Online Leadership Degree
Also in this leadership qualification series:
Degrees have often been the most sought-after leadership courses related to leadership. The commanding ability to produce leadership research and ideology to an international standard further strengthens universities position in this area. This applies for not only universities in the UK but also in the states, such as with Averett University online
Introduction: Traditional Leadership Degrees
Currently, almost all universities with an established business school will offer programmes that specifically strive to develop leadership within their students. Examples of these traditional courses at Lancaster University’s prestigious Management School include:
- MA Management Learning & Leadership
- Executive MBA
- Diploma in Public Service Leadership
- Lancaster Advanced Leadership Programme
As you can see, leadership is prominently represented at traditional Universities in the UK and internationally. However, a new breed of leadership degrees have emerged. These are Online Leadership Degrees.
What are Online Leadership Degrees?
Online leadership degrees offer similar academic learning to traditional ‘brick-based’ university degrees, but also offer far more in the way of flexibility and value for money. There are however also drawbacks, and we’ll look at these later too.
Some online leadership degrees are 100% web based, and therefore the University can actually be based in a totally different country to the student! Some leadership degrees online are actually just part-take time degrees whereby distance learning forms the bulk (but not the total) amount of degree work.
Advantages and Benefits of Online Leadership Degrees
1. Cost. Leadership Degrees Online are substantially cheaper than offline ones.
2. Convenience. These courses allow you to pick your hours, pick your working days and often even tailor your module choices!
Disadvantages and Drawbacks of Online Leadership Degrees
1. Impersonal. Distance learning can be a lonely process, and often you can feel like there is no sense of community spirit surrounding the course, and no ‘buddies’ to keep you in the loop on whats going on. Some universities however have online hub spaces for students to interact, which in part solves this isolation-by-distance.
2. Lack of personal tuition. When the topics dealt with become technical and complicated, it is often useful to be able to ask even silly questions to just clarify points in your mind. Often this functionality is missing in online leadership degrees, which can lead to mistakes in your work or uncorrected flaws in your thinking which can persist and cause difficulties for quite some time.
However in some online degrees – telephone and even web-chat support is sometimes provided which can mitigate this factor.
Directory of Online Leadership Degrees
In this section I will attempt to create a directory of online leadership degrees available. This list will not be in any particular order, and I do not specifically recommend any course. This is purely for reference only. All of these universities are officially accredited in the US.
Minor In Leadership - Nova SouthEastern University
Price: $8,625 (15 Credit hours, $575 per credit hour).
Associate of Arts in Leadership – Regent University
Price: $31,680 (64 Credit hours, $475 per credit hour).
Bsc in Business Management – Liberty University
Price: $33,000 (120 Credit Hours, $275 per credit hour).
Theodore Roosevelt Honors Leadership Program – Dickinson State University.
Obviously this list is not comprehensive, but will certainly give you an idea of what the top online universities in the USA are offering with regards to online leadership courses.
Conclusion: A Worthwhile Choice?
Are online degrees the highest quality form of leadership training? Probably not. Due to the lack of one-on-one leadership coaching, I believe that these leadership courses probably fall down when it comes to developing the leadership skills of others compared to say, a leadership development programme run in physical leadership classes or perhaps within the participants business itself.
That isn’t to say that online leadership degrees are a waste of time however. On the contrary, an online leadership course such as this will certainly enlighten you to the various leadership styles, leadership models and leadership theories out there. Your knowledge will be much fuller after partaking in an online bachelors degree. I just simply believe that a practical element is necessary to help translate this knowledge into good leadership skills.
What can a person do with a pure leadership degree? Are there any places to teach physically or online?
There are quite a few different paths Janice:
Higher Education – A leadership degree can lead onto a further education such as a leadership masters or leadership mba, this can eventually lead to teaching at these insitutions.
Delivering Training – Corporate training to serve a variety of purposes will be looking for people with specialised qualifications.
Gaining a Promotion – If the leadership degree is taken online, then once graduated, you may now be able to pursue new paths within your organisation that previously excluded you on the grounds that you did not posess a degree. Once a graduate, your degree will make you a more attract promotion candidate if you can put what you’ve learnt into practise and demonstrate a good grounding in leadership skills.