My Masters Program

This past Monday I began my pursuit of a masters in music education degree through Boston University. It is a distance learning program, so I was very curious to see how it would work, if I would like it, if it would be the same caliber as a onsite course, etc. I am happy to say, that I like it and am pleased (so far) with the caliber of the program.

Being that I am only taking one course at a time, it seems like I don't have much school work to do - however the course material and work load is laid out well. (The course is designed to be taken at the same time as teaching, therefore not to overload the working student. This will be greatly appreciated next year when I return to Whiteaker!) Each week there is a lecture online that is complete with reading materials from textbooks (that I have with me at home), audio recordings, and even video clips of the professor talking. We are then assigned projects and questions that we must answer and respond to on a discussion board throughout the week. Something BU prides themselves in is that the online student must be much more active in his or her class than potentially the onsite student. This is nice and helps keep me accountable.

In addition to the professor, we also have a facilitator who is constantly available to answer any questions. With exception of my initial contact with BU after I was accepted into the program, I have been very impressed with the communication from instructor and facilitator to the student. Students also help each other out with questions through the discussion board. Therefore, so far it has been very interactive.

So, so far I am pleased with my decision to do my masters at BU for this stage of my life. I don't think anything can replace an onsite masters from a high-powered music school, however based on my research - BU definitely has the best online program offered (by far) and will definitely serve it's purpose well in my life. Yay!