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Advanced Degrees Online
Supporting the Sunshine
State's Health, Education & Welfare
(ARA) - At a time when lack of jobs is a lead story, it may be surprising to
discover how many positions in essential industries are going unfilled because
professionals with the expertise and career success lack the final
qualification: an advanced degree. For these individuals it can mean a career
not fully realized. For the state of Florida, it's a threat to our health,
education and welfare.
One innovative university, Florida State, set out to solve this problem. And is
succeeding.
"Florida State University recognized that leadership positions in
elementary and secondary schools, health care facilities, and social services
agencies are going unfilled because people who have years of experience to build
on need an advanced degree to qualify," says Sandra Calhoun, director of
the Office for Distributed and Distance Learning at FSU. "But they can't
change their life situation to attend an on-campus master's degree
program."
The solution? "Since they can't come to us, we developed online programs
that can be delivered to them."
Florida State University's online graduate programs allow people with bachelor's
degrees in education, nursing and social work to pursue their master's degrees
without ever coming to the Tallahassee campus.
"That's critical for working people who can't afford to give up their
jobs," says Calhoun. "But these programs can't be next-best. They have
to be equal in quality to their on-campus counterparts, or we wouldn't put our
FSU seal on them."
Statistics support Calhoun's claim: Graduate students in the university's online
programs are doing as well or better on standardized exams than on-campus
students.
"The fact that many of these people work in health care, education, and
social work just makes our online programs that much more important, especially
in Florida, where the need for these professionals is especially pressing. So we
could call these three particular advanced degrees 'sunshine degrees,' because
they're in crucial areas where higher education needs to shine its light, and
because people earning these degrees will help to create a brighter
future," she says.
* Nursing: Retiring Baby Boomers Creating Shortage
During the 2003-4 academic year, baccalaureate nursing programs in Florida had
to turn away 1,800 qualified applicants, according to data collected by the
Florida Association of Colleges of Nursing, because there weren't enough faculty
members to teach them.
That's hundreds of potential nurses who could fill positions created by growth
in the health care system. "And that," according to Dr. Katherine
Mason, Dean of Florida State University's School of Nursing, "along with
the baby boomers who are now retiring, has left us without enough experienced
and qualified people out there to keep the system healthy. The problem has a
simple answer: We need more nursing faculty. But in order for people with
nursing degrees to qualify as nurse educators, they need master's degrees.''
Depending on how much time they can devote to their online studies, students can
usually earn a Nurse Educator master's degree from Florida State in about two
years.
* Social Work: Caring for the Growing Population of Young and Elderly
There's a critical need for people to fill leadership roles in agencies that
deal with the needs of our nation's children and the elderly, both in government
and the private sector, according to a 2001 study on the social work industry
commissioned by the Hartford Foundation.
And it's likely to get worse.
"As the baby boomers age, they will need to turn to such places as social
security offices, centers that handle veteran's affairs, nursing homes and
hospices," says Janet Berry, director of Distance Learning and Part-time
Programs for Florida State's College of Social Work. "At the same time, the
juvenile justice system will need more workers, and so will agencies that handle
mental health issues. There just aren't enough people out there with advanced
degrees that qualify them to do the work."
FSU is the only school in the country with an accredited online program where
qualified students can earn a clinical master's degree in social work. In
addition to the online courses, students must also complete an online seminar
and a two-semester internship in their field. The internship can be done at a
facility in their hometown.
"After completing our degree, students are qualified to work the front
lines in state agencies dealing with child welfare, adoption, juvenile justice
and elderly issues," says Berry, "or they can work in hospices, or in
nursing homes dealing with such issues as death and dying; or they can go into
private practice as a licensed clinical social worker. It's a very versatile
degree."
* Education: The Coming Need to Educate More Educators
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there will be a 13 percent
increase in job openings for principals, superintendents and other school
administrators between now and 2010. The most likely candidates to fill these
jobs, experienced teachers, have been hard pressed to find or attend a local
university to earn the advanced degree required to move into these positions.
In response to teachers' needs, FSU developed a hybrid program, in which current
teachers fulfill course requirements partly online and partly through weekend
face-to-face meetings at several sites in Florida.
"If you've ever taught in an elementary or secondary school," says Dr.
Michael Biance, coordinator of the FSU Educational Leadership/Administration
program, "you know how reluctant you are to give up your commitment to
students to attend a weekday on-campus program. That's why FSU is so committed
to this format of the master's degree program."
To learn more about all the online graduate programs offered by Florida State
University, log on to http://learnonline.fsu.edu or call (850) 644-8004.
Courtesy of ARA Content