Carol Shanksy graduated from the College of Fine Arts with her fingers on another kind of keyboard.
Shanksy, who graduated in December, became the first and only graduate of CFA’s online doctoral of musical arts in music education program, not by pounding out tunes, but by signing online.
‘Some people have a sense that learning online is easy because you can do it in your pajamas, but I think it’s in fact more rigorous,’ Shanksy said. ‘You have to be a little bit more independent and little bit more of a self-motivated learner.’
The online DMA program is the first of its kind, and has been offered by CFA in addition to an online master of music in music education since 2005, CFA music education department chairman Patrick Jones said. Because of the program’s National Association of Schools of Music accreditation, the medium of communication is the only difference between CFA’s online and on-campus master’s and doctoral music education programs.
‘Our degrees are professional development degrees,’ Jones said. ‘This is not where they learn music performance and teaching. They’ve already done that with their bachelor’s degrees.”
Online degree students take courses through video lectures, group discussion boards and chat rooms, Jones said.
‘In some ways, I know my students better, but in some ways, they seem more distant,’ Jones said. ‘Online, they all write on the discussion boards, so you get to know them better because they’re not competing for your time.’
As of January, 230 students have graduated from the master’s degree program, though Shanksy was the first to graduate from the doctoral degree program, Jones said. The online program turns down about two thirds of all applicants, the same rate as CFA’s on campus program, and it includes students from all over the United States, he said.
‘Teachers all across the country are connected now,’ Jones said. ‘This community we have of teachers around the country is amazing and it’s because of technology.”
Jennifer Wojcik, a 2007 master’s degree graduate, said the CFA online program was still as demanding as any on campus program.
‘I think a lot of people rely on getting by in the classroom by grabbing on to what other people say in the classroom and running with it, but in this case, you really have to have your own thoughts and beliefs because it’s all written down for you to see,’ she said
Oberlin Conservatory of Music Division of Music Education Director Jody Kerchner said she has her doubts about online music education programs.
‘For my liking, I value the in-class human interaction,’ Kerchner said. ‘I think so much of what we do education and music-wise is developing habits of mind and personality and presentation skills, so I don’t know how that would work with distance learning.’
Shanksy said she has no regrets about her participation in CFA’s online degree program.
‘It still says BU on the diploma, and that has to mean something,’ Shanksy said.
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