New Walden Tempo CBE Postdoc Certs; Could Tempo CBE Doctorates Be Next?

[Heartstrings]

Doctoral degrees

Doctoral degrees are primarily valuable for careers in teaching and research. You shouldn’t pursue a doctorate unless it’s truly necessary for your desired role. Much like starting a business, earning a doctoral degree can carry significant risk if the return on investment doesn’t materialize, especially if you change your mind about your career path later on.

Some of these newer online options can reduce the time and cost of earning a doctoral degree, which lowers your risk.

Credential-Focused vs. Skill-Focused Hiring

The trend is moving toward skill-focused hiring, especially for jobs in tech, creative fields, and marketing. However, some fields still lean toward credential-focused hiring, which is sometimes required for licensing.

Whether or not you need a graduate degree for jobs that don’t require it is debatable.

I think that graduate degrees can be unecessary if your job doesn't require it. I have a 20+ career in counseling. I was interviewing for a manager job in the counseling field and I was told by the board that counselor's don't make good bosses because they think a certain way and that he recommended that any counselor going to be manager in the counseling field should really look at getting their MBA. I think if someone is going to make a career change then getting a graduate degree can be beneficial than going back and getting another undergrad degree. But experience is going to be helpful.

I can see how the Walden courses can open up the individual to being able to teach graduate business courses. If they have a different major like psychology and want to cross over into business psychology. When I was working on my doctorate degree I had some professors with two doctorate degrees. Which can also be argued as unecessary.

[Stonybeach]

Another comment on teaching. Typically, colleges require faculty to have 18 semester hours in the discipline or subfield to teach in that area. I noticed the courses are offered in quarter hours. 20 quarter hours equals 15 semester hours, and 25 QH equals 18 semester hours.

One of the post-doctoral (PD) management certificates offers a track in human resources, which, for me, may be of considerable value in the business sector. The human resources (HR) field also offers professional certifications, such as the SHRM. Experience in HR is key for the SHRM, but the PD certificate in HR, if the price is right, may lead to gainful employment in that field. Any thoughts?

[Heartstrings]

Another comment on teaching. Typically, colleges require faculty to have 18 semester hours in the discipline or subfield to teach in that area. I noticed the courses are offered in quarter hours. 20 quarter hours equals 15 semester hours, and 25 QH equals 18 semester hours.

One of the post-doctoral (PD) management certificates offers a track in human resources, which, for me, may be of considerable value in the business sector. The human resources (HR) field also offers professional certifications, such as the SHRM. Experience in HR is key for the SHRM, but the PD certificate in HR, if the price is right, may lead to gainful employment in that field. Any thoughts?

You can work in HR with any degree. I have a master's in psychology and a master's in HR. I truly feel like networking is best if you want a job in HR. Most people I know started out by knowing someone to get their foot in the door. Plus, in HR laws are always changing. You're degree now may be useless. I graduated with my HR degree in 2024. One of my classes was a class called DEI. With the new administration that class is outdated with current laws surrounding DEI. When I was working on my HR degree I was looking at attending law school. So that is another option.

[turbotortuga]

Another comment on teaching. Typically, colleges require faculty to have 18 semester hours in the discipline or subfield to teach in that area. I noticed the courses are offered in quarter hours. 20 quarter hours equals 15 semester hours, and 25 QH equals 18 semester hours.

One of the post-doctoral (PD) management certificates offers a track in human resources, which, for me, may be of considerable value in the business sector. The human resources (HR) field also offers professional certifications, such as the SHRM. Experience in HR is key for the SHRM, but the PD certificate in HR, if the price is right, may lead to gainful employment in that field. Any thoughts?

I suppose it depends on the evaluation criteria, but typically the semester hour to quarter hour conversion is something like qtr hour x 2/3 = sem hour. So 27 Qtr hours is 18 sem hours. I'm attending South College and the VA uses the 2/3 conversion rate to deterime the equivalent sem hours.

[Stonybeach]

Another comment on teaching. Typically, colleges require faculty to have 18 semester hours in the discipline or subfield to teach in that area. I noticed the courses are offered in quarter hours. 20 quarter hours equals 15 semester hours, and 25 QH equals 18 semester hours.

One of the post-doctoral (PD) management certificates offers a track in human resources, which, for me, may be of considerable value in the business sector. The human resources (HR) field also offers professional certifications, such as the SHRM. Experience in HR is key for the SHRM, but the PD certificate in HR, if the price is right, may lead to gainful employment in that field. Any thoughts?

I suppose it depends on the evaluation criteria, but typically the semester hour to quarter hour conversion is something like qtr hour x 2/3 = sem hour. So 27 Qtr hours is 18 sem hours. I'm attending South College and the VA uses the 2/3 conversion rate to deterime the equivalent sem hours.

So, you agree that these certificates do not meet the graduate hours in semester hours to use for teaching?

[SteveFoerster]

Another comment on teaching. Typically, colleges require faculty to have 18 semester hours in the discipline or subfield to teach in that area. I noticed the courses are offered in quarter hours. 20 quarter hours equals 15 semester hours, and 25 QH equals 18 semester hours.

One of the post-doctoral (PD) management certificates offers a track in human resources, which, for me, may be of considerable value in the business sector. The human resources (HR) field also offers professional certifications, such as the SHRM. Experience in HR is key for the SHRM, but the PD certificate in HR, if the price is right, may lead to gainful employment in that field. Any thoughts?

I suppose it depends on the evaluation criteria, but typically the semester hour to quarter hour conversion is something like qtr hour x 2/3 = sem hour. So 27 Qtr hours is 18 sem hours. I'm attending South College and the VA uses the 2/3 conversion rate to deterime the equivalent sem hours.

So, you agree that these certificates do not meet the graduate hours in semester hours to use for teaching?

Well, I'd certainly be very cautious. Normally an awarding institution will note on its transcripts whether its quarter-hour system is 3/5 of a semester hour or is 2/3 of a semester-hour and one can sort it out from there. This school seems to say that its quarter-hour system is 3/4 of a semester-hour? I suppose that's possible, although I've never seen that ratio before and in neither of the more common cases would 20 or even 25 quarter-hours be quite enough to make one academically qualified to teach in a new discipline.

(IMHO, schools should just stick to semester-hours to avoid this needless problem.)

[Jonathan Whatley]

This certificate doesn’t have to be your only source of graduate or doctoral level credit in a subject, of course.

[SteveFoerster]

This certificate doesn’t have to be your only source of graduate or doctoral level credit in a subject, of course.

That's very true! I guess I'm bringing my own preference into it. I think getting set up to take courses at a school is kind of a PITA, as is sending transcripts later when one needs to demonstrate academic qualification, so I'd expect that most people would be like me and prefer one stop shopping.

Along those lines, twenty years ago I was the PDSO at Southeastern University (the now-dead one in Washington, DC) and told the Provost we should be offering 18-credit online graduate certificates in as many subjects as possible to reach what was then a thriving market of adjuncts. Unfortunately, the institution was already circling the drain at that point, and she wasn't able to do anything with it.