Asee peer logo

Preferences of Returners and Direct Pathway Students for Online vs. In-Person Master’s Program

Download Paper |

Conference

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Portland, Oregon

Publication Date

June 23, 2024

Start Date

June 23, 2024

End Date

July 12, 2024

Conference Session

Graduate Studies Division (GSD) Technical Session 2: Graduate Student Pipeline and Workforce Development

Tagged Division

Graduate Studies Division (GSD)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/47861

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Elizabeth Gross Sam Houston State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-1648-7090

visit author page

Elizabeth A. Gross MLIS, PhD is currently associate professor of Library Science and Technology at Sam Houston State University and engineering education researcher. Her doctoral degree is in learning design and technology from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. Other interests include AI in education and information literacy.

visit author page

biography

Diane L. Peters Kettering University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8177-8145

visit author page

Dr. Peters is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Online graduate degree program offerings, particularly at the master’s level, have increased tremendously over recent years. In all disciplines, the online option provides an additional opportunity to students who wish to pursue graduate education. These programs are effective and viable for many students, but others strongly prefer or learn best from in-person education. In this paper, differences in preference and experiences with online and in-person master’s programs will be examined for two groups of students, returners and direct-pathway students. We define returners as those who work in industry for at least five years between their undergraduate degree conferral and matriculation into a graduate program, while direct pathway students have less than five years’ gap between their undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Previous work has shown that the two groups exhibit a variety of differences, although they are also similar in many ways. This paper will discuss returners’ observed preference for online programs, and what rationales led students to choose the type of course delivery they did. Experiences in these programs will be explored and discussed, with analyses covering both qualitative and quantitative data that has been collected.

Gross, E., & Peters, D. L. (2024, June), Preferences of Returners and Direct Pathway Students for Online vs. In-Person Master’s Program Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47861

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2024 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015