I hear a lot about online courses for teacher training, mast...

I´m applying for my MSEd TESOL at Shenandoah University. I researched two programs over the last few months and actually contacted graduates of both programs. Shenandoah and UMASS are both online and both came highly recommended. I finally decided on Shenandoah because of its flexibility. You´re basically able to work from anywhere in the world while earning your MSEd TESOL and they give you plenty of time to complete each course as most students are also working full time. Best of luck to you.

Hi Shawn,

I´ve just started my MTESOL this week with University of Auckland, New Zealand. I chose it for a couple of reasons - since I´m a Kiwi I pay domestic rates for my fees. Secondly, Professor Rod Ellis, a well published and internationally known expert (especially in second language acquisition) is based at UOA (he´s a Kiwi). He also does a lot of work with David Nunan (an Australian). Ellis and Nunan run the MTESO at Alaheim University in California.

I´m not sure which country you´re from, but you could try contacting your national TESOL organisation and see if they recommend any. Also the MTESOL from Birmingham University has very good status. There are several universities from Australia that have distance MTESOL programmes which also have good reputations.

cheers,
Linda

Most of them are legitimate, especially if joined to a reputed University or College.

Do the one that appeals to you..

Hello Shawn. For a big picture of universities offering solid distance/online learning degrees you could start by browsing through two sources: www.degreeinfo.com and Bear´s Guide to Earning Degrees By Distance Learning. The book should be available through a high school or college library near you.

My M.Ed. Teaching Second Languages is from the University of Southern Queensland in Australia which won some awards for their distance learning programs a few years back. A great learning experience all-round.

Linda makes a good point to keep in mind - it´s always useful at the masters level to be studying at a university which is home to one of the major players in the field you are interested in. It lends your degree a bit of "reflected glory".

One way I verified the credibility of the program I took was to check and see if distance degrees from this institution were recognized for certification where I wanted to work. Happily, it was. Maybe you could try this strategy once you have narrowed down your choices a bit.

If you are planning to do on to a Ph.D., make sure the prgram you choose includes doing research and writing a thesis. If you want to stop after your Masters or want to do an Ed.D, , then you can choose the slighly less time-consuming route of a course-work only masters. In either case England, New Zealand, Australia, University of South Africa, the U.S., and Canada alll have many programs of each type to choose from .

Another way to verify the reputation of a potential school is to visit the local Consulate/Embassy/Trade Office of that school´s country. They usually have up-to-date information about the reputable educational opportunities in their country.