Massachusetts residents looking to earn degrees, update skills, and advance careers will find a wide variety of educational opportunities not only in traditional classrooms of local universities, but also in their online programs. A look at schools and their online offerings, which range from certificates to PhDs:
Students can choose from 344 online courses and earn degrees in four majors: business, sociology, history, and liberal studies. Business is the most popular. The school also offers minors in art, sociology, management, and psychology.
Prospective students can choose from a variety of online graduate programs. The most popular are master’s degrees in criminal justice, computer information systems, and project management.
BU also offers some online undergraduate classes, including a completion program for students who left school without finishing a degree.
The two universities joined forces for the fall 2012 semester to form edX, a series of online courses reflecting programs offered at each school. EdX was created to offer online educational programs while studying how technology influences learning. The program doesn’t offer degrees, but students who master subject material can earn a certificate of completion. The University of California at Berkeley is also offering online classes through thenew collaborative.
At UMass Online, you can choose from 118 online programs, at associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate levels, as well as certificates, in everything from applied linguistics to graphic design. Their most popular courses of study are business and a teaching program in special education that focuses on autism.
The school’s most popular online degree programs are in the teaching field: master of education with a concentration in nutrition education and master of education with a concentration in curriculum and instructional technology. The school also offers an online professional development center for educators.
The for-profit University of Phoenix offers online programs in everything from an associate’s in information technology to a PhD in industrial/organizational psychology.
Salem State offers two degree programs that can be completed entirely online: a bachelor of science in fire science administration and a master of education in library media studies, as well as a certificate program in teaching English as a second language. The university launched a new intercultural communications degree completion program this fall.
Based in Danvers, this community college has three degree programs that can be completed completely online: associate’s degrees in business administration, liberal arts, and fire protection and safety technology. The college also offers an online certificate in Web development.
At Northeastern, students can choose from 45 fully online degree programs, including a doctor of nursing practice, a master’s in regulatory affairs for drugs, biologics, and medical devices, and a master’s in health informatics. Six new online programs are in the works.