(No research here, just my personal experience/opinion....)
I worked my way through college for my first undergrad degree (BA
Journalism/CS, took me 7 years) and tried to work while going to school
for my second degree (BFA ID). I finally gave in and took unpaid leave
to get a Master's, and I'm very glad I went this route. I'm getting so
much more out of classes now that I can focus %100 of my time and energy
on learning/trying/doing instead of having work interruptions and
continual context shifts.
Also, I've taken classes with people in the MFA Interaction Design
program at CMU, and I think part of the value is that you focus on
nothing but school and research for two years. I know that some of the
students keep part-time jobs, but I honestly believe they're missing out
on some important experiences in the studio when they're not doing
assignments.
IMHO, if you have the choice of not working and living on loans and
getting the degree in 2 years, do it. Having the mental freedom to
think wide and deep is worth it in the long run.
Phil Chung wrote:
Interesting, I didn't know online HCI grad programs even existed.
On a related note, I do wish that a premier design school (e.g. RISD, Art Center, SVA, New School,
CMU) would step up and address the need for online / part-time IxD "executive MFA"
program for practitioners, along the executive MBA model with a mix of online learning and on
campus sessions. Forgive me if I've overlooked an existing program, but it seems (just based on
this discussion list) that there is a significant demand for this option, particularly with the
current economic pressures. Employed designers could leverage company sponsorship to work towards
their "executive MFA" using online materials with infrequent on campus (2-3 all weekend
sessions per semester) crits / intensive workshops to address the need for face-to-face
interaction. It seems like the field has matured to a point where programs like this should exist,
does it not?
________________________________
From: Becky Reed <br...@healthwise.org>
To: sharon <sharongreenfi...@gmail.com>; IxDA <disc...@ixda.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 11:45:52 AM
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute phasing out online
HCI program
I wonder how much of it goes back to findability and information architecture
(but I can be a little biased thinking most problems come back to these things).
Placement in search engine isn't really high (and didn't even seem them for "online
hci program" and the like) and then the description provided seemed accidental and
had an odd subdomained URL that didn't give you the university's name or program in it.
When you go to the program site you arrive at from some of the more obscure search terms, I didn't see a
mention of format (online vs oncampus). There was a link for "working professionals". Mmmm...here's
the mention: "live on-campus and, by electronic means". I guess in the months I spent searching for
an online program I never Googled for "masters program HCI electronic means".
In my experience, disambiguating on-campus only programs from distance ones was
a challenge. Trying to winnow them down via search engine alone was impossible
and even as noted above...it was kind of a treasure hunt on their program sites.
I went with an barely online Human Factors program through U of Idaho last year and would
have certainly looked at Rensselaer's HCI program as I could have taken it "by
electronic means".
Becky
-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com
[mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of sharon
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 4:23 PM
To: IxDA
Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute phasing out online HCI
program
Why is noone interested in this program?
There are only two online HCI programs to my knowledge - Rensselaer's
and Brigham Young University.
RPI's name has cachet and prestige. I know some nuclear engineers who
graduated from RPI - smart school for smart people.
I think they are phasing the online HCI program out because they
didn't have enough applicants.
Does no one have an interest in working while getting a degree remotely?
Just checking the temperature here...
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--
J. Eric "jet" Townsend, CMU Master of Tangible Interaction Design '09
design: www.allartburns.org; hacking: www.flatline.net; HF: KG6ZVQ
PGP: 0xD0D8C2E8 AC9B 0A23 C61A 1B4A 27C5 F799 A681 3C11 D0D8 C2E8
________________________________________________________________
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