program to a recent BS recipient who was not employed—an online degree represents a significant cash outlay at a time when there is no money coming in. I would counsel the student to wait a year or two after becoming employed to see whether he or she still sees the benefit and whether his or her technical interests have shifted.

Based on what I’ve learned, would I advise a client to consider an online engineering master’s degree? Yes, but with significant caveats. My client would have to be employed, not looking to use the degree to change fields, clearly articulate why he or she needs an advanced degree, fully understand the limitations intrinsic to this type of degree, and have a schedule for completion within a reasonable time frame. Many students pursue master’s degrees without proper guidance and context, and the proliferation of online options only seems to increase the propensity to do so. Finally, there is the question of program quality. Although any one of the top 50 programs should be able to deliver quality lectures—the heart of an online education—there may be significant differences in the extent of less-tangible factors, such as student engagement. It is worth spending some time examining these nonacademic factors before choosing a program.

Stephen Asztalos, Academically Speaking, can be reached at [email protected].

[From IECA’s Insights newsletter, February/March 2017]