Reasons Why It Is Worth To Enroll In An Online PhD Program

Higher Ed Geek always strives to bring you the latest news and advice involving the role of education within the modern world. So, it only makes sense that we tackle the subject of online PhD courses. What makes them so popular and why do they represent great opportunities for advancement?

A More Economical Alternative

If money is a concern, you will be very happy to learn that online PhD courses are significantly cheaper than their real-world counterparts. With costs ranging between $4,000 and $20,000 dollars, even those on a limited budget will normally be able to make ends meet.

More Opportunities to Organize Your Time

As there are a growing number of institutions which offer online programs, you can enjoy a greater sense of flexibility. It is often possible to schedule the courses around your requirements, so those with full-time professions will still be able to obtain a quality education. This also helps to strengthen the learning curve; enabling you to absorb a greater amount of information when the time is right.

Preparation for the World of Teaching

Are you considering teaching as a profession? If so, online PhD programs can be excellent options. While you will be able to gain entry into public schools, a more advanced degree can open up additional doors such as positions as a university-level professor. Thanks to the prevalence of chat forums and immediate access to tutors, you can also learn powerful communication skills. Another factor to remember is that classes are becoming increasingly tailored to fewer students, so the level of attention that can be devoted to each individual has increased in recent years. Many credits can likewise be transferred into real-world institutions if necessary.

Additional Skills and Talents

Another lesser-known advantage of any online course is that you will naturally build your technical skills. Often referred to as a learning management system (LMS), these programs are becoming an increasingly important part of the digital world. Other traits which can be developed include:

• Understanding webinars and VoIP networks.
• Working with modern word processors.
• Sharing documents.
• Leveraging the power of digital audio/visual media.

Becoming More Resourceful and Independent

You truly are your own boss when registering for an online PhD program. You will therefore develop discipline and independence along the way. Such responsibilities will prove to be invaluable when you ultimately enter into the workforce. Many employers are eagerly searching for such traits and in return, you could very well find that a greater number of positions are available.

When you complete the training, be sure to speak directly with the specialists at Maxxima Group. Whether referring to occupational therapy jobs or a board-certified surgeon, this team offers flexible and high-quality staffing solutions which are specifically designed for the health care sector. Possessing a PhD will open up an untold world of opportunities and there is no better time than the present to begin this rewarding journey.

Refocusing on Outcomes over Metrics

As I continue to work in and get to used to a much different space within higher ed, I've come to realize a professional value I have that I think is a helpful mindset to strive for no matter where you work.

It's the idea that we should focus more on the outcomes of our work versus the metrics. We can often get too caught up in the numbers and analytics of our work as the world becomes more digital. While on one hand, I think higher ed could be more metric driven at times, we need to properly balance this with the actual outcomes we're trying to achieve. The number of likes on a post, for example, won't matter if we aren't improving the student experience or retention through our outreach efforts.

If you're looking for a way to integrate data into your work in a meaningful way (which yes, please do) then you can try to find correlations between data points. A metric in isolation is interesting, but is hard to take any action on. Correlating the data can help try to make sense of these disparate numbers. For example, you can see if there is a positive effect on retention among students who attend events on campus each semester. Folks like Presence have found exactly these sort of insights with their campus partners, which really help shape what outcomes you want to strive for and what will be meaningful action to get there.

This sort of mindset should be construed as trying to get in the way of the very personal and human work we do. It rather is augmenting us to be able to put our focus and effort in the right place at the right time. It's powering our high touch roles with technology.

Data and metrics are important. They can inform our work and direct our efforts. I appreciate the accessibility of current data dashboards in my own work (for some more thoughts on this, check out my book review for Winning with Data).

I hope as you evaluate your work, and the role technology and digital assessments play in it, you make sure to consider both metrics and outcomes as companions helping you towards your goals.

Book Review: Privacy & How to Get it Back

A recent book I read, Privacy: And How to Get it Back, from a recent podcast guest, BJ Mendelson, really got me thinking about a big topic right now in society; digital privacy.

The big takeaway for me from Privacy was that it isn't so much that the tools themselves are inherently bad, it's how the companies who made them use them and sell our data as well as what individuals put on these platforms without knowing what is done with this information.

I think BJ's book serves as a great counterpoint to my other book review, Winning with Data. There are ways to responsibly use data to make life better for people, but profiting off of social media posts and this community that exists on your platforms isn't really doing many people much good. And there are other models that could be made to allow these companies to make money without selling your data, or at least compensate you for your valuable data (which BJ recommends).

We create many of our own problems in the world, but we can also create solutions as well. These amazing tools we've made need to used responsibly by all involved. Many of these digital companies (whether they be Amazon, Facebook, Google, etc.) have a duty to do right by us, their users. But often they're working within the lax regulations put upon them. If we put proper rules in place, then they will work within them, as we're seeing with the GDPR rollout. I think digital privacy is a right, and these companies shouldn't be obfuscating the way to control how our data is shared.

I'm hopeful that as these digital tools as becoming more ubiquitous, we will update our laws and make sure to keep these companies that make them in check. It is also on the individual to feel empowered and informed to manage their data in whatever ways they feel most comfortable with. Maybe that means being more conservative, or it means sharing it widely, or only with certain platforms. Also, in my world, as higher ed becomes more digitized as well, we need to more conscious of how we're securing this information, which at times can be very sensitive.

I hope this gets you thinking like it did for me. It's something we can take for granted but the right to privacy is fundamental. We just need to learn how to navigate this issue in the digital space, but I'm confident we all can.