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Walden MS Early Childhood Studies Administration, Management, & Leadership Tempo - Printable Version

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Walden MS Early Childhood Studies Administration, Management, & Leadership Tempo - PrettyFlyforaChiGuy - 05-20-2019

Hello, I am a new user here, but I completed the Tempo Learning (Competency-Based) Masters in Early Childhood Studies through Walden University recently, if anyone has any questions regarding it, as I didn't see a recent thread. I enrolled with a B.S. from Tulane University, and had concerns regarding the quality of online learning which were more or less (though not entirely) alleviated. It's very much what you put into it; like undergrad, I completed it with a 3.9 GPA and did not just brute-force quizzes, taking my time on assessments, reading everything, turning in dozens of papers with 6 to 7 pages of citations. Only one assessment was returned for review, but it was due to me incorporating unfamiliar South Korean standards in my paper. I had no real background in ECE, nor even a child development certificate, but the program prepares you to be a Director. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.


RE: Walden MS Early Childhood Studies Administration, Management, & Leadership Tempo - bjcheung77 - 05-20-2019

I have Walden on my radar for the Tempo Learning option, there are 3 Masters programs from them that interest me and all three happen to be on the Temp Learning as well. Anyways, questions - How many terms did it take you and were there extra costs towards the tuition that's like a "hidden" cost? So, how much in total did you spend? Thanks,


RE: Walden MS Early Childhood Studies Administration, Management, & Leadership Tempo - PrettyFlyforaChiGuy - 05-20-2019

(05-20-2019, 10:21 AM)bjcheung77 Wrote: I have Walden on my radar for the Tempo Learning option, there are 3 Masters programs from them that interest me and all three happen to be on the Temp Learning as well.  Anyways, questions - How many terms did it take you and were there extra costs towards the tuition that's like a "hidden" cost?  So, how much in total did you spend?  Thanks,

Hi, let me try to help out. I'll provide my own thoughts about the learning process in general, because I coming to realize that I may have been a nontraditional nontraditional student.

I actually officially began way back four years ago in one of the first cohorts, grandfathered into the tuition at $750 per 3-month term. I've spent most of my adult life living abroad, and I wanted a stepping stone degree while living outside the USA. It seemed to fit. I put in various unpaid leaves of absence (over 1.5 years in total!) due to focusing on my career, and only really truly focused on the assessments in the final weeks of each term after spending much of the term mulling over how to best complete them. I'm unsure of the total cost, but it certainly could be much less than whatever I paid. Loans are all gone though, but it will all depend on your willpower.

In retrospect, though, since I really only hunkered down for a couple weeks at a time, it could have been done in a few terms. I don't know. I wouldn't recommend this from the perspective of learning nor from the accumulated stress, but I'd be curious to see the journey, and everyone's is different. I've read of people churning out assessment after assessment in a short period of and having them returned back for revisions; this just suggests a lack of learning to me, as the rubrics are clear and you shouldn't need to put in more than 30-40 hours to get the highest grades for the sturdier assessments. Any approach certainly does get you to the same place in the end, though.

Personally, I was a perfectionist, and never liked to submit any work that I wasn't not proud of, so I wasn't the same model of efficiency that I had been during undergrad. I'm not sure of your journey, but my own is that I completed my brick-and-mortar B.S. with multiple minors and more credits than most people get in 4.5 years after only 3 semesters on campus due to working so effectively and interacting with professors. At Walden--and potentially at any online program with so much independent leeway--both the distance-learning approach and coming to feel like I was turning in work that was at a much higher standard than that which I had seen around the Internet did get to me and caused me to question if I should have chosen a more traditional program in line with my prior experience for a graduate-level degree, since I wanted great depth and to be challenged by engaged peers alongside me in real or digital classrooms. However, I will say that the work itself was largely very informative and practical, especially coming with zero background in the field. The skills were transferable and authentic, and I do feel informed. If that's your goal, I think you can reach it through any of their competency-based programs, since I managed to do it with no real work experience with very young children.

Hidden costs? None that I can really think of, aside from needing to collaborate with an NAEYC-accredited center on a program evaluation during a site visit, and observing a class in another competency. I completed both during a short visit back to the USA. However, if you wanted to skirt around that somehow, that could also likely work out.

As for the other Tempo programs, you could choose the teaching track in ECS, or maybe the new Criminal Justice program that is also currently available at a 50% discount. The MBA program is also still an option, I believe. I had been considering the CJ coursework until I realized a) I actually wanted to pursue a brick-and-mortar M.S. in Higher Ed whenever I make it back to the USA and b) I was starting to view higher education as a race to collect papers. 

If you just want a piece of paper too, want to work for it, and grow to earn it, I think you could do that here through any of their programs, but it also appears I could have just submitted what I would have considered intellectually meager work products and still received that same piece of paper. I can't fault either approach, but I won't say I wasn't personally disappointed by the perceived, unfamiliar lack of rigor sometimes. Such is life in many online CBE programs though, as it is mostly a race against yourself and proving your abilities. I still strongly support the premise that the Tempo platform is one means to open up new avenues for higher education to everyone, and I largely agree with its approach.


RE: Walden MS Early Childhood Studies Administration, Management, & Leadership Tempo - Ideas - 05-20-2019

Congrats on your MS!


RE: Walden MS Early Childhood Studies Administration, Management, & Leadership Tempo - PrettyFlyforaChiGuy - 05-20-2019

(05-20-2019, 10:37 PM)Ideas Wrote: Congrats on your MS!

Thank you; this community always seems so supportive of everyone. I think some people here may be attempting to parlay their online degrees into B&M learning down the road, but I was walking in the totally opposite direction along that same road. Coming from where I had been, friends and I were worried about the quality of both the program and online learning in general, but I can say I've been converted. There are some clear differences, but I think these programs really help people build themselves up, and I hope to help change the perception of online learning as coming from "degree mills" as much as I can.


RE: Walden MS Early Childhood Studies Administration, Management, & Leadership Tempo - PrettyFlyforaChiGuy - 06-10-2019

[Sorry, posted in wrong Walden thread. Deleting this.]