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Dr. Ioannis (Yannis) Bellos is an Associate Professor in the Information Systems and Operations Management area at the School of Business, George Mason University. His research interests are found at the intersection of sustainable and service operations with an emphasis on innovative business models. His primary focus has been on service-based business models shaping what is known as the sharing and access economy. The novelty of these business models lies in the fact that customer value is linked primarily to the product “use” rather than the product. He also studies the emerging practice of service design as a managerial discipline. Prof.Bellos’ work has appeared in book chapters and leading journals, including Management Science, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, and Production and Operations Management. Read his full biography here.
Bernard Schmidt is an Instructor at George Mason University’s Volgenau School of Engineering, MS Data Analytics Engineering Program. He is also the Assistant Director of the MS Data Analytics Engineering Program. He joined Mason’s VSE Faculty in the Fall of 2020 from Northern Virginia Community College where he served as a professor of Information Technology as well as an Assistant Dean for Information Technology and Computer Science at the NVCC Manassas campus.
Schmidt was involved with computing and the computing industry for over 35 years prior to joining academia. His early career involved computer operations and programming of IBM mainframes, which then led to researching computer image processing algorithms for multi-sensor aided target recognition at the Army’s Night Vision Lab. He has subsequently held progressive technology and management positions at a variety of organizations in Northern Virginia including Oracle Complex Systems, Cordant, IBM, ORBCOMM, Sprint, Battelle, and Prison Fellowship Ministries. Read his full biography here.
Dr. Ioulia Rytikova is an Associate Professor and an Associate Chair for Graduate Studies in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology. She received a B.S./M.S. degree in Automated Control Systems Engineering and Information Processing and her Ph.D. in Automated Control Systems from National University of Science and Technology. Dr. Rytikova designed and developed multiple interdisciplinary programs, concentrations, and courses in the emerging areas of data sciences and big data analytics, computer and information technologies, health information technologies, and statistical analysis. Read her full biography here.
Christopher Coyne is Professor of Economics at George Mason University and the Associate Director of the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center. He is the Co-Editor of The Review of Austrian Economics, The Independent Review, and Advances in Austrian Economics. He also serves as the Book Review Editor for Public Choice. In 2008, Coyne was named the Hayek Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, and in 2010 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy & Policy Center at Bowling Green State University. Read his full biography here.
Dr. Wojtusiak, Professor of Health Informatics and Director of the Machine Learning and Inference Laboratory, has expertise that spans machine learning, health informatics, artificial intelligence in clinical decision support and knowledge discovery in medical data, and a wide range of applications of these fields in health care. His particular area of interest is in developing algorithms that derive simple, transparent and usable models from complex health data to predict patient and population outcomes. He studies how to create and evaluate reproducible, unbiased and trustworthy algorithms and models.
Dr. Wojtusiak serves as the Division Director for Health Informatics in the Department of Health Administration and Policy. He oversees undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs in health informatics. Dr. Wojtusiak teaches several courses focused on machine learning, data mining, artificial intelligence and computing applied in medicine, healthcare and individual/population health.
He authored or co-authored over 100 research publications and presentations and continues to collaborate with multiple national and international institutions. Read his full biography here.
Dr. Douglas Wilson is Assistant Professor of Learning, Design, and Technology in the College of Education and Human Development. His primary focus areas are online teaching and instructional design. Dr. Wilson joined George Mason University in 2021 after serving online as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Learning Technologies at Texas A&M University-Commerce; there, his teaching portfolio included a diverse set of online courses in the areas of instructional design and educational technology. Dr. Wilson has also contributed instructional design expertise to the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Dallas College and to the Center for Teaching Excellence at Southern Methodist University. Prior to moving into instructional design, Dr. Wilson served more than a decade in various faculty leadership roles. In addition to his PhD in Learning, Design, and Technology, Dr. Wilson holds an MS in Journalism from Columbia University in the City of New York. Before becoming an academic, Dr. Wilson worked as a television news reporter in major markets including Dallas, Baltimore, Tulsa, and Washington, D.C. Read his full biography here.
Dr. Shanti Chang is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing, and the Family Nurse Practitioner and Adult-Gerontology DNP Program Director. Chang’s interests are pediatrics and underserved populations. Chang is responsible for developing a free vaccine program at the Fairfax County Public School Mason and Partners (MAP) Clinic that provided 1,000 immunizations to uninsured children registering during its first year. Now, she continues to support multiple immunization clinics and is the Prince William CSB and Homeless Shelter- MAP Clinic telehealth provider. Before coming to Mason, Chang worked full-time in pediatric private practice. Read her full biography here.
Dr. Afra Saeed Ahmad is the program director of the online Master’s of Professional Studies in Applied Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She received her BA in Psychology (2008), MA (2012) and PhD (2016) in Industrial and Organizational Psychology right here at George Mason University! Afra worked as an assistant professor of management at Zayed University in Dubai for three years before returning home to Mason. Read her full biography here.
Dr. MB (Marybeth) Mitcham is an assistant professor and the director of the online MPH program in the Department of Global and Community Health. Mitcham’s research interests include the effect of intergenerational learning opportunities on healthy behavior patterns, rural gender identity, the intersection of plant-rich diets and rural populations, and effective public health education methods. Her work focuses on translating research into practice by promoting kinesthetic learning opportunities designed to reduce the barriers to achieving good health. Before coming to Mason, Mitcham worked as a nutrition and healthy living resource educator for Cornell University Cooperative Extension.
Dr. Daphne King is the MSW Online Program Director in the College of Public Health. King’s research interests are self-esteem issues in teens and adolescents, mental health concerns and treatment modalities for women of color, specifically African-American women, and the impact engagement in Christianity or spiritual practices have on self-esteem. King is an expert in treating teens and adolescents with self-esteem issues and depression and has facilitated numerous clinical and psychoeducational groups on self-esteem issues for teens. Before coming to Mason, King was an adjunct professor at Indiana Wesleyan University and a school social worker with Loudoun County Public Schools. Read her full biography here.
Master of Education in Special Education and Graduate Certificates
Master of Education in Special Education and Graduate Certificates
Dr. Jodi M. Duke
Dr. Duke is an Associate Professor in the Division of Special Education and Disability Research. She is also the Academic Program Coordinator of the Autism Spectrum Disorders Graduate Program.
Dr. Duke received a B.S. in Elementary Education from University of Michigan, a M.S. in Special Education from Johns Hopkins University, and an Ed.D. in Special Education from Johns Hopkins University. Her research focuses on postsecondary transition and college supports for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other disabilities. Read her full biography here.
TESOL (MEd Concentration in Curriculum and Instruction)
TESOL (MEd Concentration in Curriculum and Instruction)
Dr. Kathleen A. Ramos
Dr. Kathleen A. Ramos is an Associate Professor in the College of Education and Human Development, School of Education. She is also the Co-Academic Program Coordinator for the Teaching Culturally, Linguistically Diverse and Exceptional Learners (TCLDEL) graduate program. She is an experienced educator who has been working closely with culturally and linguistically diverse learners and their families since 1992. Dr. Ramos earned a PhD in Language, Literacy, and Culture from the University of Pittsburgh in 2012 and also holds an M.A. in Foreign Language Teaching earned at Pitt. She began her work as a teacher educator in Pennsylvania. Dr. Ramos joined the faculty of Mason’s TCLDEL graduate program in August 2016. As a teacher educator, she is dedicated to supporting preservice and in-service teachers locally, nationally, and globally to strengthen their capacity to serve culturally and linguistically diverse students and their families with excellence and equity. Read her full biography here.
Dr. Brenda Helen Sheingold is the Director for the Master of Healthcare Administration at the Department of Health Administration and Policy. She was awarded a dual-titled PhD from George Mason University in Public Policy and Nursing, a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business, where she also earned a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Leadership and Change Management. Her research to identify and measure social capital in the healthcare workforce has been replicated by scholars globally and recognized by the Royal College of Nursing. She was founding faculty for George Washington University’s School of Nursing where she served as the Director of the Healthcare Quality Master’s and Doctoral programs. Read her full biography here.
Watch the Virtual Q&A with Maria Uriyo, Assistant Professor and MHA Online Coordinator.
Dr. Robert Pettit is the Program Director and Professor of Practice for the online Master of Science in Computer Science. Additionally, he serves as the Director of New Graduate Programs, where he is responsible for coordinating efforts associated with the new online offerings as well as the advancement of our Bachelor’s-Accelerated-Master’s (BAM) program and retention across the M.S. CS and SWE programs. Pettit’s research and practical interests include real-time embedded software; software modeling and design; model-based engineering; software performance analysis; and mission assurance for critical software systems. Read his full biography here.
SUSAN NAGER: Welcome. Thank you for joining us. My name is Susan. I’m an admissions rep on behalf of George Mason. And I’m joined with the MBA program director, Dr. Bellows, and thanks for joining us.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: Thank you, Susan. Hi. Welcome, everybody. Thank you for joining this, this information, this information session. My name is Janice bellows, I’m an associate professor of information systems and operations management at the School of Business here at George Mason University. I am also the MBA program director. As Susan mentioned, I joined George Mason in 2012. And since then, one of my favorite parts of my job has been teaching, connecting and learning from MBA students. In my capacity as MBA faculty, I have designed and taught courses in a variety of modalities and formats, whether face to face hybrid online, and so on. So I do look forward to sharing my perspective with you and answering any questions you have this evening. So let’s move to the next slide. And let’s start talking about the MBA program. Our MBA comprises 48 credits, that is 1010 core courses, five elective courses and one global requirement, which you can meet by choosing between an international residency which involves travel, traveling and or a traditional course with an international emphasis. Students can take courses in person or asynchronously online, it’s in person course takes place once per week in our Fairfax or Arlington campuses during the evening from 720 to 10. But regardless of whether you’re taking a course in person or online, each course takes place over eight weeks. You have the flexibility to do the program fully in person fully online or mixed modalities. You can start in fall, spring or summer, and you set your own your own pace. Specifically, you can complete the program in 16, one six to 33 months, during or even before deciding to join the MBA program. You can also choose to pursue a Certificate in Business Analytics. We will elaborate on all of these in the following slides. I should not forget to brag about to brag about a couple of things here. First of all, our online and in person MBA programs are in the top 100 programs, most recently the 2023 US News World. US News and World Report ranked us number 65 In the best part time MBA category nationally, and number 40 among public institutions. Our online program has been ranked number 51 among public, public universities, and number three in the DC metro area. Most notably, our students enjoy a two to one return on investment on the admissions side. Our MBA program is test optional. However, if you like to submit a test score with your application application, we invite you to do so the next slide captures a snapshot of our MBA student population. The average age of our students is 333 years old with an average work experience of nine years. The split between male versus female students is around 5248. And over the years we have seen these getting closer and closer to 5050. We have a diverse student body this diversity is reflected in the different countries of origin of our students the race that in their undergraduate majors. For instance, our students have majored in fields such as theater, low English fashion engineering, economics estimation, if you will the only point I want to emphasize here this is to emphasize that you do not need prior to training in business to do an MBA. The next slide captures a snapshot of our career outcomes. The top three industries or our graduates find themselves in our government and government contracting, consulting and financial services. They impressive ROI that I mentioned earlier is in part driven by the fact that upon graduation our students report an average salary of one 101 or 4k, and 94% employment rate, with the overwhelming majority of the of them employed in a role related to their career goals. Of course, it’s not uncommon for our students to receive promotions and new job offers while you’re going through the program. On this slide, you can also see a list of companies where our program has a large alumni footprint. Something however, that is not mentioned on this slide is that we just survey are first year students, and 90% of them indicated that they are already confident that MBA degree will pay off. The next slide provides a high level overview of the different paces of the different available paces that you can pursue. Taking two courses per each eight week module will allow you to graduate in 16, one six months. This is ideal for students who want to maximize their GI Bill benefits or those who are simply interested in finishing finishing the program as quickly as possible. Taking one or two courses per each eight week module will bring you will bring your graduation timeline between 22 and 24 months, which may be the preferred pace for those who want to ease into the program offerings and are going to have greater flexibility throughout. If you have a very demanding or unpredictable schedule, taking one course per module may be better. And we bring your your timeline between 30 to 32 to 48 months. In the next slide, you can see some of the places that our MBA students have visited through global residency. Last summer, some of our students travel. Last summer our students traveled to Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, and South Africa. I was actually part of the group that visited Denmark and Sweden you can see me on the very back of of this photo on the bottom on the bottom left. This summer. Our destinations are Japan, Greece, South Africa, and Dubai. During during Global residency, our students spent a week abroad and as you can tell from the photos, they spent that week visiting and starting companies as well as participating in cultural activities. The feedback that we consistently received from our students is global residency three, it is one of the most memorable and defining experiences of the program. Not only you’re able to visit a different country and understand its culture and business environment, but through this experience, you are able to fortify your connections with your peers and further expand your network. However, I should I should also note that as I mentioned earlier, if you’re an old a if you’re not able to travel if you if you cannot travel, you can still take a more traditional course with international focus. Let’s move on to the next slide. There you can see a list of courses a sample of our courses. Overall, our program will equip you with a holistic understanding of business and give you the opportunity to improve both your analytical and leadership skills. We do that through our core and elective courses. Again, here you can on this slide, you can see a sample of these courses. As you can as you can notice, all academic in all academic discipline disciplines and business functions represented in our curriculum. In addition, if you’re interested, you can take up to six credit hours outside the MBA program. In the next slide on of our offerings that I would like to draw your attention to is our Certificate in Business Analytics. This is a 12 credits certificate that requires four courses. Data mining for Business Analytics is the core the core requirement and three more electives. And three more elective courses for all that you can you can choose from the lease on on the right, as will emphasize that students can pursue this certificate as part of the MBA program or as a standalone option without even having been admitted to the program. They can use this certificate as a pathway to the MBA program or not. That is if you join the MBA program, you can use the certificate credits towards the 48 credits that I mentioned earlier. In the overall in terms of course expectations, you should expect to learn a lot and also have fun. Now, no two courses are the same. Our instructors bring their own unique approaches and teaching philosophies. But overall, our courses are interactive. And the instructors facilitate active learning, which can take the form of case discussions, debates, hands on activity, simulations, and so on. All our in person. Classes are evening classes taking place from 720 to 10pm. And our all our online courses are asynchronous. Now, asynchronous does not mean that you teach yourself. Our instructors have created pre recorded content and also offers students the opportunity to connect with them through optional live sessions. For each week’s topic, you will have an individual or group deliverable to work on. And in terms of workload. The expected time per week is six to eight hours per course. But that also varies based based on your education and professional background. Overall, you will learn not only from your instructors but also from your peers. 85% of our first year students recently indicated that they have already been able to use the knowledge and skills they gained from their MBA courses in their careers. The next video offers you a preview of our online courses and how we deliver content to our students.
VIDEO VOICEOVER: Welcome to the George Mason University Online MBA program. You’ve taken the first steps in beginning your graduate degree. And we’re excited to support you through this journey. Like many students, you might have some questions about what it’s like to take classes online. So we’ve put together this video to show you what it’s like to be an online student. Let’s start with a quick tour of Blackboard. All of your important information can be found by using the navigation on the left hand side of your screen. Here you’ll find a link to Course Announcements, your course syllabus assignments in the library. at George Mason, we believe strongly in providing you with opportunities to test your knowledge and receive feedback in real time. The only difference is that we’ll also add today’s costs. Faculty have curated and created custom videos and tutorials to provide you the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the content and build a broad network of peers who will enhance your perspectives and challenge your thinking through rich discussions and a variety of group work. Remember, your student success coach will be here to support you every step of the way. Because at George Mason University student success is our number one goal.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: Now I would like to wrap up by talking about the biggest asset of our program, and that is our students. As I mentioned earlier, our students diverse academic and work experience backgrounds. No matter what your background, the NBA team, faculty and staff are here to work with you. And keep in mind that in my experience commitment is the greatest predictor of student success. Speaking of student success earlier I also mentioned that it is not uncommon for our students to receive promotions or new job offers while going through the program. The next video spotlights on one of our more one of our reasons your then success stories, but you can find more stories of these on our website. And I believe Suzanne can put in the chat box a recent after after we go to the next video we Suzanne can put in the chat box the link to one of our articles that highlights more success stories. Yep,
SUSAN NAGER: it’s posted right there. And let’s listen to the one that we have on hand.
SAMANTHA CREUTZINGER: My name is Samantha Creutzinger. I am a graduate of George Mason with my MBA I grew up in a very poor background. I just knew that if I stayed where I was in Tennessee, I wasn’t going to grow any further. So I had to figure out how to make like better, I moved up to the Washington DC area and met people who held jobs like I have now, I’ve networked around. And so why can’t I do that. And then I realized the only differences, I’m not making it happen. I knew the only way to get there was through going to college. The MBA program I was in was a cohort, I was with most of these people. The whole time in my MBA, we all worked really well together and helped each other out. coming from my background, I tried to bring a different perspective into leadership. And I’ve been fortunate that my companies that I’ve worked for, have recognized the drive that I have, and the desire, I want to be good at what I do, and they promoted me along the way. And, and I’ve made it to the director level, I was giving someone advice, don’t kid yourself. If you want it, then you’re gonna go for it, and you’re gonna get it. But motivation isn’t really what you need. It’s discipline. When you look back on it, and you think, man, how did I do that? No one ever says, I’m sad that I got an MBA everyone says that they’re proud of themselves. It’s worth it in the long run.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: So I still emphasize that box Amantha and Bailey, they did an MBA only online.
SUSAN NAGER: Yeah. And so I posted Bally’s. And I encourage y’all to take a look at it. It’s fantastic. So now we’re talking about the application process. But before we do, Dr. Bellows, what makes so I love the fact that students can be from a diverse background. One of the majors on there was theater. So I mean, that’s very strong in the arts. So are there any particular prerequisite courses that are needed for this program?
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: There is no prereq courses, per se, we do. We do ask students, I mean to have like, as this slide mentioned, here, now I say yes, to provide evidence on successful prior completion of calculus algebra, or a stats class. This is recommended prior to enrolling in the MBA program. But we do we are fully aware of the fact that and we do want to accommodate and support in diversity of backgrounds. So even if you know quant, or algebra or math was not, you know, your favorite subject topic at college, we have curated a list of resources, that after you’re admitted to the program, you can go, you can go through, and we help you hit the ground running. Again, the only recommendation that we make to our students is that to have completed a calculus algebra or statistics class, that’s a compare that’s recommended prior to enrolling in the MBA program. But we’re here to fully support them. Wonderful.
SUSAN NAGER: Now, Alfredo is asking do you have to be far in the degree to be able to take the global residency so when does that occur in the program, but
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: awfully roughly you will need to be done with your core courses. And that’s, that’s intentional in the sense that we want you to have been exposed to all the core coursework that 10 different courses, right. But roughly depending on when you enter, maybe you may have to be exposed only to nine courses. But ideally, we want you to have been exposed to all the core different disciplines and business functions. So when you travel, and when you visit the companies and interact with them, you’re able to put everything together. So you’re able to integrate, integrate all the different knowledge from the different business functions. Fantastic. So that’s roughly, you have to roughly be done with nine to 10 courses.
SUSAN NAGER: Okay. Now, I love the flexibility of this program. It can’t be more flexible. So 16 months is the quickest that you can finish it. The traditional route is 33 months. And then if need be, we give you up to six years to complete this degree. And the fact that you have the online option if you want to take some campus courses and have a hybrid option or do it on campus you can so that’s fantastic. Is there Any tutoring available.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: So, the tutoring varies depending so if you take if you take the NBA 633, which is our statistics course, if you take that in person you do have access to in person tutor. If you do not take if you do not take that in person, there are so many interactive tutorials that the instructor have put together and they make themselves available once and twice per week for live sessions that, that, that you can choose, it’s those are optional to join if you’re not if you want, okay, but now that the program is fully asynchronous, and it can be completed without, we do not require you to participate in any live sessions unless you want to do so. Perfect. You call the instructor most of your instructors do have standing Office Hours live live via zoom, or other or similar or Microsoft Teams, that it’s up to you whether it’s up to the students. That’s
SUSAN NAGER: wonderful. And in terms of class size, what is it typically range for the online?
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: It varies? Our electives can be from 10 to 20. Our core courses, it can go from 25 up to 45. Maybe 50 Depending on the intake.
SUSAN NAGER: Yeah. Okay. And so you mentioned that you can take six credits outside the MBA program. Does that mean like in lieu of some
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: you do not. So we have let’s say we have 10 core courses, one global requirement and five electives. You can do three MBA electives and two electives outside of the MBA program.
SUSAN NAGER: It doesn’t have to be like in finance or accounting, I mean, could it be in all I mean, I’m just throwing
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: it can be we have I mean, I it can be in public policy, let’s say for it can be from a different unit automation or it can be in, in other units. I mean, this is subject to my approval as director approval. But he said if I if I see that the elective that the student wants fit within their aspirations or profile, it has an element of you know, managerial responsibilities or provide some basic, some elements of managerial training, I approve that and then we coordinate with the other program the other unit, so our students can take it. We have got students who recently I approved a couple of requests for students of ours to take courses graduate graduate level electives in public policy.
SUSAN NAGER: Fantastic. That’s amazing. And the program accepts six transfer credits as long as it’s from an accredited ace CCSP.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: probably wrong. I don’t have the exact number. I don’t remember the exact time but we approved more than that.
SUSAN NAGER: Oh, wonderful. Okay, good to know, good to know. Yeah,
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: we are approved more than that. So, in this is something that that we will have to exchange information, we will we will ask the students to provide us more additional information on past syllabi and so on so forth. But we do approve a considerable number of credits from other programs, past institutions, other institutions and so on so forth. Okay.
SUSAN NAGER: Yeah. So with respect to so you either go a week abroad, or you do the global
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: right, it’s the week abroad is part of it, it is part of the course it is part of a course. So if you if you decide if you decide that okay, I do want to travel, then what’s going to happen is still the course will take place over eight weeks. You’re gonna spend the first you know, few weeks in the classroom or online. You know, getting prepared about the trip, learning about the country stuff. It is studying relevant case studies, then you travel abroad, you spend one week in the country. And then when you come back, you do have one or two sessions to do to do the debrief, talk, some group project presentations and so on, so forth. Now, if you do not if you if you do not want or you cannot travel, many times our students, sometimes our students cannot travel because of you know, work family responsibilities, then you can still take a more traditional course, a course, an eight week course, still an eight week course, but with no travel component. And you you can choose among some options, there are some options that are courses with international emphasis, like international marketing, international strategy or international finance. So, now, there is a focus on international and global elements aspects, but there is no travel required.
SUSAN NAGER: Fantastic. Now, are both choices, are they synchronous? Meaning you have to if you’re doing it online, you have to log on at a certain time.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: So, for the for the courses that do not require travel, those are asynchronous, asynchronous courses, but the courses that do require travel for if you choose to participate in the global residency that that’s going to be synchronous.
SUSAN NAGER: The entire eight weeks, yes. Okay. Meaning you just have to log in at a certain time, you don’t have to show up to campus. That
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: is correct. That’s going to be like this. All right, we are going via zoom or themes.
SUSAN NAGER: Perfect, perfect. And I want to stress to y’all that once accepted into the program, in addition to your faculty, you’ll have a student success coach, okay, who you’ll work very closely with and communicate with to set up an individualized course plan. So that’s wonderful.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: And every time that you need to make any change that your student success coach will be there wanting your students success goals, typically is one text away. You text, you coordinate a call and you adjust your plan accordingly. Absolutely.
SUSAN NAGER: So don’t be shy. Do y’all have any questions? We have Dr. Bella’s, here to answer all your questions about the program.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: Wonderful question that I usually get is what if we choose to do the program full completely online? Well, that’s on our degree will that sound the diploma? No, there is no distinction between, you will still get an end, regardless of whether you do it fully online fully in person or mix modalities. The you will be getting an MBA from George Mason University. That’s, that’s
SUSAN NAGER: absolutely and you can walk to in the graduation.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: And we know that this is not just for the online MBA program here at Mason. But most we know that most online poker for most online MBA programs, the students, the online students are within a certain 50 mile radius within the campus. So we invite you in in person events, speakers, social events, networking, happy hours, of course.
SUSAN NAGER: Now that’s great, because best of both worlds here. So you know, you don’t have to fight traffic, you don’t have to find a parking spot or fight inclement weather, you can access your education in the comfort of your own home. However, if you’re a hop, skip and a jump from campus, and you want to stop on over to set up a study group or you can so to me, that’s the best of both worlds. If we don’t have any other questions, we can talk about the application process. So I work as a part of, of a team. So if you don’t have an admissions representative that you’re working with, on the next slide, I will provide you with our contact information and I urge you to reach out to my team and either myself or one of my colleagues will be happy to assist you. Now the application process is very simple. Okay. We will prove we’ll tell you all about the online program. Again, when you call back in and to apply. We need a bachelor’s transcripts. And the great thing about it is is that Mason will you Use unofficial transcripts if you have one lying around. Now, if not, as a courtesy, we will attempt to order those on your behalf. Okay, a resume. Okay? Now, one of the hard prerequisites for this program, though is two years work experience. Is that correct? No. Okay. Now, okay, unless you’re a non traditional student and and correct me if I’m wrong, Dr. Bella. So say for example, I’ve been in the military and working in the military for 10 years, and I go back to get my degree. And, you know, I’ve been maybe working, you know, while I’m in school a little bit. The military experience will qualify, yes, wrongly,
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: we strongly encourage you to reach out to us and apply or reach out to us if you you have nontraditional work experience. If let’s say you have you have professional experience, even though you that most of the professional experience may have happened before you getting your undergraduate degree, you reach out to us we have a process, we have a process for that. So post baccalaureate, it’s it’s not the post mortem report here should not encourage you, we look at your application holistically. And we if you have professional experience that may have happened, like military experience, right, or paranormal experience that may have happened before you officially getting an undergraduate degree, reach out to us we do have a process to accommodate this. Absolutely, you can potentially accommodate this. Absolutely.
SUSAN NAGER: And with respect to GPA, now, preferably a 3.0 or above but again, what Dr. Bellows just mentioned, we look at you holistically. So if you have tons of work experience and you graduated, you know, eons ago, they’re going to take that into consideration. Correct. Okay.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: Maybe you majored in a degree in in a field that later on, you know, you majored in, in one field, but then later on, you pivoted and you build a successful career on a different field. So, again, we will never flat out deny your application because of some numerical value, we will, we will look at your application holistically. Yeah,
SUSAN NAGER: that’s great. You’re not just a number defined by your GPA. There is a personal or goal statement. It’s like 500 to 750 words. And we’ll provide the little prompts to answer it, why you want to do it, why Mason, your career goals, and so forth. So very easy to complete. two letters of recommendation, this is very easy. All you have to do is input their names and emails into the application portal, they will receive an email with a link that takes them to a questionnaire literally takes them about 10 minutes to complete. So very easy. And we already mentioned the work experience, but then, you know, again, there’s non traditional applicants as well, such as military students. And let me go to the next slide. Okay, so what you see here is the main number, okay, our email, and then the link to apply. Okay, so it’s very easy. And my name is Susan. And again, I work with a team of excellent professionals that our job is just to be your personal assistant through the application process. So it’s, you’re not wondering what to do it anytime we give you an application checklist and you follow that step by step. And then of course, you contact us if you have any questions. Okay. Any other questions since we have Dr. Bellows here. And I do encourage you to listen to Bailey’s testimonial. And I think you mentioned it is on the website. Is that correct? Yeah, good stuff. We’re an accredited program. Top notch, top notch faculties. We’re also a tier one research university. We’re the largest research institution in Virginia. So that means your curriculum is going to be backed by the latest research based evidence. Plus, a lot of alumni don’t even know this. But Mason is actually ranked seventh in the entire nation as a value rated school. So meaning you’re gonna get a go Rate bang for your buck.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: In the NBA, the ROI for the MBA program is two to one, and based on the evidence at the heart numbers that we listed in the in the presentation. So what
SUSAN NAGER: you mean is that you’re going to earn back double what you paid in is.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: We have another it’s another it’s starting another solid and graduation at 104,000. Yes, amazing. Yes. If you do the maths are the total tuition is 52,000 or something like that?
SUSAN NAGER: Yeah. Wonderful. So I thought of one other question that I have. Students often ask, does the department have relationships with local organizations? You mentioned job fairs. How about is there any opportunities for internships,
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: we have two fantastic novel innovative industry leading centers, not just George Mason University with Dean house in the School of Business. We do have the Baroni center for government contracting, they do phenomenal work in the space of government contracting, and we know how big the space is in the DMV area. And we also have the center of innovation and entrepreneurship. We have very close ties with both centers. The director of the Barone center for government contracting helps us find speakers. He teaches an in person course on government contracting, which is a unique course. To my, to my knowledge, no other programs, MBA programs have a similar course within the area. So yeah, so the answer is, yes, we do have connections with industry. And we’re very proud of two great assets. Especially those two centers, and something that I’m not sure whether we talked about probably not you as school of business graduates, you do get you do get lifelong career services. Oh, yes, exactly graduation.
SUSAN NAGER: And big time heavy hitter, companies seek out our MBA grads such as Booz Allen, Deloitte. The list is quite extensive. So again, you know, reach out to the admissions wrap, we can help you apply. Right now we have a January a start. And so like I said, the application process is really easy. And we’re here to help. Dr. Bellows, thank you so much for your time.
DR. IOANNIS BELLOS: Thank you for coordinating this design. And everyone as I always like to say when in doubt, reach out. You will be surprised by how responsive we we are to emails and inquiries. So I do appreciate you taking the time to join this information session. And I do look forward to connecting connecting with you.
SUSAN NAGER: Thank you so much. And thank you so much for joining us this evening, everybody. I hope you have a lovely night.
MS in Data Analytics Engineering Transcript
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, we’re gonna go ahead and get started. It is being recorded. My name is Denise Summarons. I am an enrollment counselor.
George Mason Online Admissions: I work for Rice Point on behalf of George Mason University. We have here Director Gin Baldo.
George Mason Online Admissions: I’m going to go ahead and introduce to you our agenda. There’ll be some housekeeping items. I’ll go over, and then I’ll go ahead and transition it over to our director, Mr. Baldo.
George Mason Online Admissions: So on the agenda today you will get to meet the presenter, which will be well, I’m presenting, and so is Mr. Baldo. He’s going to give your give himself some information about himself. He’s gonna go over the driving forces. Why you should choose Mason’s data, analytics engineering program.
George Mason Online Admissions: He’s gonna discuss the masters and data analytics, engineering the curriculum details. He’ll touch base on the online
George Mason Online Admissions: classroom curriculum.
George Mason Online Admissions: I’ll go through the admissions requirements and then towards the end, we’ll have an opportunity for QA.
George Mason Online Admissions: Before I go ahead and transition over to Director Baldo did want to give some housekeeping items.
George Mason Online Admissions: so how to participate
George Mason Online Admissions: for chat instructions in your controls at the bottom window. You can click, chat for the chat window to appear and type your message you can also select. Who would you like to send them message to by clicking on the dropdown next to 2.
George Mason Online Admissions: You may also raise your hand in your webinar controls.
George Mason Online Admissions: I will be. I will be notified that your hands is raised. If you’re prompted, speak, you may then unmute yourself
George Mason Online Admissions: if you have any questions. Click. QA. In your webinar controls to get access to see the QA. Window type your question in the text box to ask a question.
George Mason Online Admissions: so please try and hold them off towards the end, unless there is something that you need answered. At the moment. I will go ahead and let the director know, and he will answer that
George Mason Online Admissions: without further ado.
George Mason Online Admissions: The director of the data analytics and engineering program is Mr. James Boudo. And here’s a little bit of information about him. I will go ahead and transition it over to him so he can introduce himself.
Jim Baldo: Okay, thank you. Thank you very much, Denise, hopefully. Everybody can hear me. Well, I’ll I’ll move up a little bit here. Every once in a while this, this mic on my, on my laptop gets a little sensitive. So so Hi, I’m I’m Jim Ballow. I’m the director of the data analytics engineering program at George Mason University.
Jim Baldo: And and this slide here, I’ll just give you a little bit about myself. I was away for 2 years I was on Sabbatical over at the Department of Homeland Security, where I had this wonderful opportunity to practice every single day as a data analytics engineer doing the same things that we prepare our students for.
Jim Baldo: I spent about 40 years in industry full time. And of those 20, about 19 of those years I was an adjunct professor here at George Mason University. One of the reasons why I liked being an adjunct was I was able to teach. I was able to work with students.
Jim Baldo: and I learn more from students than they learn from me. So it’s always really great to work with graduate students who are working full time and get to hear all these wonderful things that they’re doing and these interesting projects that they’re working on.
Jim Baldo: I then around the fall of 2,018, I decided to make a switch
Jim Baldo: I switched to full full time. I became a director of the Data Analysts engineering program here at George Mason University, and I was then became part time in industry. So I still work in industry about 10 to 15 HA week
Jim Baldo: the Dean of the College of Engineering encourages me to do that. And so I do that a a little rough in the sense that I spend, you know, a 40 plus hour week normally close to 50. But I really enjoy what I’m doing, and being able to practice, and then come back to this program here and work with all the wonderful faculty that we have is just really really great.
Jim Baldo: so
Jim Baldo: this program is really set up for folks like who are working. And so I wanted to give you that background about me because of the 1st 2 degrees that I got in chemistry. I was a full time student when I was in graduate school. I had a stipend
Jim Baldo: so in those days I’m I’m a lot older than anybody here. Education was a lot more economic and so I had a full, a full stipend and teaching assistantship. So I really didn’t have to pay for much of my undergraduate or my my 1st graduate degree. Then I worked full time
Jim Baldo: on my second masters in computer engineering and my Ph. DI worked here in the Washington DC. Area, for I worked in the government sector worked at some Ffrcs.
Jim Baldo: And then again, it was full time. I had a family and all those sorts of responsibilities. So this program here
Jim Baldo: is very much like what I went through. You know I would work during the day and then come home at night, and I had to sort of manage my time. So I just wanted to to throw that out. I
Jim Baldo: been through that sort of the sort of thing that you’re going to go through. And
Jim Baldo: it’s very doable.
Jim Baldo: very, very doable.
Jim Baldo: So
Jim Baldo: why don’t we move on to the next slide, please?
Jim Baldo: Okay, so
Jim Baldo: this program started
Jim Baldo: around the fall. It started in the fall of 2,014. So we’ve been this fall will be 10 years.
Jim Baldo: I think we actually celebrated our 10 year anniversary at the end of last semester in the spring, so it could have been the spring. I can’t I? I get those confused in the spring of 2,014. The program. So so in a university, you have departments.
Jim Baldo: And then you have programs. Some programs are attached to a department. This program here is a multidisciplinary program, and it is in this, in the College of Engineering, which has 2 schools, the the school of engineering and the school of Computer Science.
Jim Baldo: And this is the multidisciplinary program and the Dean Ball, who’s still the Dean? He started. He he was the one who encouraged the the this program be initiated. He was seeing a lot of requests across all of his departments in engineering for data, analytics, not data science with data analytics. And so he said, Hey, we need to get a program in place. I wanted to be multidisciplinary. No department will own it. It’ll be independent, and the director will report directly to me.
Jim Baldo: So that’s how this program got started, and it was due to Dean Ball’s belief
Jim Baldo: and and pushes very hard, and is very supportive of keeping this program to to go through all these porous walls with the, with the school, the 2 schools, and and their departments. We also go outside of the College of Engineering to the school of business, the College of Science, our College of Health and policy. We also go into the department of Language. We have a linguistics component as well. So
Jim Baldo: we.
Jim Baldo: that is a really big driving force for us to be multidisciplinary. Okay, so that was sort of why we were created.
Jim Baldo: And I want to talk a little bit about some of the trends that we’re seeing in industry today. 1st and foremost, diversity is a very, very important dimension to analytics.
Jim Baldo: And the reason being this program was set up on 4 pillars, computer science
Jim Baldo: statistics.
Jim Baldo: general engineering
Jim Baldo: and domains.
Jim Baldo: And so the computer science and statistics just makes a lot of sense for data analytics. There’s a lot of of tools and and concepts and theories that come from both statistics and and computer science that are quintessential to have to to perform in analytics the general engineering aspects. Because we are a
Jim Baldo: data analytics, engineers provides the necessary things that you need from an engineering perspective, from a tooling perspective risk management. So we embed those sort of things into the courses that we’re that we’re teaching.
Jim Baldo: And then the problem domains allow us to be generalists. So I am a general data analytics. So I’m a data analytics engineer.
Jim Baldo: I’m a journalist. So the way I practice is that I come in on a team.
Jim Baldo: And that’s how we prepare our our graduates from this program here to go off and work
Jim Baldo: on across different problem spaces, finance healthcare
Jim Baldo: defense.
Jim Baldo: oil industry. We cut across every major domain all the problem spaces that you can think of.
Jim Baldo: And so normally we come in. We work with subject matter experts, we apply our knowledge and our skills, and from a teaming perspective to solve problems, to produce analytics, you know, sort of to provide that sort of insights and 4 sites. That our custom that a customer or client or an organization would be looking for. So one of the things that’s interesting about
Jim Baldo: technology, engineering and science today
Jim Baldo: is how quickly technology is changing. So when I left for my Sabbatical
Jim Baldo: to the Department of Homeland Security 2 years ago in May of 2022
Jim Baldo: large language models were just coming on, the the landscape becoming very, very noticeable. Everybody was talking about them and
Jim Baldo: they just sort of you know they had been around for a while.
Jim Baldo: You could talk about you could. You could see them on the landscape. But all of a sudden they became very, very popular. There were technological enablers that allowed them to to become really, really powerful.
Jim Baldo: And of course the people
Jim Baldo: took, you know.
Jim Baldo: took to heart, started to use them. And of course.
Jim Baldo: as in any type of new technology, one begins is to run into sorts of problems limitations. But they’re still there, and they’re still going to be there for a long period of time.
Jim Baldo: And then
Jim Baldo: what we were seeing was a change in data, the way people were viewing data. And so one of the things that we’re seeing right now is that a lot of
Jim Baldo: folks doing analytics.
Jim Baldo: we’re looking at things like data sets. Okay, hey? I want a data set.
Jim Baldo: And of course, all the things that all the dimensional.
Jim Baldo: the quality, the observability,
Jim Baldo: sparcity and things like that that you have to deal with when you have large data sets.
Jim Baldo: People are now starting to look at this in terms of 2 2 areas, one is data products.
Jim Baldo: So the notion of a data set is starting to go away.
Jim Baldo: And then
Jim Baldo: this concept of a data mesh and and the other concept is of of a data fabric
Jim Baldo: are coming on where specific domains take ownership of your data. So this has been rather rapid
Jim Baldo: and very quick, and people are trying to figure out how to deal with all this. Some companies you don’t get sea level folks coming in in, you know, Ceos coming in saying, we’re gonna do this. We’re going to embed AI into all of our analytics.
Jim Baldo: And and and speaking of that. Then we started to see agenic or agent based systems come on. And the agent based the the agents we’re beginning to use the data mesh. They were beginning to use the Llms so that technology is coming on and that will take over. We’ll start to see some of the analytics that we’re dealing with today will be, the agents will be using agents to to
Jim Baldo: implement to design our analytics with.
Jim Baldo: And so the question comes about, you know, why do you need a program like this? Or are we all gonna lose our jobs and and artificial intelligence? Gonna take over
Jim Baldo: I’ve been around for a long time. I’ve seen huge disruptive technologies come on the landscape, and this one’s no different than anything else. It is pretty powerful. No question about that, but usually it’s an enabling.
Jim Baldo: It enables us to do our work enables us to work faster.
Jim Baldo: By working smarter.
Jim Baldo: and allows us to work more intelligently. So we can solve more problems. And I think there’s going to be a huge, unknown number of new types of roles for data analytics.
Jim Baldo: That’s gonna that’s gonna come about. There will be some changes, is the way we do work. No question about that. But this is one of the things that we try to do in this program is to give you the tools to go forward with. Go to the next slide, please.
Jim Baldo: Okay, so I do wanna say something. This is a really really nice slide. We are being noticed. there’s a number of of of
Jim Baldo: organizations institutions that come around and and evaluate and assess programs. We’re showing up more and more.
Jim Baldo: we have great faculty here.
Jim Baldo: It is
Jim Baldo: second to none
Jim Baldo: and and our folks are doing some exceptional research across the board in in engineering. And, as I said, we go outside of the engineering school
Jim Baldo: out of the engineering college. We go outside of that for the business. And we have some. We we we have a very, very famous center here. There’s the the shar center that we’ve been doing some work with them.
Jim Baldo: And so we are embedded with
Jim Baldo: all of these folks that are doing some excellent work. You so you know George Mason faculty
Jim Baldo: the they get quoted in the news. You’ll see them on. Npr. You’ll be, you know. They’ll be interviewed on Npr and things like that. So
Jim Baldo: there’s there’s a lot of
Jim Baldo: of really really good people here and again.
Jim Baldo: I think that is a really powerful
Jim Baldo: oh.
Jim Baldo: component of our program is to have access to all these really really fine people.
Jim Baldo: Okay, in the bottom, right hand quadrant here. There is the online graduate certificate option. And I just wanna say a few words about that. It’s a 4 course option. And
Jim Baldo: it’s there we have some folks that come back. They’re not really interested in getting the masters, and they just wanna take some courses. They get the certificate. It’s helpful for the work that they’re doing. Sometimes they’re working on projects where they need to have a certificate in order to work on a project. And so this is this is you know, this is an enabler for them. But
Jim Baldo: Many of our folks who get the certificate they they get bit by the bug. Here they get. They get excited about what they’re seeing, and then they continue to go under the masters. So if you do get the certificate. All those courses count, and you can go on further. But it is. It is a nice option to have if you just wanna get, you know. Take those 4 courses and get the certificate the beauty of this certificate here versus other certificates that may come like from an online. And I’m not. And I think
Jim Baldo: other online certificates from other
Jim Baldo: places are are equally as good. But the the thing here is that it’s branded. This is a George Mason is known. It’s it’s a branded name. And so it’s nice to have that certificate with George Mason University on it.
Jim Baldo: So
Jim Baldo: One other thing I I wanna say, that is unique about our program
Jim Baldo: is that we produce the blended
Jim Baldo: data analytics engineer. So you’ve heard this term, the data scientist.
Jim Baldo: the data engineer, the data architect, the machine learning engineer, you on and on. We
Jim Baldo: do everything we can. And I. And when I took over the program. I did put this emphasis on these particular roles that we were seeing and skill sets that industry was asking for. We looked at a lot of job Recs. We were constantly, you know, surfing the web and looking for job reps what people were looking for and skill sets because it’s important for us to provide industry fulfill their needs at the same time.
Jim Baldo: We’re not short sighted we are are looking for in the long down that down that path as far as we can. So we wanna give people skills so that we know folks need to be lifelong learners. And that’s part of our program. We we made the program very, very flexible. We put high quality courses in here with our high quality vaccine.
Jim Baldo: And then we wanted to make sure that once you leave us. And one of the things that I’m doing now is we’re trying to establish some some programs that people can come back. And we can provide things like. For example, I mentioned these agent based systems and specifically for analytics that we might be able to offer some some courses for our alumni, our alumni. Rp.
Jim Baldo: okay, so we we only have you for a short period of time in this degree program. You know 2, maybe 3 years at the most in in in these cases. We get a chance to know you. But then you take off after you get your degree rightfully so. But we do. Wanna bring you back in. And that’s 1 of the things that we’re trying to establish right now.
Jim Baldo: So I think that’s what makes our program unique in the sense that we are generalist.
Jim Baldo: We provide that general degree which there’s we’ve yet to find, a program that offers that that general data analytics engineer. Okay?
Jim Baldo: There’s programs that offer specializations like business and finance healthcare. And those are good. There’s no question about that. But we were. We were trying to build the general.
Jim Baldo: the general data analytics engineer.
Jim Baldo: with an emphasis on engineer.
Jim Baldo: Okay, next slide, please.
Jim Baldo: Okay, a little bit about the course, the the structure of the program, these core courses that you see here. There’s 5 of them.
Jim Baldo: And there’s 4 foundational courses. And just let me say a little bit about each one. The ait 5, 80 is really our data course. That’s the one that talks about that. That addresses data. What is it?
Jim Baldo: Where, how is data used? And equally is important? What is the value of data? And that’s something that is become very, very important when you start talking about data products is that you are under constant pressure as a practicing data analytics engineer to produce value.
Jim Baldo: and then the CS. 5 0. 4, which is our data management. And we we do introduce machine learning and data mining in that course as well. That sort of is the active part of data.
Jim Baldo: That data, relational databases, data warehouses are still important. But on that landscape we are seeing things like data, lake houses, data, mesh data, mesh data fabric. I’m updating that course as we speak right now. So when that course is offered in the the fall of this year. I’ll have a chance to embed some of those newer concepts in that I that I briefly just touched on this evening. Here
Jim Baldo: the or 5 31 is is the modeling course.
Jim Baldo: and what it does is it tries to give our students the the core modeling capabilities. They understand how to do modeling and do it in the context of analytics.
Jim Baldo: And then the stats 5, 1, 5 is a.
Jim Baldo: It’s sort of a combination of statistics, machine learning and visualization.
Jim Baldo: The course was originally set up by Dr. Dan Carr. And he was a world class expert in visualization.
Jim Baldo: And so that that course really he’s since retired. But that course, you know, tries to address that aspect of visualization, because to get insights or 4 sites when you’re projecting this back out to end users people who are consumers.
Jim Baldo: You know that consumable layer that sits out there and on on your data platforms. They’re consuming a product. The visualization tables clearly are visualization graphs, charts. Sometimes of 3 dimensional rendering. And and lo and behold, we are already seeing virtual headsets, you know, virtual reality augmented reality. Being mixed into the into the visualization area.
Jim Baldo: So those are the 4 course. So that is the found. That is a foundation that sits on top of this, these, these knowledge pillars of computer science
Jim Baldo: statistics.
Jim Baldo: engineering
Jim Baldo: and domains. So we, we put those foundations on top of those pillars. This last course, it’s a core course that you have to take is the Data Analytics project. And this is sort of it’s a shining star of our program.
Jim Baldo: When I came on board in 2,018,
Jim Baldo: this was really on a very, very important and very, very interesting and exciting course to take. It’s usually the last course that you take.
Jim Baldo: Oh, so the online program, which I’ll mention a little bit later is 8 week, 8 week sessions. This one is 15. This is the one you have to take. It’s 15 weeks the full semes. It’s a full semester rather than a session.
Jim Baldo: and it is really an adrenaline rush we get you. You’ll you’ll pair up. You’ll work in a team of 4 to 4 to 6 students, and then you will work with an industry partner or academic partner. We’ve had students
Jim Baldo: have capstone projects with their employers, you know, employers willing to to sponsor the project. And when I say sponsor, it doesn’t mean they they don’t pay anything for this. It’s just that they have to provide us with a subject matter. Expert.
Jim Baldo: they. They attend the weekly sprints. It’s it’s agile, scrum-based.
Jim Baldo: So it’s really, really.
Jim Baldo: I wish we could have, you know, like an internship, for all of you keep you here for 3 years, and one of those years is an internship. But we just haven’t gotten there yet to do that this last course. And I’ll talk about electives on the next slide.
Jim Baldo: We do have an independent research course. This is A. DAN. 6, 98. You could take it up to 3 h.
Jim Baldo: and it has to be with a faculty member, and you’ll write a proposal
Jim Baldo: and it’ll be an 8 week. Course, I’ve sponsored a number. I’ve been a faculty member for several of these courses. Just recently, just before I went on sabbatical, a student came to me, wanted to do some advanced statistics.
Jim Baldo: so we went ahead and and looked at some advanced statistics, got a data set from the University of Michigan. We did some some social science data analytics. It was actually a really really good little project. And then one of the things he wanted to do was go in and verify and validate some existing findings, some results that came from the University of Michigan, the study, the social science study that they performed.
Jim Baldo: So anyways, that’s that’s open to you as well as one of your 5 electives. Okay, go to the next slide. Please, Denise.
Jim Baldo: thank you. So
Jim Baldo: our electives. As I said, we come
Jim Baldo: from a multidisciplinary program. So so ist is our information Science and Technology Department, which is in the College of of Computing. They have probably the most of the of the elective courses that they offer cause. All of our elective courses have to be
Jim Baldo: asynchronous.
Jim Baldo: And so these courses have been packaged so that they’re asynchronous so that we can offer them to to our online folks here. The seor is our systems, engineering and operations research department. They have packaged for
Jim Baldo: courses for us. So you can. You can pick from those if you’re interested in some systems engineering work.
Jim Baldo: The electrical engineering has 2 courses right now. And actually, those 2 courses were put together by Bob Osgood, who was the original director of the DNA program. In fact, he was the fellow who reached out to hire me.
Jim Baldo: So Bob’s a really good guy, and he put together those 2 courses when I asked them to do that and then the G bus come from our business school.
Jim Baldo: So you can actually take some analytics courses that are oriented towards the the college of business, the the business college. So so right now, those that’s what we got packaged each year, or each semester. We try to add more to those. So I wouldn’t be surprised that by the time you leave we’ve added, you know, some more to this. We continue putting courses online.
Jim Baldo: Does take a lot of effort. It’s especially when they’re they’re asynchronous.
Jim Baldo: And so
Jim Baldo: you really learn how to teach a course when you have to do it, cause I taught the Cs 5 will course for a number of years. In the theater, in a classroom, and it’s totally different. When I had to put it together for the online. But the beauty of the online is, I think these are actually, I do think the online courses come off much, much better. They’re they’re better packaged
Jim Baldo: for the student I’m for I shouldn’t say for a student. You folks are working professionals for the for the working professional and the way they are packaged, and and to help you learn
Jim Baldo: so that’s there. And again,
Jim Baldo: you have 4. You have 4 foundation courses, and then the capstone. So those are the 5 core courses.
Jim Baldo: Then from there you have this menu of of electives that you can take, and you and you get 5. Now, you could substitute one of the 5 with independent research. If you’re so interested in doing that.
Jim Baldo: Okay, please. Next slide, please.
Jim Baldo: Okay,
Jim Baldo: I want to say just a little bit about the online learning. I’ve said a few things so far, but I’m just going to summarize it to give you a little bit of a taste
Jim Baldo: of it.
Jim Baldo: number one. These are asynchronous. So it is.
Jim Baldo: They’re set up so that you, when the semester, the session starts. They’re they’re based on. With the exception of the capstone, they’re 8 week sessions. So there’s 8 modules.
Jim Baldo: That is standard. You have the 8 modules. Normally in the module, you will have lecture content.
Jim Baldo: There could be some video. It it could be just soundtracked, or it could just be slides. Usually it’s a mix of those depending on the instructor who built the course you normally in a module and and modules you can think of is is the one week. So you start on Sunday Sunday evening, and you go to the next Sunday, and that’s that’s the timeframe of a module. So you have your your lecture content, your lecture content.
Jim Baldo: You have possibly knowledge tests, and what I mean by that is in between. You know, you have a short video or a short soundtrack
Jim Baldo: It depends on the instructor in the course. And then there might be a knowledge test. Hey? You know, test your knowledge.
Jim Baldo: There may be some actual quizzes that you have to take. Usually there’s some assignments. Some of these courses are set up where they have projects.
Jim Baldo: and some have exams. Okay? And so all of that is run will be run online in a platform in a learning platform called canvas.
Jim Baldo: We have just made this transition from blackboard to canvas. So
Jim Baldo: when you so please, if there are any problems, please get back to us right away. But so far canvas is a very stable platform. In fact, a lot of my colleagues who have used it in the past say it’s much easier to use, and much friendlier and better for the students than blackboard. I can’t comment on that.
Jim Baldo: I don’t have a lot of experience with canvas but but we have experts. From Rise Point or from our online folks that that take care of of all that for us.
Jim Baldo: but my guidance to you folks on the online, and everybody learns differently. But with an online course, especially when you’re working, I I recommend that you allocate some time during the week.
Jim Baldo: you know, maybe a couple of hours in the evening, or, if you can afford it, some evenings more hours.
Jim Baldo: To to focus in on the module.
Jim Baldo: Okay? So
Jim Baldo: maybe in the beginning you want to get through the content, the lecture content.
Jim Baldo: you, you may want to take a quiz or 2. It depends. You might have one quiz that week. You might have 2 or 3, you know. Take your take your quizzes
Jim Baldo: good. Make sure you’re working on your assignments.
Jim Baldo: And the reason that I say that is because
Jim Baldo: I always encourage students
Jim Baldo: not to wait until the weekend. It’s tempting to do that, you say? Hey? I got you know. I’ll spend 8 h on Saturday as a 60 h. Normally you need to spend a good 15 h to 20 HA week on a course, especially an 8 h. Course, these are condensed courses. Normally, they’re they’re across a 15 week time period. So you don’t wanna sort of find yourself.
Jim Baldo: you know, waiting till the weekend to do this. And secondly, if you run into some problems like with an assignment or something. Don’t beat your head against the wall
Jim Baldo: make sure that we have discussion boards. You can use the Discussion board to go off and talk with some of your other students. Say, Hey, I’m having a little bit of problem with this particular assignment. you know.
Jim Baldo: not saying to have them give you the answer. You don’t wanna do that? No, but maybe somebody might be willing to give you a hint or something like that. And and clearly you can reach out to your instructor instructors, although, it’s not synchronous where we’re gonna have you meet 1 1 night, usually a graduate class on campus. You’re gonna be. You’re gonna be there for 3 and a half hours for one night on campus.
Jim Baldo: You’ll see the instructor. But you can always reach out to the instructor. You know. Send an email. Say, Hey, I need. I need to talk to you about that. So I I normally recommend when I teach like Cs 5 0. 4 is, if you’re having a problem with a particular assignment, you know. Spend some time on it.
Jim Baldo: 1520 min. But you’re still not making any headway.
Jim Baldo: Start to reach out for help.
Jim Baldo: Okay, there’s nothing wrong with doing that. In fact, that’s why you’re in. The university is to is to get assistance and and and help, and how to how to solve a particular problem.
Jim Baldo: Okay, so that’s that’s my big, my big recommendation there. So that is where I see. Sometimes I see students run into that problem where they sort of wait until the last minute, because sometimes it might be hard, especially if everybody waits till the weekend
Jim Baldo: your instructor gets inundated with with questions.
Jim Baldo: that makes it pretty difficult. And so, you know, you’re there’s gonna be deadlines. We need to get your assignments and your quizzes completed, and things like that. So
Jim Baldo: try to, you know, set that rhythm up for yourself
Jim Baldo: if you can.
Jim Baldo: Okay, with that.
Jim Baldo: I think the next slide Denise, is.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes.
Jim Baldo: So apply, I’ll turn it over to you. Thank you.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you, Director Baldo, so I will go ahead and walk you through the admissions process. So the 1st requirement is that you have a bachelor’s degree with a minimum of a 3 Gpa.
George Mason Online Admissions: you will need prerequisite courses. So one calculus course and one statistics course and computer programming course. Those are the 3 prerequisite courses needed
George Mason Online Admissions: along with that bachelor’s degree, and a minimum of a 3 point O. Gp. We’ll also need all of your official transcripts for any undergrad or graduate schools you have attended.
George Mason Online Admissions: If you are a Gmu alumni we will pull those for you.
George Mason Online Admissions: If you have unofficial transcripts, we will accept those in order to review and see if accepted. But, once accepted, we will need all of your official transcripts. We’ll also need one letter of recommendation.
George Mason Online Admissions: and we’ll need a personal statement.
George Mason Online Admissions: We usually provide you with, like the prompt for the personal statement. But just to give you an idea, it should consist anywhere from 750 to 1,000 words you normally would just touch on. Some of your personal qualities, your experience, your background, your reason for choosing this particular program, your reason for choosing George Mason, and anything else that you would like to provide on there.
George Mason Online Admissions: All applications are viewed by faulty.
George Mason Online Admissions: It’s not just like
George Mason Online Admissions: overlooked anything. Everything is important. We are here to support you every step of the way. If you have questions with the application. If you need assistance with submitting the application, there’s always someone that is available to help you.
George Mason Online Admissions: I will go ahead and move on to the next slide, which is going to just provide you the phone number and email address and the website. And there’s also a bar code. If you would like to go ahead and apply. Now I will leave that up there, and if you have any questions, please feel free to put them in the QA. And I will go ahead and read those. Offer the director ball.
Jim Baldo: Yeah, so don’t be. Don’t be shy. Feel free to ask questions.
Jim Baldo: I’m more than happy to to answer any question that you have here about the program.
George Mason Online Admissions: You guys can go ahead. Either put it in the chat or you can put it in the QA. And I will go ahead and ask
George Mason Online Admissions: director. Bottle your questions.
George Mason Online Admissions: So, Dr. Baldo. The one of the questions is, is there a limit on classes that may make it difficult to choose the classes that you want.
Jim Baldo: So I think this question is referring to
Jim Baldo: I’ve taken my my core courses, the the 4 core courses that are there are the 4 foundation courses.
Jim Baldo: and then you want to take an elective the next session.
Jim Baldo: And I think the is this, and I wanna make sure I understand the question, is it possible that that course I want to take is not going to be offered? Is that the the question.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, so is there a limit on classes. How how many students per class.
Jim Baldo: Oh.
Jim Baldo: well, okay, good question. Great question. Yeah. So what we do at at George Mason is that we, the we set limits. Usually, I think it’s around 25,
Jim Baldo: the instructor cause we like to keep those classes
Jim Baldo: small so that the instructor doesn’t get overwhelmed, or that we have to bring a ta in, and you’re dealing with the ta rather than the instructor. So normally they’re 25. Sometimes we, the instructor, is asked if they can add some folks, because it’s a very popular class.
Jim Baldo: and they might boost it up to 30. But what we normally try to do is if we if like, for example, Denise finds out
Jim Baldo: the some, the session before this course is gonna be offered, that she has 40 people in the online program that want to take a particular course.
Jim Baldo: We’ll work with the department who owns that course to maybe open up another section, but we try to keep them around 25
Jim Baldo: these courses here for the online.
Jim Baldo: And that again is just to make it so that you have access to that instructor. You can do one on one with that instructor. The, you know some. Unfortunately, some of the on campus courses like with our Cs. 5 0, 4. You might have a hundred or
Jim Baldo: 150 students in the class, and then you got one instructor. But you may not have it. You may not get much access to the instructor you might be having to deal with. Ta, the teaching assistant.
Jim Baldo: I hope that answers the question.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you, Director Walter, one of the other questions. Are you only ever taking one class at a time or some semesters? Do you take multiple 8 week courses.
Jim Baldo: Okay? Great question.
Jim Baldo: When I, when we 1st started the online program.
Jim Baldo: we spend some time with
Jim Baldo: professionals who had run online programs for many, many years.
Jim Baldo: And when they assess, and there’s various types of metrics that people use
Jim Baldo: for a condensed 8 week program. In other words, we we can press these programs from 15 weeks down at the time was 7 and a half. But now it’s 8.
Jim Baldo: We would only let people in the online program. Take one course at a time.
Jim Baldo: Now
Jim Baldo: that rule is somewhat still in place, but
Jim Baldo: we have situations where somebody has now taken some time off from work
Jim Baldo: or they decided to. Just in some cases we’ve had some people where they decided to
Jim Baldo: hub
Jim Baldo: terminate their their position because they wanna go
Jim Baldo: to school
Jim Baldo: full time as a career change
Jim Baldo: and so
Jim Baldo: we will talk to the online advisor. If it looks like you have enough
Jim Baldo: if we feel comfortable
Jim Baldo: cause. The thing is, we don’t want you to sign up for a core scope
Jim Baldo: before we send to the semester and then lose your money where you need. It’s too much for you, and you have to drop it. So you work with the online advisor
Jim Baldo: and we try to assess whether you’ll have enough time to do it. And so we’re starting to allow that to go on working full time on taking 2 of these courses is
Jim Baldo: is a lot on your plate. It’s tough, it’s really tough cause. Remember, these courses were the con. This content goes is set up for a 15 week on on campus course and condensing it to 8. You gotta really move. It’s it’s a. It’s a lot of work. You gotta go through all the content. You gotta take the quizzes.
Jim Baldo: the homework, or maybe you know some of them have a midterm and a final
Jim Baldo: you know. So and you wanna be, you wanna do? Well, I mean you. You wanna do well in the program. So we try to work with you to make sure that we understand. And you understand that you’ll have enough time
Jim Baldo: to take 2 in one session.
Jim Baldo: I hope. You know, I’m not trying to scare anybody away from trying to do that. Of course, if you you feel like you’re in a situation where you know you, you wanna try to accelerate and go through the program.
Jim Baldo: We’re more than willing to work with you.
Jim Baldo: But at the same time we don’t want you to to fail either. We want you to be an alumni definitely want you to be an alumni. We want you to to get through our program.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you. I have another question. Are there any call up opportunities available within the program?
Jim Baldo: With the online program.
Jim Baldo: I don’t
Jim Baldo: haven’t worked that through yet with the online program. So when you say Co-OP, like, sort of like an internship.
Jim Baldo: Just say yes or no? Is that which is is that similar to what you’re talking about here
Jim Baldo: like an internship?
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes.
Jim Baldo: Okay, yeah. So the the internships.
Jim Baldo: I think we could work something out on that. But those internships we don’t have. You don’t get credit for that. So like I have, I’m running the internship program for the data analysts program on the on ground program this summer. I have probably like 15 students in it. Some of the students are getting. They they get 0 credit for it. But but they get that. They get this experience that you’re looking for. So some of them
Jim Baldo: they’re full time students. There’s some of them are.
Jim Baldo: I got 2 in Texas. I got one out in California. I got another one in Idaho, one up in New Jersey, a couple in the in the Virginia, Maryland, DC. Area.
Jim Baldo: some work remote. You know they don’t have to go online, but but it’s 0 credit.
Jim Baldo: but it’s you know. It goes down your record that you have the internship. So what I find most people using those 4 in our program. And it’s a good thing to do. Did you put that down on your resume? That you know you had this experience working and not an internship here.
Jim Baldo: Yeah.
Jim Baldo: that’s what we have to offer at the moment. And I’ll work with the advisor here to see if we could extend that into the online program as well.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank thank you. Professor Baldo, there’s no more questions. I don’t know if you have any takeaways, anything you want to leave the students with before we go ahead and end our session for tonight.
Jim Baldo: Yeah, so on.
Jim Baldo: but a final note.
Jim Baldo: One of the things that that I firmly believe in is that when you enter a graduate program like this one, regardless of what the graduate program is.
Jim Baldo: you’re at at this level at this point in your career.
Jim Baldo: You’re building upon already. You already have an undergraduate degree you’re building upon that. In this, in this part of our program here, most of our folks in the many of our folks in the online program are working full time. So you’re already building upon that rich experience. That, you have
Jim Baldo: as an employee in industry. And so the this program, you need to think about it in terms of the value that it’s giving you. So we’ve tried to make it flexible
Jim Baldo: to add as much value those core courses.
Jim Baldo: I will tell you that I think all 4 of those core courses are gonna add value. There. There are courses that as you take them. When I was in graduate school, working full time, wasn’t online had to come on campus. I wish there. I wish there was online at that time when I was going to school. But
Jim Baldo: WI was being able to apply some of the things I was learning in the classroom the next day, I mean was that that transition and application of knowledge was that fast?
Jim Baldo: And I think that’s why employers like that, when you know you have a
Jim Baldo: a very dedicated student, plus
Jim Baldo: the other thing that it gives you.
Jim Baldo: And again, you you ha! It’s you have to be motivated to go through any graduate program, you have to really want it. The masters
Jim Baldo: in this program here.
Jim Baldo: from an industry perspective is gonna open up doors for you. There’s no question about that. You will have other opportunities
Jim Baldo: that at the after you get this diploma you will have other opportunities that you didn’t have before you started.
Jim Baldo: and and I would suspect that even while you’re in the program you’ll have additional additional doors, opportunities will come up for you, allowing you to practice the way you wanna practice as a data analytics engineer. I do not discourage people. So you come in here and let’s say you have a
Jim Baldo: a degree in biology.
Jim Baldo: I do not discourage you from from throwing all your knowledge away from that. You learned with your bachelor science or Bachelor of Arts in in biology. In fact, I say, continue to work in that domain. But now you have these analytics skills that you can apply to that particular domain. So we have lots of people that come in with
Jim Baldo: a degree in another domain, you know. Non engineering.
Jim Baldo: Non-computer science.
Jim Baldo: I have mathematicians, chemists, biologists, geologists.
Jim Baldo: We have people that come in with education degrees. We’ve had a couple of people that have come in. I I think 2. If I recall correctly that had Phds that
Jim Baldo: that wanted a degree in that that actually were in the online program.
Jim Baldo: So this is a very, very
Jim Baldo: applicable set of skills and knowledge that we give you in this this program. I like the way it’s J, it’s a general type of program. So it’s very, very broad, very, very diverse.
Jim Baldo: and.
Jim Baldo: you know, gives you all those opportunities
Jim Baldo: to grow. And and as I was saying, earlier I’ve been in. I’ve been in technology for a long, long time yeah, 46 years, and I have never seen it move this fast at the same time, I have never seen all these educational tools, abilities to learn these technologies. So
Jim Baldo: you know, being a lifelong learner, which is what I’ve been which I am.
Jim Baldo: It just allows me to really sort of move along with all these interesting applications that are coming up applying. You know, you know, working on problems. Solutions that I’m coming up with problems now are totally different than what they were just 2 or 3 years ago is absolutely amazing to me.
Jim Baldo: So I think it’s an exciting time.
Jim Baldo: It’s gonna be more exciting for you folks cause you’re gonna be around, you know, 30, 40 years, and maybe even more and I think it’ll provide you with a a very, very nice
Jim Baldo: you know you don’t. As I always say, I don’t work for a living. I learn, I learn. You know there’s a small part of my job where I do have to work like here. You know I have to
Jim Baldo: help set up courses and things like that. But but even setting up courses is is interesting. It’s motivational. I learn a lot when I do that. Maybe some of the drudgery time cards and things like that. But maybe those agents I was talking about are gonna help me out.
Jim Baldo: Yeah. So. Those are my final words. I I strongly encourage you. You know, if you’re if what you heard tonight was a great interest. If you, you know again, reach out to the online program. If you want to reach out to me, feel free to do that as well. I’m always willing to meet with with people. I always find it interesting. And I’m I’m willing to talk to you about the
Jim Baldo: program your career where you want to go and things like that. So thank you again. Thank you very, very much for giving me this opportunity to talk to you this evening.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you so much for discussing everything with us. Director, Volta, if you guys have any questions again like he mentioned, do not hesitate to call the online admissions department. You can send us an email. You can go on the website. You can call. You can even text us if that works best for you, and we’d be more than happy to elaborate on anything that comes up. If you have any questions, even after we end our session tonight. Thank you so much for joining us.
Jim Baldo: Thank you, folks.
Jim Baldo: best of luck.
Jim Baldo: hey, Denise? So you’re gonna you have it recorded and.
George Mason Online Admissions: Sorry. Yes, it’s just.
Jim Baldo: So you have it recorded. Okay, cool, cool. So did we have. I know. I guess I counted this one in Uk. So we had like about 6 people.
George Mason Online Admissions: People. Actually join. Yes, 7 people. Sorry. 7 people. Actually joined.
Jim Baldo: Okay, that’s good. Well, you know, it’s not bad. And and even if we had 70 people it doesn’t really matter. I’m I’m more than willing to talk to, you know
Jim Baldo: one or 2, if if they’re interested in the program.
Jim Baldo: I think these these these are very, very good. It. It allows the students to get an opportunity to meet me, you know, meet you as well.
Jim Baldo: and understand a little bit about the program. So very good. I thought you guys did a great job with the slides, and we kept it, you know, under an hour, about an hour, which was good.
Jim Baldo: So.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you so much. If you need anything from us, don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you for everything. You have a wonderful evening.
Jim Baldo: Yup, you, too. Thanks a lot, Janice. Bye, bye.
George Mason Online Admissions: And bank.
MS Applied Information Technology Transcript
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, I just wanted to introduce you. We have a very special guest here today. Dr. Rita Cova. And she is actually the program director.
George Mason Online Admissions: and she’s also a professor professor in the program and the chair of graduate studies. So we’ll go ahead and turn the presentation over to you, Dr. Vidakova?
George Mason Online Admissions: Tonight’s agenda. Here, we’ll let you go over that, and then tell us a little bit about yourself, and just some of the things that you like about the program.
Ioulia Rytikova: Well, well, first of all, welcome. I as an associate here, and as a professor I do. I have full of responsibilities in our department. I also work not only in our department, but I’m involved in many initiatives.
Ioulia Rytikova: At the school level, at the college level, at the university level because I’ve been a church mason for quite some time. And if anybody asks me when is it in your job? I in general enjoy my job so much, and if you start taking my classes you will see it right away, because I’m so excited about every semester. I’m still excited for all those years that that’d be. Yeah.
Ioulia Rytikova: But one of my favorite things to do is to give such presentations to meet with prospective students.
Ioulia Rytikova: We often do it in person and in general in person, especially for graduate programs, is something that everybody is looking forward to. But since our program. This is an online program. And we get students we can there again, from Niger, we can get students from all over the world. We’re trying to to catch as many students as possible. And
Ioulia Rytikova: and we, we have this presentations online. But I will be more than happy to follow up with you, to meet with you. I’m on campus quite, quite often. If a few words about myself. My name is Dr. Rezikova. I am the associate chair for graduate studies in our department. I’ve been at this department for many years, I and probably that’s a very good sign, because our faculty
Ioulia Rytikova: with us. Oh, thank you. That’s my bio. Yes, in a, I received my Ms Bs and and Phd degrees. It’s all in engineering. And specifically, it’s related to data. It was related to data. Now, that’s why no surprise. Once big data became showed up on on the market, and people started saying, oh, there is a cool thing called big data.
Ioulia Rytikova: Then I I very quite the transitions to all the new series of of it related to data processing big data. Now, it’s AI, it’s machine learning. And this is my research background. But my passion, if anybody asks, is in education, everything I learned all the tools that. And I just today.
Ioulia Rytikova: before this presentation, I attended a Microsoft workshop about masters programs in AI artificial intelligence and lots of other faculty, because
Ioulia Rytikova: across the country they joined, they joined that workshop and we had a lot of interesting discussions. So where everything I do. It’s applied to. That’s why one of the things is educational data, mining or cognitive and learning sciences. I really want to understand how people learn. You know what they do? And I’ve been working it. I’ve done it all.
Ioulia Rytikova: I worked at the with undergraduate students, graduate students, Phd, students. I have a lot of experience developing new programs, masters, program certificates.
Ioulia Rytikova: Major programs. I teach online, I teach in person, and in our department, as I will be talking about this in the in just a few moments. We’re also quite know for parent faculty, who are recognized at the at the university level as outstanding teachers or outstanding educators, outstanding researchers.
Ioulia Rytikova: I’m I was very like it to be one of them. So I believe that’s that’s our department, and that’s what probably all my experience. And I also work with with others, with colleagues outside of the university. And this experience gives me the right, I guess, to say that we do have a great program.
Ioulia Rytikova: Not only because our program was ranked as one of the top programs, especially this online program in cyber security, particularly
Ioulia Rytikova: was ranked as one of the top programs in the in the nation. But in general mics, from from the experience I have, it’s it’s quite easy to see. When you work with collars from other institutions, if they have strong programs, if they if they deliver what’s expected for students, and how they do that. So I can assure you that if you decide to join our department
Ioulia Rytikova: and I will be more than happy to answer any questions, because it’s confusing. There are so many options out there. I will be happy to answer specific questions about that program. But nevertheless, without just trying to say that we do have a great program if you’re interested in developing skills so that will help you either. be. I either get further with your career.
Ioulia Rytikova: Or if you’re interested in just learning more about cutting edge technologies, and applications of those technologies just because you’re interested and you think it might help you in the on the current current job market. Then our program is one of the one of the programs that welcomes
Ioulia Rytikova: every student, every applicant. That’s probably the first thing I’d like to say, say, one of the most common questions that I get. Students say, what if I don’t have a strong background in computer science or or mathematics?
Ioulia Rytikova: Is it still a good idea for me to come to you. Absolutely. That’s that’s one of those major differences between the computer Science Department and us.
Ioulia Rytikova: Even though. and Stephanie. By the way, I know that I get distracted from, and sometimes I don’t follow the the presentation precisely, but if you move forward I will kind of
Ioulia Rytikova: join the the path of your go. So why choose George Mixin in particular our program? That’s what I’m talking about. So please feel free to kind of move forward what I’m trying to again go back to what I hear often from students. They asked about the difference between Cs and our department A, our program ait. My answer is always, I’m not trying to convince students to come to our program.
Ioulia Rytikova: I understand that my job is to bring as many people as possible, but I don’t see it this way. My job, the way I say it is to help students find a good match. That’s what’s important. You don’t want to take the receiving. My, we already have a basic degree. You are not. You don’t need anything just for fun, even though in some cases it might be fun. But but still you want to select the program that fits your needs.
Ioulia Rytikova: that feeds your future career goals that fits even your life. That’s something that will also talk about in just a moment, because our program is extremely flexible. We we will. I will show you how we work with students and how we help students succeed. Nevertheless, whether they have strong background in Cs or not, or if they have a large family, and they don’t have much time, and they work
Ioulia Rytikova: full time. So we are very flexible, and we have students to get through that. But the difference between the computer Science Department and us is that we focus mostly on applications. This in general, it’s not just that they see department in our school. But in general computer science departments, they focus more on the theoretical side of anything that you see on the screen.
Ioulia Rytikova: Those beautiful areas like cyber security data, science machine learning. AI, and all these areas approach. I approach from the fundamental theoretical perspective. If you go to the Cs department in our department will also cover the theory. But our main goal is to help students learn like hands on. We have lots of project based courses.
Ioulia Rytikova: We ask students, we have labs, we have assignments where students have to collaborate. That’s out of which day everybody has to collaborate and and we try to. And and this is the reason why we
Ioulia Rytikova: we welcome every student because we built our program. So that if a student needs extra help or extra preparation. We have some so called prep classes of courses. The students can take to help them succeed in our program. I hear a lot of stories from not only students who just receive their Bsd
Ioulia Rytikova: and they want to continue without even, you know, taking a break, but also student or students or applicants who are at their mid career level. And they would like either to get promoted or just to change entirely their course. And that’s what they say. Well, I received my B as degree a long time ago, and I don’t really remember, should I? What should I do, and it again and again I keep saying that
Ioulia Rytikova: we will support you will help you. We have lot of tools to help students. We are not new. We’re we’ve been around for over wide bit of 25 years or so. So we’re a mature department.
Ioulia Rytikova: We are. Maybe we can move to the next slide. Probably. So so think, oh, here we go. Yes, that’s what I was just going to talk about. We are not. It’s all I always I find it to be kind of to me. It’s kind of funny. When Covid happened. Then everybody converted to online learning, and and that right after Covid people were saying, well, we teach online.
Ioulia Rytikova: And it feels like everyone now can teach online, which is true to some extent. What separates us from everybody from many other institutions is that before Covid, for 10 years
Ioulia Rytikova: we’ve been teaching online, our department has multiple programs we teach in person. We teach, not here, if this program is entirely 100 online. But we also offer program in in person, we have hybrid classes. We have synchronous online classes. We have asynchronous online classes, though here these are asynchronous classes. But we still support students. So that will again
Ioulia Rytikova: talk about this in just a moment, tremendously, so that students don’t feel like they are alone. And they don’t have any connection. We create great environment for students. We connect those students, our students to to the professor, to Gtas. So we we know how to work with that. We know how to help students achieve their goals in each class, and then at the end of their the end of their education here with us.
Ioulia Rytikova: their career goals, because we have a lot of experience. We are experts on that. We and I will just repeat these words, that’s we have a director director for online education for our college Professor Garrison, and he once said, and I have it written down because I always repeat this. He once said that our department not only
Ioulia Rytikova: was the first department that developed the entire program online many, many, many years ago, but more importantly, we developed best practices and procedures that’s now other departments are following. Well, it’s been over 10 years, because again, we’ve been on this market for for very, very long time
Ioulia Rytikova: with our online education. But we are experts. I’m not trying to brag. But that’s the fact which is recognized again mentioning it. And we are doing a great job on teaching online.
Ioulia Rytikova: That’s what this, this beautiful squares that we we have. So media reach a collaborative learning environment world class education within reach and different tracks.
Ioulia Rytikova: That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Our department by nature is very dynamic information sciences and the rich and technology in general changes every you wake up in the morning, get something happened in it. Oh, I need to learn something else.
Ioulia Rytikova: That’s why we develop new courses, new concentrations every semester, not even every year. But I’m proud to say it’s every semester. For instance, last year we developed the machine learning engineering concentration which became very popular right away. I I have to say that. And I’m proud to say that’s the point where I’m bragging. That all concentrations are quite successful
Ioulia Rytikova: as cyber security was always, probably number one on the market. Then we came up with the data 96 concentration. That’s where big data is. And all this again. Fun stuff we’ve got more students there. Last year we opened the machine learning engineering concentration, the first semester we only had like a few students, and then we got 10 times more like exponentially in the next in the following year.
Ioulia Rytikova: So this year, for instance, in our in on ground program, we develop the human centered interaction concentration. So we we come up with new courses and concentrations every year every semester and that makes up it. It.
Ioulia Rytikova: That’s what I again in our field. If you if you don’t, if you don’t update your courses your curriculum on a regular basis. Then you fall behind that. So that’s something that I’m quite proud of. We have very active faculty. And in maybe we can go to the next slide.
Ioulia Rytikova: well, I will talk about this in just a moment. But before I forget about I I really would like to say a few words about the faculty. We have fantastic faculty who teach this course, and again, not to brag. But I have some facts.
Ioulia Rytikova: In our university. It’s difficult to receive outstanding awards. These are given again at the top level. That’s university awards. There are very few. It were literally very few awards. We have, over 2,000 faculty, just full time faculty.
Ioulia Rytikova: And there, we have very few outstanding teaching awards per year there. We will. Even a couple of years ago there was only one online outstanding teaching award which we got. Our department received it so so what I’m trying to say is that several faculty members in our department, not just one or 2, but several received outstanding
Ioulia Rytikova: teaching awards. And that means a lot. I wish I could explain what it is, but it’s difficult to receive those awards. This screening process is is quite, quite tough. The portfolio that that faculty prepare. It’s over 100 pages. So that’s that’s how impressive it is. And you really have to be very innovative. You have to use a new technologist and education
Ioulia Rytikova: have to use news math and news methods. If I will give you an example, for instance, in our classes, we actively engage students. It’s not only discussions we have project based inquiry based we use active learning, even though this program is 100 online. What we everyone in our program. We
Ioulia Rytikova: offer what’s called optional class meetings, because we cannot require students to come to meetings again. It’s a 100 asynchronous.
Ioulia Rytikova: nevertheless. And I teach by the way, classes in this program, too. And nevertheless, we do offer those optional class meetings every week, so that students could come and meet with the Professor or also on a separate day, they meet with the Gc. Or teaching assistant, and that that’s how we help students stay connected. We check on on their progress. We talk to students. We meet with them
Ioulia Rytikova: like what we’re doing right now. So again, going back to our fantastic faculty. We have those outstanding teaching award recipients. We also have several faculty members who received the research research Award outstanding research award also, in the past 2 years 2 faculty in our department, 3 only in the last 2 2 years. So we’re consistently receiving these awards.
Ioulia Rytikova: The reason why I always talk about research, even though it might feel that. Well, I just want to get my degree. And why would I need to even think about research. Well, we don’t have time for this today, but once you get to my classes, I will talk about it that I’m also involved in lots of research about the educational research and the laws of reports and research studies. They show that incorporating
Ioulia Rytikova: research in classes helps students not only to do better in their classes, in graduate or undergraduate programs, but it also prepares them much better for their future jobs.
Ioulia Rytikova: That’s why, every time when we have, when, when when we offer classes and we have our top researchers who teach this classes, they come back. So they bring their research continues research back to their classes. They work with students. We also offer what? I, we I again, it depends on how much you’re interested in. Maybe in the Phd program we’re just in
Ioulia Rytikova: in this area in general. But we do involve students in or in research projects. If anybody is interested in developing some 80 search portfolio, then we also offer that
Ioulia Rytikova: and so forth. So that’s why, again, faculty would teach. These classes are very experienced. They’re recognized experts, and they are great. They’re great experts in their field of study. This is probably one of my favorite slides. I like numbers in general, but when I see numbers for salaries that that that makes me feel even better. As you can see pretty much all the numbers there.
Ioulia Rytikova: Consistent they are. They look impressive, and they get bigger as we speak. Well, I can say, because in our days
Ioulia Rytikova: again, I’ve just attend attended a workshop with Microsoft today, and they showed some numbers. Today I would say that a lot of a lot of there is a lot of conversations in the AI field. But again, don’t be confused about AI. It’s a very big umbrella. And under this umbrella there are multiple areas, multiple fields.
Ioulia Rytikova: For instance, the machine learning engineering concentration is also part of that. So if you go in that direction, you will be on the right track.
Ioulia Rytikova: yeah. And what I recommend students to do if if you’re interested, if you are looking for a job, or at least you’re thinking, oh, maybe at some point I will need to do this. In our days of I feel it’s better not to look for specific titles, but to search for specific skills. That’s how we are expected to develop new programs
Ioulia Rytikova: when we submit a new program to to chef to top to the top organization. So at the at the at the state level. Then we have to provide specific skills. And because there is, there is such a variety in in in titles
Ioulia Rytikova: that for the machine learning engineering title, you can get 10 more that look kind of the same, but they will have different words, maybe AI engineering or AI learning or something else. So you really need to be more open minded and base, you search on skills, not specific titles. And these are just a few examples that we wanted to share with you. If we look at the next slide
Ioulia Rytikova: then this is our program. Just a quick summary in, just so that you know about about about your your expectations. So, or our expectations. We have only 10 courses in this. Well, we have lots of courses, but it’s required to complete 10 courses only. It’s 30 credits the first
Ioulia Rytikova: for our poor courses. We recommend seriously recommend to start with core courses. And after that you select one of the concentrations and you follow through each concentration until we finish that
Ioulia Rytikova: what separates.
Ioulia Rytikova: Now, this program from many other programs. Again, when we developed this program was heavily based on research studies. And we did this, we did this.
Ioulia Rytikova: We not just our department, but we also, we work together with the other instit other units in our institution to make sure that we meet all the quality checks for online programs. And and the what’s what’s important is to say that this program asks students to complete each course within 8 weeks.
Ioulia Rytikova: It’s different from a traditional program when students take multiple courses during 15 weeks. And they kind of take again multiple courses every every week they go to different classes. Here students focus on one course. During 8 weeks they finish that, and then they move on to the next one, and they continue. We offer classes in spring of spring, full and summer.
Ioulia Rytikova: Usually our students take 2 classes per semester, which means that students can complete this degree within 2 years.
Ioulia Rytikova: well, that’s pretty much. Probably it that here, that’s all I wanted to say. I don’t think if there are any specific questions. We can come back to this.
Ioulia Rytikova: and I believe, we have just a few slides left, though. Maybe so here. If we can. If we have time, and if you anybody’s interested, that will be happy to show a specific example so far of courses. But that’s pretty much what you see on this screen, we have lots of videos each course. It has videos developed by the faculty videos, by developed by top experts.
Ioulia Rytikova: We are our University. We have partnership with Linkedin. And that means that we have access to all the resources they provide. So we also incorporate that. You cannot read that. But on the left side we have the 8 modules, one module per week all the assignments. That’s what’s good about this program is that it’s very consistent. So students don’t have to.
Ioulia Rytikova: Don’t have to kind of adjust every time they start a new course, and it looks completely different here. It’s all the same, you open any course, you will see the same colors, the same banner, the same structure of the course. You can find everything in the same place. So students don’t lose time by learning how to get to the assignments they need. And all this stuff. During this semester professors
Ioulia Rytikova: actively my student. My students always say that I send so many emails that sometimes it’s so
Ioulia Rytikova: it’s difficult to keep up with all of them. Which is fine. I I understand we’re all very busy, but we communicate with students, not just every week. With some of us. Every day we meet with students weekly. We also ask teaching assistance to meet meet with students. Weekly. We, we provide assignments, their individual collaborative assignments. We have different types of assignments.
Ioulia Rytikova: Again, what we try to do. It’s not just. Take the exam and then read this book and take the exam. That’s that old style that that you know
Ioulia Rytikova: 100 years ago, people were following. Now we have assignments in addition to obviously exams, but we also have, which is also all offered online. We have. We have discussion boards. We have, quizzes that you can re repeat as many times as you want to, because it’s a learning tool, and you want? You. You see all the answers. And since you really love that
Ioulia Rytikova: you have practice problems where you can discuss with your with other students and come up with solutions collaboratively. But again, everybody will have to submit their own solution. So we have lots of fun stuff in our classes and in general students. Or also, it’s very flexible, because we know that students have might have a different background in my classes. For instance, I say.
Ioulia Rytikova: well, there are 10. I will give an example. 10 pro pro problems for this week, for instance. And then I say, if you have no experience with my field, then you completely I recommend to complete all 10. But if you already know the subject some extent, and you feel that oh, I know this area. That’s the problem in our, not the problem. But it’s kind of problem in our days that students learn which is good
Ioulia Rytikova: good on their own, which is very good, but when they come to our classes it’s very uneven, we and it’s and I always give a survey in the beginning of each semester to understand if I have students who are very new to it a couple of times. I have like experts on on what I do, literally experts. They say I have 20 years of experience in in this field, and it was always fun to work with them because they could
Ioulia Rytikova: it. They could also help with students. And they. It’s interesting to have this mix of students in the class. So but back to the assignments, and we say, but if you’re an expert and you can complete only 50% of this program. So they will still get full grade. So we’re trying to be even more flexible. We allow submissions that are a bit late and and we’re trying to again to support students.
Ioulia Rytikova: Many graduate students in our program. They work they have families, and and especially after Covid which is a different discussion. But the way students and professors approach learning has changed.
Ioulia Rytikova: So that’s something that we, our research team is also working on lots of interesting discussions about that alright and the next slide.
Ioulia Rytikova: Oh, and well, then, that’s probably it. So thank you very much for listening. I really appreciate this. If there are questions I will be because I could not hear. I could not see any questions. But if there are questions I will be more than happy to discuss as much as you want to. Today I have no place to go, so I can stay as long as needed.
George Mason Online Admissions: Well, thank you so much, Dr. Ridicova. Very thorough. It sounds like this, truly is tailored learning, you know, taking into account that the students are working. They have families, and that people are in different places and their education. So it sounds very collaborative. A mix of individual and Co and collaborative work and a lot of interaction with the instructors. So thank you for that. So, as Dr. Ridicova just mentioned.
George Mason Online Admissions: this is interactive. We’re here for you. We would love to hear your questions. I see that one question has already popped into the chat which I’ll read.
George Mason Online Admissions: but for those of you who joined late. I know a few more people trickled in down at the bottom of your screen. You should see the question and answer. Section. Please feel free to type your questions, and we’ll be glad to go over those for you.
George Mason Online Admissions: So we do have a few questions to start, and I do believe you touched upon this a little bit. Is this Master’s degree a good path for the Phd. Program that we offer at Mason.
Ioulia Rytikova: Excellent question. Absolutely. You can start here.
Ioulia Rytikova: even even. Well, now a professor speaks so
Ioulia Rytikova: E even? Well, though what I would recommend to do. Well, I’m a perfectionist, so please listen carefully what I say, and it doesn’t mean that I’m right, because again, I’m I always
Ioulia Rytikova: aim very high. What? I wanna when students come to me and ask about the any Phd program, that’s what I tell them.
Ioulia Rytikova: Think about the area that you’re interested in. That’s just even if you don’t know. But you already have that feeling. Hmm! I’m interested in this, or maybe that, or I I’d like to study this particular field. Once you identify kind of what you’re interested in, you don’t have to be precise. Then start searching for if Mason is your place to come, which I hope you will slide, because
Ioulia Rytikova: this is a great place. Then search through professors portfolios to see if there is a good match.
Ioulia Rytikova: After that I recommend to ask that professors that you selected to meet with them. And again, it doesn’t have to. Doesn’t have to take a lot of time. But Phd. Is really important. It will take at least 5 years of your life.
Ioulia Rytikova: and that’s a lot of work, and it’s something that that that might define your entire life. So I I would not take it lightly, so I would need to be, maybe a few professors to discuss what what they are interested, what what with their research, to see. If there is a good match.
Ioulia Rytikova: it’s very important to find not only your area, but also a professor who you will feel comfortable working with. And I know again it sounds like, Hmm, do I need to run? Yes, is also very important. For 5 years you will be working very closely with someone one, especially if it’s a cartonage research which is not easy, and and it just overall.
Ioulia Rytikova: It requires some effort. And again, people are very busy. So once you see that connection, and once you see that good match, then I would ask there, those, professor, so that one professor which path they will recommend.
Ioulia Rytikova: So so I would go. That’s why I know it’s a long answer. But yes, you can start with our program, and we have students who are going after that to to teach the program. But but if you really want to consider all options.
Ioulia Rytikova: I would start the other way around. I will go the top down approach, and then I will see if this program feeds what you have in mind giving the professor and the field the the area that you are interested in? I hope that I answer this question. And again, any questions. So any follow up questions. Send me an email, because that’s a kind of long conversation.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you so much. That was a very thorough response. And just as a reminder, everyone please type those questions. We’re happy to answer them. But we do have another question that popped in here. So one of our students has already been admitted for fall of 2024. So congratulations on that, and they are asking how they can be selected for a Ga. Position because it would really help
George Mason Online Admissions: financially in subsidizing the tuition. Now, I may need some clarification is this, are you referring to? Does this sound like more of a teaching assistant, or
George Mason Online Admissions: Are you familiar with that Dr. Rita Cova.
Ioulia Rytikova: Yes, of course, absolutely.
George Mason Online Admissions: Sure.
Ioulia Rytikova: Great question. I’m so glad you asked. I have some. Very good. Well.
Ioulia Rytikova: I have news. Okay, maybe, and we’ll see some good news. But hmm well, bad news is that we as a department, we do not give those positions like we admit you. And then here we go. Here is a position. Then we will cover all the all the expenses for you.
Ioulia Rytikova: Unfortunately, I wish we could do that, though I have to say that since it was mentioned before, we do support Phd students, new applicants when they come to us that we provide funding so. But that’s different.
Ioulia Rytikova: But what many of our master students do. We are very like it because we have a huge very huge department. We have over 2,000 Bs students.
Ioulia Rytikova: Which means that we have lots of classes at the undergraduate at the graduate program, which means we need a lot of Gta teaching assistance for those classes
Ioulia Rytikova: in general. In our department we are. When we select Gt’s. We usually try to select first. The first preference would be, of course, our own students, which is Ms in ait. And then we consider students from other programs. But our students get get the first speak. I’m not saying it’s easy to get this position because they are
Ioulia Rytikova: what competitive? We have a lot of very good, very strong students, a lot. But but still, if you have a good reason, if you have a very good Gp. Is very important. So Gp. Is your number one
Ioulia Rytikova: skill, I would say so if it’s a good Gtp. If you get some in addition to that, some certificates, for instance, in cyber security particularly, there are some very helpful certificates then you will. You can definitely, you can definitely apply for these positions and be selected. So that’s number one, number 2. What we also sometimes do is we offer gra position
Ioulia Rytikova: these id search assistant position. But I should say not we. But by we here I mean faculty. For instance, I just said a project on a on a grant, and one of the current master students was hired as a jury
Ioulia Rytikova: for this semester. That was also possible. But it depends on again on the faculty
Ioulia Rytikova: and the last one
Ioulia Rytikova: so you need to be in contact with the faculty and the last option which which I I like very much. We are very successful, our department in getting what’s called do scholarships in cyber security. But that’s for cyber security to students. Only. Dod stands for Department of Defense.
Ioulia Rytikova: They have a scholarship program where also very competitive, that’s nationally recognized. And it’s very difficult to get those scholarships. But we, our department, because of our research faculty and cyber security, were outstanding. We have a research center which is because of that we are very successful in
Ioulia Rytikova: in in getting those scholarships every year, some way around the hmm, I would say. December, we send an email to all the students in related in this in the field related to cyber security. So they’re different. A, and then, students send their portfolios to us. We review, and we make recommendations based on those portfolios.
Ioulia Rytikova: And again, that’s jb, is very important. And some competitions are very important and additional anything. In addition, extra curricular activities. They will be very helpful for for your consideration.
George Mason Online Admissions: And so it sounds like for the Dod scholarships. That would be something the students that are in the cyber track would receive emails about, and as far as the graduate research assistant ships, would they contact their academic advisor within the department? Or is there a specific contact that you would recommend.
Ioulia Rytikova: Well, usually we have some announcements. That’s the one of the first things that that happens
Ioulia Rytikova: for Gt positions students can apply. We have a separate website for that. By the we, I mean, the entire university is called handshake but in terms of grace, that’s that’s a bit more challenging. You really need to work closely with the faculty. So you need to contact the faculty you need to kind of again to to students do
Ioulia Rytikova: I often again also have that they contact us, and they say I will be willing to work as a volunteer, and then then we start to working with them. If we feel that students deliver good results, then we can offer them a jury position. But again, that’s something that people who are interested in research would usually
Ioulia Rytikova: probably consider.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, wonderful. And do you ever have area employers contact the department looking for students in entry level positions or outside internships? Or would those students go through the career center in handshake.
Ioulia Rytikova: Well, it? Yes, yes, and yes. We have a great Career Center office. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about about them, from from the students we have Job fair. So we do it all in addition to that. As an associate here. I receive once in a while I receive emails. We’re looking for this. So we’re looking for that
Ioulia Rytikova: for that position for someone for a specific position. Could you please share it with other students. I will so often this save emails about again my small scholarships. That’s I wish I could say that is consistent in every year we do this, this and this, but every year we do the Dod scholarship, which is, and it covers everything. So it just literally everything is
Ioulia Rytikova: that’s full right? But there are also some opportunities where industry our industry partners, they contact us. They either are looking for for you employees, or they want to provide some well, relatively small, less. It depends some, some recognition, some scholarships of work. So we do that, too.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, thank you. And another question popped up, is there an option of admin? Ga.
Ioulia Rytikova: Yes.
Ioulia Rytikova: Oh, wow! Guys, you are amazing. You are like.
Ioulia Rytikova: you’re, you’re just considering coming to us. Absolutely. Yes.
Ioulia Rytikova: yeah. Because we are a very large department. And I actually, I never thought about this. But yes, in our departments, just on our department, we have 3. It’s called student workers. So that’s what I think it means.
Ioulia Rytikova: So we have student workers who are supporting our department from the administrative perspective, and the students often leave because they either can get the job or they get an internship, or they want to move on or something else. So we’re very lucky. We have wonderful students but now they’re living because of somewhere. So we also yes, there is an opportunity to work
Ioulia Rytikova: in the Admin office for students.
George Mason Online Admissions: And should those students go through handshake for that in the career center.
Ioulia Rytikova: I would say. Handshake. That would be the number one place to go. That’s where usually all the departments they post their announcements and so forth.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, and it catchy. We can send you that. I’ll send you that information, the link to the career center because they do some wonderful events. It looks like they even have clearance workshops, job fairs, and and all kinds of different things. So I don’t see any more questions trickling in. But I am going to ask just a couple to give everyone a chance to type any last minute questions that they may have. So one question that I frequently
George Mason Online Admissions: receive from students is if they’re looking to be an AI to work in AI. I know that’s a huge buzz term right now. Would this track? Obviously, you talked about machine learning earlier, or would the computer science be a better degree.
Ioulia Rytikova: Excellent question.
Ioulia Rytikova: well, it’s if I could maybe provide a bit more information, because everybody is now so excited. 10 years ago it was the same excitement about big data, just the the same. I remember so clearly. And people were trying to figure out what to do with that. Now, okay, that’s just big data. Okay, we can do that. Now, it’s AI, which is fantastic.
Ioulia Rytikova: So if we speak about departments, we have this Cs department and Us. IC department. So these are 2 separate departments.
Ioulia Rytikova: What’s confusing for? And I I know, because I hear it. Even people are. Gonna so what’s confusing is what those departments offer, and what’s the difference in our days? Not only Cs and I see, but even other departments just recently. For instance, the electrical engineering departments. They offer the course in AI
Ioulia Rytikova: so and that’s fine, because it’s very specific to to their field of study. What’s different. So everybody might have something related to AI in our days because it’s popular. What’s important is to understand whether you want to be a person who develops new new theories
Ioulia Rytikova: and new tools.
Ioulia Rytikova: new applications.
Ioulia Rytikova: or, if you would like to understand it, the field enough so that you could successfully apply that to solve any complex problem and pretty much any field. So that’s what we do.
Ioulia Rytikova: So the Cs department and these are our 2 departments are probably major feeders for for AI. But Cs approaches that from the theoretical fundamental perspective. So that again, the theory, a lot of math the Lord. So you have to be really a very strong in math.
Ioulia Rytikova: You have to have I again in that workshop which I mentioned earlier today. It was a great workshop and the one of the universes was gardening a Mel.
Ioulia Rytikova: and they say we do. If you don’t have a Cs background, then that’s it. Our AI program is not for you. So I in a nice way. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to, by the way, but in a nice way, but the the. So in the Cs department. Usually it’s assumed that you have a very strong Cs background, a lot of programming, math courses, statistics and so forth.
Ioulia Rytikova: So with the IC department, we are applied, and that’s why we also go over the theory. But our goal is applications. AI has a lot of I’m I’m almost done with my answer. But this is a very large, is a big question to answer. So AI has many different fields and areas in, and people define it differently. One of them is machine learning
Ioulia Rytikova: or machine learning engineering. So the the seas Department also offers something related in
Ioulia Rytikova: to that field. I don’t know exactly where what their programs are. I know in general, but because I know that they certainly have it. But but the the the choice between the 2 is
Ioulia Rytikova: your background. And what what kind of job you want to do in the future? So that would be the difference between our machine learning, for instance, and Cs machine learning.
Ioulia Rytikova: I’m not sure if I if it was a good clarification but I hope that I covered at least a few questions.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, yes, and it looks like our questions have come to a halt here. I’ve scanned them all, and we all had some some great questions that you all had for us today. And so, Dr. Vitakova, would you like me to go over the admissions process now, in our upcoming start date.
Ioulia Rytikova: Thank you. Okay.
George Mason Online Admissions: Well, good news for everyone here. We are still accepting applications for the August 20, sixth start date. That is our fall term. And so. Yes, you still have time to apply. Now, what we’re looking for is for students to fill out the application
George Mason Online Admissions: and then upload a copy of your Transcript that has the school name all of the grades and the degree conferral date. I know a lot of people use unofficial transcripts, but just make sure that it has those 3 components, and then we’ll we’ll try to order your official transcripts for you once you’ve done that, and then we need your resume. Of course, a work resume is fine, and we will email you the instructions for the personal statement essay.
George Mason Online Admissions: and then for the recommendations, we do need 2 professional recommendations. So please know family or friends there, you know, we have a form to fill out. So all you need to do is list the People’s email addresses in the application that will trigger our system to send a short questionnaire to your references. And then they can type on it and click submit online. So it’s pretty quick and painless there.
George Mason Online Admissions: Normally, people try to finish up their admissions files within a week or 2. Sometimes it takes a little longer waiting for those recommendations. Usually the decision can be turned around within one to 3 weeks. Sometimes it does take a little longer, depending on the time of year.
George Mason Online Admissions: But that puts you in good shape to apply for the August 20 sixth start date. We would like the files ideally complete
George Mason Online Admissions: by July first, if possible. The official deadline is August first, but we do have a lot of files in the fall, so it’s rolling admissions. The sooner you complete your file, the sooner you’ll have your decision, and that will benefit you. So you can start getting ready for a class, and we will send you out all of these materials. We see the attendees here. So we’ll email that to you. And if you have questions at any point, you are welcome to give us a call.
George Mason Online Admissions: We work with you throughout the application process, and I’ve got all of the information there. You can scan the QR code or call 703-48-5006 or email online, 2@gmu.edu, and we’ll be happy to help you throughout the admissions process.
George Mason Online Admissions: So I just wanna thank Dr. Ridicova for joining us. You provided a wealth of information. I can see your passion really shine through for the program, and I know the students really enjoy the program. So thank you again for joining us. Do you have anything that you’d like to add.
Ioulia Rytikova: Well, again, I was so happy to be here. Thank you very much for inviting me for me. That’s an incredible opportunity to talk more about our wonderful program. All I can say is that I hope that all students who are here today and those who will watch this presentation. Later they will find the program they they love. They will get admitted, and they will have a beautiful journey of their Ms. Degree. Good luck. Everyone.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, and thank you for joining us tonight. Everyone have a great night.
Ioulia Rytikova: Goodbye. Thank you.
George Mason Online Admissions: But bye.
Masters in Economics Transcript
George Mason Online Admissions: So thank you to everyone for taking the time to join us tonight. We’re really excited to go over some great information.
George Mason Online Admissions: I’m joined by Dr. Coyne, who’s our program director. So thank you. Special. Thank you to Dr. Coyne for for joining us tonight.
George Mason Online Admissions: I’m gonna go ahead and get started here and walk you through the agenda for this evening’s presentation.
George Mason Online Admissions: and so Dr. Coyne will take over in just a moment and introduce himself.
George Mason Online Admissions: We’re gonna walk through the masonomics at tradition, the value of economics. We’re gonna take a really good look at the course, curriculum and the curriculum details.
George Mason Online Admissions: We’ll walk you through some information about our faculty members and exciting projects that are going on there. We’re gonna talk through what the online classroom looks like, how to be successful when you’re pursuing a degree online.
George Mason Online Admissions: and then we’re gonna wrap up by walking you through the admissions, requirements, tips, and tricks there, and we’ll give you some contact information for how to get in touch with us for additional support, and we have a really nice time slot at the end for lots of Q. A’s so please ask us whatever questions that that you have. Take advantage of the both of us here tonight, so we can help answer any questions as you’re you’re making the decisions here
George Mason Online Admissions: perfect. And then, as we get going here. Just so everyone knows how to participate. You can use the chat features like some of you have already started to use
George Mason Online Admissions: to send your questions at the end. There. And you can also update who you send your messages to by hitting a little dropdown next to, and you can send it directly to us or the whole audience, whichever you prefer. You can also raise your hand, and we will be able to take you off mute. If you prefer to ask a question, live, we can do that for you as well.
George Mason Online Admissions: And then the last feature is that QA. Button at the bottom or the sidebar of the zoom panel there, where you can ask a question there, too. So whatever you prefer for your questions, please feel free to send them our way.
George Mason Online Admissions: And then I am gonna pass it over to Dr. Coyne. Do you wanna take it from here?
Chris Coyne: Alright. Thank you so much, Mackenzie, and and let me
Chris Coyne: second in welcoming all of you this evening, and thank you. Thank you for taking the time out of your
Chris Coyne: a day. I know you all have obligations, professional, personal, and otherwise. So I I do appreciate you both showing an interest in our program, but also taking the time to spend a little bit of time with us discussing it, and just to introduce myself. I’m a professor of economics. So I’m a member of the Department of Economics.
Chris Coyne: I am an alumni of Gmu. So I did my masters and Phd. Here from 2,001 to 2,005. I did Joint Masters and Phd.
Chris Coyne: And then, after
Chris Coyne: going elsewhere for I guess 5 years, 2 other academic jobs, I came back and have been a member of the Department of Economics since
Chris Coyne: during that time I have been the director of graduate programs for a decade, meaning I oversaw all aspects of both the Ph. D. And the Masters program. And then, when we introduced the Ma online program a few years ago, I I became exclusively focused on the online program.
Chris Coyne: And so I know the Gmu product inside and out from the Department of Economics, both as a student and a graduate. And now, as a professor, and so wanted to give you that background both to let just let you know a little bit about myself. But hopefully, I’m able to answer any questions you have. And of course, my my goal here
Chris Coyne: is to be as transparent and honest as I can, meaning that my goal is to provide you with the information you need to succeed and flourish in your respective careers. And so
Chris Coyne: let us begin. And so, please, Mackenzie.
Chris Coyne: I want to talk a little bit about what I call the Masonomics tradition, because the Department of Economics at George Mason is a really unique department.
Chris Coyne: and it’s unique for the reason that we have had in our history 2 Nobel Prize winners, one in 1986, James Buchanan, one in 2,002, Vernon Smith. And when I think of the Masonomics tradition, I think, of of 3 kind of key figures and the traditions they represent.
Chris Coyne: So on the one hand, we have FA. Ha! Ha! Ha! Hack, who was a Nobel Prize winner in the mid seventies. He wasn’t a professor here, but he was influential in the kind of establishment and
Chris Coyne: emergence of the Department of Economics, and the way we view and teach economics here. So there was Hayk, and then I mentioned Buchanan, who was who was a professor here for much of his career, and he is one of the founders of field called public choice economics, which is the use of the tools of economics to study politics and all aspects of the political decision making process. And and that’s what he won the Nobel Prize for in
Chris Coyne: 1986, and then Vernon Smith, who is also a professor here for several years, won the Nobel Prize for his work in experimental Economics, which is the use of experiments to both illustrate and illuminate the various insights from economic theory.
Chris Coyne: and I wanted to start with this, both to give you a sense of the rich tradition that underpins our department. But also, if you keep in mind these figures and the traditions they represent. When we come to the curriculum in a moment, especially on the portion that where we’ll discuss the electives you’ll see the influence of these various thinkers in the electives that we offer.
Chris Coyne: So please, Mackenzie.
Chris Coyne: So what do we do here at Gmu? And and and this is for the faculty for our students. And it’s a mix of these things. We we are focused on teaching. And so we have our various programs on the ground. We have an undergraduate program, a master’s program and a Phd program. And then in the online space, we have the program we are discussing together our our online Ma program.
Chris Coyne: But we take teaching and the communication of of economics to our students and interactions between faculty and students extremely. We take it extremely kind of as a main function of what we do.
Chris Coyne: So so it’s a a commitment of our department to provide a sound economic education. And we take it extremely seriously in doing that.
Chris Coyne: In doing that we also
Chris Coyne: don’t just communicate information to our students, but try to empower them to also be effective communicators of economics. And so how do they become effective communicators?
Chris Coyne: Well, one, of course, is to learn the material, but also to have opportunities to express their understanding of that material and apply it in various ways. And again, you’re going to see that in the structure of the program when we move to that in a moment.
Chris Coyne: But the other thing my colleagues and I all do is we engage in research and scholarship, but also we take quite seriously public outreach, and so you may be familiar if you’ve followed our department, that many of my colleagues have, for instance, blogs.
Chris Coyne: They have regular columns, so my colleague, Tyler Cowan, for instance, has is the founder of the blog marginal revolution, which is one of the top economic blogs in the entire world. One of the the most popular in terms of readership.
Chris Coyne: He also has a regular column in Bloomberg, where he writes about whatever kind of the current events are, as it pertains to economics, but many of my colleagues are also involved with policy, and so they’re not involved with economics and academics in a narrow sense of just sticking to the ivory tower if you will, even though we
Chris Coyne: are based, of course, in a major university. But we also do policy, relevant work, and and I’ll provide you with a couple of illustrations of that later in our time together. And so I wanted to mention this to you so that you can understand our mindset. So now we have an understanding of the various traditions which inform our program, but also the mindset
Chris Coyne: both myself and and my colleagues have in the department of economics is kind of traversing these 4 quadrants and trying to to hit the sweet spot. And that sweet spot is a mix of all these different areas which all rely on the economic way of thinking. But direct that economic way of thinking in different directions.
Chris Coyne: Mackenzie, please.
Chris Coyne: So here’s our our curriculum. And before I get into this, let me just step back and say a couple words about the program itself.
Chris Coyne: So the Ma online program is a standard masters in economics, meaning that it is a 30 credit program
Chris Coyne: it has 5 required core classes.
Chris Coyne: 4 electives, and then one required capstone course. And I’ll say more about each of those in a moment.
Chris Coyne: The the structure of the program is meant to maximize flexibility. It’s meant to maximize flexibility because most people that select the online Ma option
Chris Coyne: demand flexibility. They have various obligations in their life
Chris Coyne: that
Chris Coyne: create various constraints whereby they want to pursue an advanced degree, but they don’t have, perhaps, that the
Chris Coyne: time, or because of geographic location, they can’t do a standard on the ground program where you have to be in the classroom a certain number of days, a certain time, and where it has regular kind of semesters that are 14 and 15 weeks. And so what we’ve tried to do with this program is to
Chris Coyne: hold constant, if you will, the academic content. So you’re getting the academic content, but also to maximize flexibility and adaptability to meet the demands of our student body. And I’ll I’ll give you some specific examples of that in in a few moments. Once we get past the the specifics of the structure of the program.
Chris Coyne: And so I I wanna make clear that when you’re in this program, the only thing that differs from our on the ground program is the modality of delivery. What I mean by that is on the ground is here in person in Fairfax, Virginia, where I’m sitting
Chris Coyne: online is online. But once you complete the degree, you have a degree from George Mason University, it is a master’s degree, with all the rights and privileges that are conferred among graduates of that program. In other words, one of the things I I don’t want you to mistake, which is a common question I get is, it’s it’s not like these 2 programs are distinct in terms of how they are viewed by the university
Chris Coyne: and how they are viewed by outsiders, meaning that your transcript is a official George Mason University Transcript.
Chris Coyne: It will have that you received a Master’s degree on it. It will not say that you are online versus on the ground. So this isn’t. you know, some some universities
Chris Coyne: have their on the ground program, and then they almost offer like a certificate program online. And and people know that they’re not analogous, that they’re they’re distinct things. This is a master’s in economics.
Chris Coyne: You are considered a George Mason University student. You have access and privilege all the same privileges as a George Mason student. Of course you’re not here in person.
Chris Coyne: but if you were, of course you could come on campus like anyone else, any other student. But if you’re remote, obviously you can’t go to the library in person, but you can access the George Mason University remotely and like a a lot of R. One research schools.
Chris Coyne: George Mason University has a state of the Art Library with research librarians and a full access to online resources. There’s also career services, for instance, that you can access either in person or remotely, the broader point being that you would have access to the same services of other students. The only limitation would be not being here in person. And that would be the only difference that you would face.
Chris Coyne: And so our to get back to the curriculum. The 5 core classes are standard across most economic programs. And so there are 2 micro theory classes, micro theory, one micro theory, 2. There’s a macro theory class, a Mathi con class and a a econometrics class. And so all students will take those core classes.
Chris Coyne: and we have them laid out in a structure or or a flow whereby they flow logically. So we start with math Econ, so that you get up to speed with the math that is required. Then we move into micro theory one micro theory, 2
Chris Coyne: typically than macro, and then econometrics.
Chris Coyne: And then you move into your electives and the electives. You’ll see you have an option. I mentioned earlier that you have to take 4 of these, and you can kind of customize your program of study. And and we’ve tried to offer diverse portfolio of classes
Chris Coyne: for you to choose from depending on what you want to get out of it, depending on what your your interests are. And so just looking briefly at them, causal inference is a course that would complement the Econometrics class, and that it is focused on statistics. So some students come into our program and they wanna beef up and focus on their statistics skills. And they would focus on on those type of classes
Chris Coyne: comparative economic systems is a class that covers different economic systems, but also economic development, institutions and development. And so on. And so students that are interested in those issues would benefit from that class.
Chris Coyne: Public choice and public economics. Remember earlier I mentioned James Buchanan, one of the Nobel Prize winners. This class will engage some of the the kind of insights and thoughts that he developed, as well as a broader treatment of issues in public economics.
Chris Coyne: So for those of you who are interested in public policy, who are interested, perhaps, in working in either local government, whether that’s, you know, county or state, or perhaps national government. The this type, of course, might be of interest to you
Chris Coyne: experimental economics. I mentioned that earlier with Vernon Smith, the other Nobel Prize winner.
Chris Coyne: This class covers the foundational insights of experimental economics.
Chris Coyne: gender economics, uses the tools of economics to study a host of of issues related to gender issues. And so it’s interdisciplinary in that it draws upon a variety of insights from different disciplines grounded in economics. Of course it is an economics class.
Chris Coyne: but many students find that interesting because it exposes them to a variety of different insights that perhaps they hadn’t been exposed to in any other economics class before assuming they’ve taken them.
Chris Coyne: Market process theory is focused on in the insights of Fa. Hyac and others that work in that tradition. There’s an emphasis on entrepreneurship, on
Chris Coyne: the nature of competition. And in this class we really delve into differences, for instance, between competition and monopoly and government intervention, and use the tools of economics to think through those various aspects. And so if you’re if you’re interested in things like market process theory, Austrian economics. That class is for you.
Chris Coyne: And then finally, we come to the capstone
Chris Coyne: in the way to think about the capstone again. It’s a required class.
Chris Coyne: but it is a class that ties together everything you’ve learned in the program. So it it’s it’s a class where it’s it’s meant to to kind of link all the things you’ve learned throughout your program of study into a single class. And so here you have various aspects to the, to the class. There’s a opportunity for you to demonstrate your knowledge of the other material in terms of written work.
Chris Coyne: but also in terms of statistical work.
Chris Coyne: And so one of the things that occurs in this class is a replication study, where you find a previous published academic paper that interests you. So it’s open, ended, cause you get to figure out whatever it is that you you that interest you. I can give you some concrete examples of that during the QA. If it interests you from actual students in the program.
Chris Coyne: and then you seek to replicate it. So what might that look like? Let’s say, as a hypothetical. You picked a paper that looked at the relationship between international trade and economic development.
Chris Coyne: and you picked the paper, and it had been published in the year 2,000. So so 2 decades ago.
Chris Coyne: What you would do is you would take that paper if the models already specified the statistical model. But you would collect more data. That’s more recent. And then you would replicate what the study was doing, and it’s in a an attempt, an effort, or a a opportunity, I should say.
Chris Coyne: for you to use the skills that you’ve developed in
Chris Coyne: econometrics, in micro or macro theory.
Chris Coyne: in causal inference. If you took that class as an elective.
Chris Coyne: and to apply them.
Chris Coyne: and to demonstrate your knowledge of those things while gaining additional practice.
Chris Coyne: And so
Chris Coyne: that’s the the capstone course, and what the purpose of that is
Chris Coyne: in terms of the kind of speed through the program. One of the the things you have to understand with this that’s unique to it is we talk about sessions when we talk about the online Ma program. And so at George Mason University.
Chris Coyne: our normal semester, we have a fall semester, a summer. Pardon me, a spring semester, and they’re typically 14 to 15 weeks. So standard semester.
Chris Coyne: the online ma runs in sessions which are 8 weeks each.
Chris Coyne: So it’s a more condensed format again to maximize flexibility so that people can move through the program at a relatively nice pace.
Chris Coyne: And so typically, we recommend that you take one course, a session. And so, for instance, if you started in the fall fall session one, you would take Matthew con one.
Chris Coyne: That would be the first 8 weeks, and you would focus on that course. Then the second session of the fall you’d move into. Micro. Then, of course there’s a short break, and then you move into the spring, and it’s the same 2 sessions, including over the summer as well. There’s summer session one summer session 2. So in principle, if you want to be moving through the program, you can be taking
Chris Coyne: 2 classes every period, fall, spring, and summer moving through the 30 credits at a relatively nice pace. But we have some students that have to take a session off, perhaps because of work obligations, or because of family obligations. And that’s okay, too. Again, we work with you to the best of our ability to maximize flexibility and to meet you where you are.
Chris Coyne: Mackenzie, let us move on to the next slide, please.
Chris Coyne: This is an example of some of the work that my colleagues have done
Chris Coyne: cause our our faculty designed these courses.
Chris Coyne: And I mentioned earlier, if you think back to those quadrants the different things we focus on.
Chris Coyne: And so the top
Chris Coyne: left corner is a screenshot of my colleague, Tyler Cowan’s blog marginal. Revolution that I mentioned.
Chris Coyne: And if you’re not reading this blog, whether you end up
Chris Coyne: going into the online Ma program or not. I suggest you add it to your daily reading list because it is a wonderful resource in general for economic knowledge, and, you know, like any kind of blog post, it’s very concise, but it contains links. And
Chris Coyne: just a great source of information. If you look to towards the bottom of the screen. You’ll see a screenshot about certificate of need laws.
Chris Coyne: and let me just say something about what certificate of need laws are. But before I do that
Chris Coyne: this is a policy study by my colleague, Thomas Stratman, Thomas Stratman, developed the causal Inference course and the public economics public choice, course.
Chris Coyne: and certificate of need laws. If you don’t know what they are in order to expand medical facilities in the United States.
Chris Coyne: many States require certificate of need, which is that you have to go through a formal process and demonstrate that you need to expand your medical facilities. It’s the equivalent of regulation or regulations plural.
Chris Coyne: And one of the downsides of this is, it can be costly to open new medical facilities.
Chris Coyne: This has real effects, especially for people in rural areas
Chris Coyne: as it pertains to their healthcare.
Chris Coyne: And so my my colleague, Thomas Stratman, has done academic research on this, where he’s statistically looked at the effects of certificate of need laws on healthcare access. And then he’s taken that academic research
Chris Coyne: written policy pieces on it, but also testified in front of State legislatures on it. And so you can see how the way we think about economics at George Mason. We kind of marry all these different areas together. There’s the academic scholarship. But that flows into policy research. It flows into
Chris Coyne: public communication. In the case of marginal revolution it flows into our teaching.
Chris Coyne: and then the right of the screen is a book by my colleague
Chris Coyne: Pete. Betty Pete designed the Comparative Economics course that I mentioned earlier.
Chris Coyne: and this book is a book in public administration.
Chris Coyne: and so I chose it to highlight.
Chris Coyne: because it reflects the highly interdisciplinary nature of my colleagues and the Department of Economics here at George Mason, which is that most programs most universities have a public administration program, and the Economics Department
Chris Coyne: wouldn’t be part of that. There would be economists in the public Administration school, but they’d be separate.
Chris Coyne: Here’s an example of of one of my colleagues
Chris Coyne: merging or marrying the 2 perspectives. You have the economic way of thinking you have public administration. Well, what happens when we combine those things together and think through what the implications are. That’s what Pete and his Co. Authors are doing in that book. So this just gives you a flavor of the type of work that that comes out of our program.
Chris Coyne: and that students will be exposed to, not necessarily these exact cases. But but this type of work.
Chris Coyne: Mackenzie, please
Chris Coyne: alright. So let me say something about the classes. Now I I’ve gone through the class in terms of the structure of the program. But let me get into a little more detail about the nature of the classes themselves, because this is another
Chris Coyne: question I oftentimes get.
Chris Coyne: So here’s the thing.
Chris Coyne: All of the classes are set up to be asynchronous and and by asynchronous, I’m sure all of you know what this means, but I’ll
Chris Coyne: say it just just to to make sure by a asynchronous class is your kind of traditional class. You show up Tuesday and Thursday from 10 to 1130, you’re face to face with your professor and your colleagues in the class.
Chris Coyne: There could be a lecture or class discussion, or whatever activities are associated with that class. But they’re in person, and they’re delineated by that timeframe. An asynchronous class has time frames on it. You have a session 8 weeks. You have things do each week, let’s say. But within the confines of those broad parameters
Chris Coyne: the flexibility is built in meaning that it’s asynchronous.
Chris Coyne: such that you don’t have to show up at a certain day. At a certain time
Chris Coyne: you’ll have assignments and readings and work that is due within a certain time period. But how you decide to allocate your time in order to accomplish those various required objectives is entirely up to you.
Chris Coyne: the purpose being again to maximize flexibility.
Chris Coyne: So our students in this program, our student body is highly diverse, both in terms of their geographic location in terms of their background in terms of their interests, but also in terms of their professions.
Chris Coyne: So we have some people that are in a profession already, and they’re looking to advance, so they need a a Master’s degree.
Chris Coyne: Other people are looking to make a shift to a new career
Chris Coyne: and and everything in between. We also have had a highly diverse student body in terms of profession. We’ve had people in banking. We’ve had people who are financial analysts. We’ve had high school teachers. So we’ve had high school teachers who, either
Chris Coyne: are teaching or who have been asked to teach Ap economics or introductory economics at the high school level, and they want a Master’s degree in order to beef up their knowledge because they didn’t study economics as an undergraduate.
Chris Coyne: We have people that work in nonprofits so very diverse. We have people straight from undergraduate. We have. We’ve had people that have been out of the the education system for decades because they’ve been working, and they want to come back into that system. And so the the backgrounds are truly unique and and are
Chris Coyne: programming allows the different.
Chris Coyne: a. A kind of diverse backgrounds and obligations facing our students to still pursue a degree largely on their terms. Of course, within the confines of the of the broad parameters of the program.
Chris Coyne: And so the the
Chris Coyne: courses themselves
Chris Coyne: have some similarities. They’re not all the same, but many of them contain the type of screenshots you’re seeing here. So there’ll be videos. That’s me in the upper left hand corner. That’s my colleague, Joanna Mullerstrom, in the bottom right hand corner. She designed the Econometrics course and the gender economics course that I mentioned earlier. So there’s video lectures. In some cases there are
Chris Coyne: lectures that are recorded that are there for you. There is reading materials. There are slides. There are practice problems in some classes, and then from there the various classes vary in how they’re structured in terms of their assessment tools. Some have a discussion form where you get a chance to interact with your colleagues, your your fellow students in the class. Others have homework kind of problems that you complete within a timeframe and submit.
Chris Coyne: Some have exams, others have a written component, so it varies from class to class. But everything is housed online, and it’s accessible to you as a student. Once you’re enrolled in the course, and the modules are clearly delineated and laid out, and they’re there for you to complete on your on your own time within the general parameters.
Chris Coyne: I wanna just reiterate that these are asynchronous. So one of the things that means that you need to be comfortable with is that you’re not gonna be forced to be in attendance, for instance, on a Zoom Meeting at a certain period of time each week.
Chris Coyne: There’s instructors in the class.
Chris Coyne: So you’re not completely isolated, either. I don’t want you to think that I want to make sure I’m not communicating that
Chris Coyne: there are instructors who are available to assist you, whether it’s by email or by Zoom Meeting
Chris Coyne: many instructors. Not all, but many have built in optional office hours, where? So some don’t set up office hours because no one comes, so they’ll say, Contact me if you want to meet, others will say.
Chris Coyne: You know.
Chris Coyne: let’s say over an 8 week course they’ll have either every 2 or every 3 weeks. They’ll say I’m going to be on Tuesday evening from
Chris Coyne: 5 to 6
Chris Coyne: in this time Zone. I’ll be on zoom. Come in if you want. I’ll talk to you, and we can talk through things again. Others choose not to do that because of the different time zones and the different difficulty of coordinating. So it varies. But those type of opportunities you’ll see in the program.
Chris Coyne: But the broader point is that there’s an instructor in the course that’s available to aid you as needed, and as a resource.
Chris Coyne: Mackenzie, please.
Chris Coyne: So here’s the application kind of trajectory or workflow, and I won’t go through this step by step. I’m gonna highlight a couple of things, and then I’ll answer any questions, and and Mackenzie will will aid me as needed during the Q. And A, and we can answer any specific questions you might have.
Chris Coyne: But here are the things I want to highlight, purely based on my interaction with students in this program, and what I know many students want to know.
Chris Coyne: Number one.
Chris Coyne: you need a bachelor’s degree, but it does not have to be in economics. You do not need an economics degree to apply.
Chris Coyne: You do not have to have taken any economics to apply. Those courses listed at the bottom are recommended.
Chris Coyne: meaning that it’s certainly helpful to have a a background in micro and macroeconomics, so that you’re at least familiar in a broad sense with the concepts, same with basic calculus and statistics.
Chris Coyne: But those are not requirements.
Chris Coyne: I have a sheet that I’ve put together.
Chris Coyne: Where? For the core classes. I’ve asked each instructor what key concepts they cover as it pertains to math and statistics, because it’s one of the most common questions I get. So if that interests you, please feel free to email me, and I will send you the word document it it it lists out. It’s like a 2 page word document for each of the core classes. It says, here are the main
Chris Coyne: kind of topics. You need to know whether in math or statistics, and you can then kind of judge your knowledge of of math and statistics and say, Okay, I’m I’m comfortable with that, or I might need more work.
Chris Coyne: And and and let me say that that work
Chris Coyne: can be formal. I mean, you’re welcome to take undergraduate classes in those things, but it doesn’t have to be. You can engage in self study. I can recommend books to you. There’s plenty of online resources, free free online to to beef up your knowledge of those topics, if you so choose. But I just want to reiterate to you that those are not required
Chris Coyne: the 2 letters of recommendation. You know, pick people that can speak to your your your skills and knowledge, you know. One of the questions I oftentimes get is, well, look I, I’ve been out of school for sometimes 3 years, sometimes 5, sometimes decades. I don’t know
Chris Coyne: my professors anymore. I haven’t kept in touch with them. What am I gonna do? And I say, don’t worry about it. I I understand, and we fully understand that again, most of our students are in similar, and our applicants are in a similar situation to you.
Chris Coyne: Pick people in your life that whether it’s work related or if it if you’re involved in some kind of community organization, someone that can speak to your skill set, and and that those are good people to recommend you.
Chris Coyne: The final thing I just want to highlight here is the statement of purpose.
Chris Coyne: and the statement of purpose is basically saying to you, tell us why you want to join the program
Chris Coyne: and so use this as an opportunity to to introduce yourself, to say, Here’s who I am. Here’s my background. And here’s why I want to come into the program. And here’s why it will benefit me.
Chris Coyne: It is the one piece of the application where you, as a person, really shines through, because, of course, your your transcript is your transcript from the past. Your letters of recommendation are written by people who are not you.
Chris Coyne: And so your statement of purpose is your opportunity to say, here’s what I’m all about. Here’s what I’m I’m trying to achieve with this degree. And here’s why I think it’s a fit for my goals.
Chris Coyne: you know. It’s usually
Chris Coyne: a page to 2 pages, but spend a little bit of time thinking about that, and it’s also good check on your own thinking to to make sure that you’re comfortable joining the program that you know why you want to do it and what you want to achieve.
Chris Coyne: And we seek to turn around applications once they’re processed relatively quickly. So we pride ourselves on our speed. So this is it. Once an application is submitted, it’s it’s not a drawn out process of months. It’s it’s a very quick turnaround
Chris Coyne: and we are available to assist you, not just through the application process, but answering any other questions about the program that you might have. And so, Mackenzie, I think our our next slides, our last one, where we transition to QA.
Chris Coyne: So let me pause there after going for about 35 min. Thank you for your patience, but also open it up and invite you to ask any question you want again. I will do my best to answer it. Nothing’s off limits as it pertains to the program. So
Chris Coyne: is there anyone that has any questions.
George Mason Online Admissions: As, and then again, as a reminder, please feel free to utilize either the chat, the QA. Or if you raise your hand, we can see it and what we can take you off mute, to ask any questions that you have
George Mason Online Admissions: and then just a quick note about this slide so everyone can jot down this information on the left. You’ll see our phone number email and our website. This will help you get connected with an enrollment counselor. So if you have questions that come up later, and you want to review some program, details or admissions, requirements, anything of that nature. Please reach out to us. We are happy to review your situation.
George Mason Online Admissions: one on one give you some tips and tricks for the application process. And just help support you all the way until you start the program and then that the link on the right side is the link to the application where you can get started.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alright, we’ve got one question coming in here. What is the graduation rate for this program?
Chris Coyne: That’s a great question. And and and in full transparency, I don’t know. I don’t know the percentage off the top of my head. I I it is. It is high.
Chris Coyne: It is high. Meaning that.
Chris Coyne: certainly above 75%. But I I don’t wanna say anything higher than that, because I’m not 100% sure I don’t wanna mislead you.
Chris Coyne: The the main reason students do not graduate is through
Chris Coyne: external factors. So. So I don’t know if we’ve had. We’ve had a few students who who fail out of the program, but that is like 2 or 3 out of the entire number of students that have joined
Chris Coyne: the the main reason
Chris Coyne: people end up leaving the program and don’t graduate is because of some exogenous factor, usually personal or professional.
Chris Coyne: So so we’ve had numerous examples, because when a student leaves, we, we reach out to them because we try to help them as much as they can and and offer them. You know we want to see students succeed.
Chris Coyne: so we’ll often reach out to them, or they’ll reach out to us and say, Hey, I’m facing XY. And Z. And we say, Here are your options, you know. You can take a session off or 2 sessions off.
Chris Coyne: And in some cases they do that and come back into the program. In other cases, they say, this isn’t working for me anymore. So what are some examples of course, without naming any names or getting too specific for privacy reasons. We’ve had several people who have left because they have switched jobs.
Chris Coyne: So so they switched jobs and either had to move geographically, took on additional responsibilities or faced other constraints which they just said, I can’t continue in this program anymore. I literally can’t do the classes and do my new job.
Chris Coyne: That’s fair enough. I mean, I I understand life changes. Other people have had unfortunate illnesses, either themselves or family member, where they’ve had to leave the program because the of their personal obligations. We’ve had several people who have had kids, and because of childcare issues.
Chris Coyne: they’ve had to step aside from the program. And so those are the typical cases. We’ve also had a a small number of students who join the program take a couple classes and then say it’s not for them.
Chris Coyne: They they several of them have switched programs internal to Gmu. So they’ve gone to other online programs because they said, I started in this. But I switched into the online Mba, for instance. And again, that’s just a personal.
Chris Coyne: you know, issue, it’s nothing to do with the program or no fault of theirs. It’s just what what suits them in their career goals.
Chris Coyne: And so those are kind of our our standard cases.
Chris Coyne: the the students who struggle the most in the program, even though this wasn’t your your question per se. I’m I’m trying to offer you as much information as I can are the ones who are are 2 categories of people.
Chris Coyne: One are people that
Chris Coyne: don’t have the time for the classes.
Chris Coyne: So so you know, from our end, when we’re looking at an applicant, we’re looking at that application, those materials that was on the pre prior slide.
Chris Coyne: and of course, applicants who get in have a strong background. We think they can succeed.
Chris Coyne: But let’s say you’re in a job. That is an 80 HA week job. We don’t know that. And so sometimes students come into the program and they get a little overwhelmed with having to take the class. That is 8 weeks and the work, and they just can’t strike the right balance. Unfortunately.
Chris Coyne: we have had some students that come in who underestimate, or or perhaps overestimate, depending on which perspective you look at it, their knowledge of math.
Chris Coyne: and they struggle in that aspect of the program which is why, for instance, I work to put this sheet together of what concepts you need to know, and why. Oftentimes, if people reach out with questions about what background is kind of
Chris Coyne: important to have coming in. We we try our best to answer that.
Chris Coyne: so I hope I’ve answered your question, Travis. If not, please feel free to
Chris Coyne: follow up.
George Mason Online Admissions: One common question that I get, that I’d love to to get your thoughts on for students who are coming in with a lower Gpa. Then they they would have liked to have an undergrad.
George Mason Online Admissions: What’s your recommendation there for what applicants do in this situation?
Chris Coyne: Yep, great question. And so
Chris Coyne: again, I was director of graduate studies
Chris Coyne: before I was online. I’m a director. So I have read literally thousands of graduate applications.
Chris Coyne: And here’s something that I have come to the conclusion
Chris Coyne: about since doing that. Gpa. Tells you something for graduate education. But it doesn’t tell you a lot.
Chris Coyne: meaning that I have known personally numerous students that have had a relatively low undergraduate Gpa. That have flourished in graduate school. I’ve also known personally
Chris Coyne: many applicants and students who had near perfect
Chris Coyne: Gpa. Is an undergraduate who have struggled and
Chris Coyne: left graduate programs.
Chris Coyne: None of us are the same people or person. I should say that we were when we were an undergraduate.
Chris Coyne: And
Chris Coyne: we’ve changed, we’ve matured.
Chris Coyne: And so what does that mean in terms of how do you deal with that? Well, of course, if you’re here, if you’re thinking about this, you have some interest in pursuing a master’s in economics, you wouldn’t be taking time out of your data to talk about it. So you already have that intellectual maturity in place that you’re at least thinking about the pursuit of a higher degree.
Chris Coyne: But my advice to you, if you’re in this situation, of course, is to use the statement of purpose to openly discuss it.
Chris Coyne: and and you know that I I under, I could see why people would think, well, if I don’t talk about it, maybe they’ll kind of overlook it. We’re going to see your transcript. We’re going to see your Gpa.
Chris Coyne: And so the most common kind of explanation is which, which again, I fully understand, and we don’t hold it against. I actually appreciate when people kind of are self aware. And they say, here’s what happened. So what type of things happened? Well, one of the most common things you will see is, if you look at an again. This is not for everyone, but for a segment of people who’ve low Gpas.
Chris Coyne: You look at their transcript semester, one semester, 2, sometimes semester, 3 terrible, and then you start to see kind of almost a linear increase through time throughout the rest of their program of study as an undergraduate. When you see that, what does that tell you? Either the student had a difficult time adjusting to
Chris Coyne: college.
Chris Coyne: Perhaps they were goofy. They they weren’t serious students, right? They were kids.
Chris Coyne: And
Chris Coyne: I was a kid, too. Everyone was. We were young and did goofy things. That’s what young people do sometimes. And so explaining that and just saying like, here’s what happened. And here’s why things are different. Now.
Chris Coyne: I I value that we’ve had other instances where people took really hard classes. So they started out like wanting to be like, I remember one application. The applicant wanted to be like a pharmacist. So when you want to be a pharmacist, what class are you taking? Organic chemistry? You know not
Chris Coyne: basic classes. And the student had a very low Gpa, they switched out of that into something else. And and what? They basically send their statement of purposes. Like, Look, I thought I wanted to do this. I struggled mightily. I realized it wasn’t for me, so I had a transition into I forget whatever other degree they transitioned into, and that is not reflective, that that those poor grades are not reflective of me as a student or my potential
Chris Coyne: to me that’s sounds like a good
Chris Coyne: level of self-awareness and and a legitimate explanation. And so again, if you are in that situation.
Chris Coyne: just discuss it and discuss what’s changed and how you’ve changed as a person. So I appreciate the question because it’s one of the most common ones that that is is brought up.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, and and thank you for that. I can. I can certainly attest that. I think it all takes. Take some pride that we’re not the same students we were when we were 17 and 18 years old.
Chris Coyne: Right, right.
George Mason Online Admissions: Use to shine and then just address it in that essay. Absolutely, and keep some questions coming for anything that you have about the curriculum program. Details, admissions, process.
George Mason Online Admissions: I’m Dr. Coyne. Do you have some of the capstone projects that you wanted to do?
Chris Coyne: I was just gonna turn to that.
George Mason Online Admissions: Really exciting to hear every year, too. Yeah.
Chris Coyne: Yeah, yeah. So so I I I mentioned that there’s a capstone replication project. And I I I pulled 2 that I think are interesting in themselves, but they’re interesting also because they demonstrate the uniqueness of the exercise. And so a lot of people think about economics as kind of being very narrow. You have money, you have stock markets, you have
Chris Coyne: finance, and all those things are important.
Chris Coyne: but there’s lots of other aspects to it. So here are 2 projects that that these are projects that graduates of the program have worked on
Chris Coyne: one of them. One of our students worked in prisons.
Chris Coyne: He worked in a he he! I forget his exact role, but it was in prison rehabilitation programs. That was his career, and he was pursuing a master’s in economics. So for his replication study he picked a paper that had looked at the quality of prisons and the likelihood of recidivism, of returning to prison, the idea being that the question being, if you invest, if a
Chris Coyne: county or State, or if it’s a Federal penitentiary, if they, if they invest more resources in the quality of the prison. And by that I mean programs that are available training that’s available to prisoners.
Chris Coyne: Do you get a higher or lower recidivism? But rate.
Chris Coyne: all right. And and and the 2 cutting kind of competing hypotheses for that would go. Something like this
Chris Coyne: one argument would be, if we can act. If we can offer
Chris Coyne: prisoners better training.
Chris Coyne: better counseling, and so on. They’ll be more successful when they leave prison and be less likely to return the counter to that is that well, bad people do bad stuff.
Chris Coyne: you can’t, you know, no matter how much you counsel them or do whatever they’re they’re not gonna change, and they are supposed to be being punished. So why are we giving them all these services? In any case, this student
Chris Coyne: updated the data and ran this and found that investments in the quality of prison lowered the recidivism rate.
Chris Coyne: A second student
Chris Coyne: was interested in international relations and and foreign policy, and for this student they chose a paper in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, which is actually a journal, and international relations that looked at the relationship between trade and war.
Chris Coyne: So one of the main kind of one of the main theories in international relations is what’s called the capitalist piece hypothesis, which is, do countries that trade more engage in war more or less. And there’s 2 views of this one is that when you trade more with someone.
Chris Coyne: you’re less likely to engage in violent conflict or war because you have a trading relationship with them. You have economic benefits, but you also have shared norms and values the flip side of that is that it can increase conflict because
Chris Coyne: the 2 sides start looking at the other as competition.
Chris Coyne: So think about right now in the world. How many people, rightly or wrongly.
Chris Coyne: view the Us. And China almost at being at odds with each other like they win, or we win kind of thing. So that’s a 0 sum view. And this student updated data on this paper tested it and found that that trade led to reductions in in war.
Chris Coyne: So those are just 2 examples, and demonstrate the breadth of the type of projects that you might undertake.
Chris Coyne: One of the questions from Travis, which I’m
Chris Coyne: seeing in the chat is about the statistical package which I appreciate.
Chris Coyne: the programs that are used in the or the program part of me that is used in
Chris Coyne: econometrics is data.
Chris Coyne: That is the package that is used.
Chris Coyne: And you know, once you got to the
Chris Coyne: Capstone, for instance, you could use a different program if you wanted to. You’re not required to use that. I don’t believe at the capstone level.
Chris Coyne: But all the students use data in the Econometrics class.
Chris Coyne: Any other thoughts, questions, comments, or anything else I can
Chris Coyne: discuss.
George Mason Online Admissions: One last question that I’ll throw out from from some students that I’m working with you. We get a lot of questions about networking opportunities. And what students can take advantage of, especially in the online format.
Chris Coyne: Sure.
Chris Coyne: So I mentioned that that for certain things you have access to Gmu resources, like career services and whatnot for networking purposes. And of course
Chris Coyne: you know how how valuable you find that will depend on your situation. What I mean by that is is, if you are.
Chris Coyne: If you are in a career where you’re happy and you’re not looking to switch careers or look for a new job, then career services might be less valuable to you still could have them help you with your resume or whatnot, if you need that assistance.
Chris Coyne: But you know, for that type of student it’s gonna matter less than others in terms of networking with faculty. For instance.
Chris Coyne: you know one of the things, and and and
Chris Coyne: again it it it. And I understand why there’s a tendency to think about the online Ma as being kind of almost its distinct category separate from the department. But you have to understand how the on the on the ground program is as well, which is, students come to campus a couple of nights a week for classes, and then there. The master students usually aren’t on campus. They’re out in Washington, DC. Which is
Chris Coyne: 20 min from where I’m sitting right now, or in Northern Virginia, at their jobs. They’re with their families. They’re not hanging out with us on campus.
Chris Coyne: And for those who want to build those relationships with faculty, they have to reach out to faculty and build those relationships, and it will be the same for you.
Chris Coyne: So you know there’s no
Chris Coyne: direct networking from the standpoint that you will interact with me, for instance, on a daily basis. But I have online ma students who email me.
Chris Coyne: even if they’re not in a class, I’m teaching them. And they might ask me a question about something I’ve written, or something that interests them.
Chris Coyne: And that would be the same for our on the ground master students and and our Phd students, by the way. And so, like life in general.
Chris Coyne: a a lot of networking is being proactive on the person’s part, and those opportunities certainly exist. And and and being part of the
Chris Coyne: kind of Gmu masonomics family.
Chris Coyne: just like our other graduate students. You’ll have those opportunities to reach out. I mean, you’ll have a Gmu email. You can email faculty if you want, you know
Chris Coyne: and interact with them. And so that’s that’s up to you. But those opportunities certainly exist.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you.
Chris Coyne: Yeah, I don’t. I? I don’t. Travis, I see your message. I don’t have my I’m on. I have. Don’t have it on this computer, that document. So what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna put my email here for you and for others.
Chris Coyne: If you email me with your preferred email after this, whatever it works for you, I will respond to your note and attach that document.
Chris Coyne: And I can answer that, and then you’ll also have my email. If you have any other questions after you look at the document.
Chris Coyne: any other thoughts, questions, if not, or while while you’re gathering your thoughts.
Chris Coyne: think about the material we covered this evening. Look at the website for the program, but also get a feel. If you know, another piece of advice is to just look around at the faculty who are here. All of us have web pages with our work.
Chris Coyne: and many of my colleagues won’t be teaching you in class just because they don’t teach an online and may program. But you’ll get a feel for the type of research they do for the things that interest them.
Chris Coyne: And and if you have shared interests again, that’s an opportunity for you to reach out to them if you do join the program. And so getting. And that that goes for any program you’re considering. Try to get a feel for the department what it’s about. I’ve tried to give you some sense of that with the Masonomics tradition. But by looking at at at individual faculty websites as well as the main department website and the ma online program website. It’ll give you more detail and a sense of what this all involves.
Chris Coyne: Are there any final questions before we part ways
Chris Coyne: doesn’t look like it.
Chris Coyne: So I want to thank you all again for taking the time out of your schedule to meet with us
Chris Coyne: for your interest in the program, and feel free to reach out with any questions.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you, Dr. Quinn. Thank you. Everyone have a good evening.
MS in Health Informatics and Graduate Certificate Transcript
George Mason Online Admissions: Well, welcome everyone. My name is Casey. I’m an admissions advisor on behalf of George Mason University, and this is our fall. 2024 virtual open house
George Mason Online Admissions: for the Masters of Science in Health informatics.
George Mason Online Admissions: So again, welcome everyone.
George Mason Online Admissions: This is our agenda. Today, as as I mentioned, we’ll be u utilizing the chat function for any questions. And those you can write in questions. As the slides go on but we’ll save all the questions for the end.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alrighty!
George Mason Online Admissions: And again chat functions
George Mason Online Admissions: so alrighty.
George Mason Online Admissions: and Dr. Boytishk, take it over.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Alright. So I again as well to check. And I’m Professor of Health Informatics Funding and Director of our Health Informatics program
Janusz Wojtusiak: in my in my current role. I oversee pretty much everything in our program. MoD, undergraduate program. Our bachelor of science in health informatics, masters in health informatics that we’ll be talking about today and our Pg concentration the other. Me that you see there is a second person, you know, logging with the same login. That’s actually Doctor Abdul Hafez.
Janusz Wojtusiak: and he is the Coordinator for the Masters of Science and Health Informatics program. He’s actually new faculty that joined our program very recently. So still learning how to do things. And you know, but it’s very likely that once you join the program he’ll be working with you and advising and lots of other things. And of course, I’m always there to step in
Janusz Wojtusiak: just to give you a little background. I am computer scientists by training. And you know, I moved to healthcare area many, many years ago. By thinking, you know, I can use my fancy tools to analyze some of the good looking healthcare data, and you know, it took me a couple of decades to really understand that I really don’t know what healthcare is about
Janusz Wojtusiak: and I’m still trying. So it’s a very complicated area. And you know, I hope that you’ll actually appreciate the things that we can teach you in the program.
Janusz Wojtusiak: All right.
Janusz Wojtusiak: So our program is Kim accredited. Kim is commission of accreditation, of health informatics and information that has been programs which is essentially the professional accreditation body that accredits health informatics programs. When we got accredited where, I believe, 13 program to be accredited across the Us. There are 20 something accredited programs right now. But you know, our program goes back for a while.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Italy. Originally the program has been create masters. Program has been created, you know, in the mid 2 thousands, about 2,005 or so as a concentration under Mha. And then about 2,010. It’s been of us a Sep separate master of science in health informatics. So it’s one of the longer existing programs in the area. And Kai Kima credited as actually
Janusz Wojtusiak: I believe it’s one of the better ones.
Janusz Wojtusiak: We have a very good curriculum, extremely good faculty.
Janusz Wojtusiak: we have. This is information session about online program. What is really important. And that’s also important from taking accreditation perspective. Is that what we teach you in online classes is pretty much identical to which we teach on the ground students accreditation requires us the content for the courses to be the same. So
Janusz Wojtusiak: The you know, the format is different. The courses are offered in condensed format. Few other things are different, but the content. What we teach you, what our requirements are essentially the same for all our students doesn’t matter. This is online or actually in person.
Janusz Wojtusiak: And the program can be completed in about 2 years.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Let’s take a look at the curriculum. The idea of the curriculum is that you have to take required courses.
Janusz Wojtusiak: And first, 5 of those courses you’d take
Janusz Wojtusiak: essentially in that order in which they’re listed. Once you are into the program.
Janusz Wojtusiak: our program is part of college of public health, and as such, every student in the college is required to take a course in public health.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Thus you need to take foundations of public health after we should transition to computational tools in health informatics. This is course I created
Janusz Wojtusiak: a while ago and actually revised very recently.
Janusz Wojtusiak: And it has essentially 2 components. It will give you a crash course on python and programming, but will also teach you everything that you know. People who work in it space know and understand. And you need to at least have some ideas about them about those computational tools. So you can have any cool conversations with them. Then you transition to introduction to health informatics, healthcare databases, which is another technical course.
Janusz Wojtusiak: pretty heavy on SQL. Programming and requiring databases. If you you essentially can’t analyze data if you cannot query a database. And this is what they
Janusz Wojtusiak: you know. The course is about data, vocabulary and standards everything about, you know. Icd codes Cpt codes, kicks, codes, umls, different coding systems specifically from the perspective of how data organized.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Then you’ll actually switch to the concentration. But before I talk about the concentration. Let me talk a little bit about the workshop, pre capstone, and capstone at the end.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Capstone at the very end. The idea is that you go somewhere. You work on a project and you report on the results of that project. It’s not exactly like undergrad internship, and if you go somewhere, and you know you do something, and maybe it’s useful. Maybe not. Capstones are project specific. You go there. You
Janusz Wojtusiak: work on a specific project that is agreed between Mason and the organization you go to, and you have to report those results. In order to prepare you for the this
Janusz Wojtusiak: capstone. You need to do a pre capstone and pre capstone. It’s actually when, if you look at the catalog, it’s a 0 credit course. So it seems like there isn’t much there. But there, actually, it’s a lot of content in that course, it’s not educational content, which is why you’re not getting any credit, but the whole idea is to prepare you for that capstone.
Janusz Wojtusiak: So, and it actually starts early. What you’ll see is that the faculty who teaches capstan will reach out to you, most likely in your second semester very early on in the program, and really give you a checklist to what you need to do before you start the capstone. Obviously, you need to find organization in which you do it.
Janusz Wojtusiak: You need to prepare your Cv, you need to go through background checks. You need to go to different types of human subject trainings. You need to sign all the details, agreements, all the other things. There is a long, long list of things that you actually need to do to be able to actually step on the doors of that organization where you do your caps them at the moment when it actually starts. And that process actually takes time, especially finding right place to do your capstone. So we’d like you to start very, very early.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Before that comes what we call the workshop in health informatics and the workshop. It’s something that is brand new. It will be actually offered for the very first time this fall, and the idea is that somewhere from outside, from the industry, somebody comes in to
Janusz Wojtusiak: Mason with a problem to solve.
Janusz Wojtusiak: And that problem to solve is given to all the students who are taking the workshop class at the same time. So everybody in your class will be working on the same problem. So either as a one big team or as a certain competing groups.
Janusz Wojtusiak: And because we have students from different concentrations, we have some students from informatics management concentration. We have some students from data, analytics, concentration. You have different skill sets. And as a team, you really can solve the problem and the faculties role is to provide you mentorships or consulting how to actually solve that problem. But it is the team that will be actually working on it on it and providing the solution to where the problem actually originated.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Hold right?
Janusz Wojtusiak: And then it’s our concentrations. I already mentioned 2 concentrations healthy, healthy informatics, management concentration. It’s about the soft skills it’s about. There is some statistics, and there are some other things. But, more importantly, there are things about project management. There are things about healthcare security policy which mostly hipaa and similar regulations, but it also includes some technical
Janusz Wojtusiak: content. It has legal issues. It has other courses. Some of those courses are actually shared with our Mha student.
Janusz Wojtusiak: So it’s really about
Janusz Wojtusiak: training you to bridge the gap between the technology world and the clinical or healthy world in which you can operate in both and actually have a meaningful conversation on both on both sides.
Janusz Wojtusiak: health data, analytics, concentration. It’s really a data science and health program. It is about
Janusz Wojtusiak: taking data. And it could be Ehr data, clinical data. It could be medical claims, data. It could be registries, data. It could be something else, some health data and being able to process that data and do some modeling either statistical modeling or apply some machine learning tools or apply something more advanced to be able to do something with that data. So that’s essentially data Science in Health program which is embedded in that concentration.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Alright.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Sue.
Janusz Wojtusiak: I it’s been actually a couple of years when when I did it. But I went to my Linkedin account, and I pulled. You know, list of, you know, job titles for graduates from our students. And I ended up with, you know, 100 something different job titles. And the reason is that very few jobs actually say health informatics.
Janusz Wojtusiak: You’ll see everything from people working for it. Vendors consulting companies hospitals, insurance companies, and other places. And so it’s a pre health informatics. A broad area many of you will will be coming from
Janusz Wojtusiak: you know.
Janusz Wojtusiak: health related background. And you know, once you’re a clinician, you’ll always be clinician. But you know, you can learn this technology piece. And we actually have lots of nurses, pharmacists, physicians, and other clinicians that actually go to a program. If your background is in it, you’ll always be, you know, computer scientists or or have it background. But you need to learn that health component as as on top of it. So it’s a broad field. And but once you start looking at descriptions of what
Janusz Wojtusiak: our graduates do, what jobs they do. Not necessarily job titles, you’ll see very good alignment with what we actually teach in the program.
Janusz Wojtusiak: All right.
Janusz Wojtusiak: So process one to take that.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah. So, as I mentioned earlier, I am an admissions advisor here, George Mason, and we work with the graduate students. During the application process.
George Mason Online Admissions: So we will be able to kind of be like your final draft, in a sense. So looking over everything, making sure that nothing is missing and everything is included. So those things that need to be included we do like to see students have their bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. And we do like to see a minimum of a 3 point O Gpa.
George Mason Online Admissions: we will also ask for your transcripts. We do accept unofficial transcripts for a decision. So you can submit your application with unofficial transcripts. So transcripts that are not physically sealed, or may have been sealed, and then have opened those transcripts. Now, which would be then considered unofficial. We do try to request students official transcripts for them as well. We try to do that.
George Mason Online Admissions: We will ask for your resume.
George Mason Online Admissions: We do ask for 2 recommendations as well, and we do have a questionnaire format
George Mason Online Admissions: besides, just the letter traditional letter of recommendation.
George Mason Online Admissions: And then, lastly, we will ask for a statement of per purpose or a personal statement essay, as some call it. The essay is about 750 words about but basically what we’ll ask for and I’ll we will have those exact instructions on the application. But basically asking about career objectives, what you’re looking for in a program and things like that. And as I mentioned. You get in touch with one of our advisors here, and we would be happy to help you throughout the application process.
George Mason Online Admissions: Our fall term starts August 20, sixth which is coming up, and the deadline for applications are due. By August first we work in A on a rolling admissions. Here George Mason. So the sooner that you apply, the sooner you can get a decision prior to that august first deadline.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Let me add a couple of comments here.
George Mason Online Admissions: Sure.
Janusz Wojtusiak: So for letters of recommendations, you know. It’s nice to have at least one academic one, you know. Some of you may be out of school for quite a while, and it’s just not feasible to get them. Then to professional recommendations are fine. It’s not fine to get recommendation for your mom. And actually
Janusz Wojtusiak: so you know it. This should be academic or professional recommendations for the statement of purpose. We actually read them.
Janusz Wojtusiak: you know in the Admissions Committee, and this is the place where you really try to convince the committee. That is the right program for you. So take it seriously. Don’t use Chub Gpt to completely generate the thing if they check it for you, you know. But you know it’s it’s it’s try to actually write it. And what do you really think? And why you want to do the program? And that’s actually especially important for people who are coming with completely different backgrounds. We really need to understand that you know
Janusz Wojtusiak: what you’re getting yourself into. You understand what health informatics is, and you know how you how you see yourself in in that field.
Janusz Wojtusiak: and the that that goal statement is the place where you can actually explain it. And you know, we we spent, you know, quite often it is, you know, what’s actually written in that goal statement really makes the decision on who’s actually admitted to the program, and who’s not
Janusz Wojtusiak: awesome.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alrighty, and then we’ll do some questions. So I know there was already couple of questions coming in, but everyone please go ahead and utilize the chat for any questions that you have so.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Hey? So we have couple of questions. First is, you know, somebody from with Mph. Degree can, if you transfer to be transferred like foundations of public health. The short answers is most likely. Yes.
Janusz Wojtusiak: I believe the rule is that it would give to be Mph. From sip accredited program. So not all Mph programs are self accredited. If this is a safe accredited program, we can definitely transfer in
Janusz Wojtusiak: actually wave the foundations course, if it’s not set accredited program. We’ll actually need to check with our Dean for academic affairs. So I believe Purdue is actually self accredited. So it should be actually fine. So what we’ll, what we’ll most likely do is we’ll just wave gchon from your requirements.
Janusz Wojtusiak: So yeah, that won’t be a problem.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, 12 credits are allowed. To transfer in.
Janusz Wojtusiak: So, for you know the 2 courses you if you look at the list of courses you know that I talked about before 2 of the 2 first of the courses are, you know, what we call potentially waiveable courses. And the first one is actually gch 500. The foundations of public health, and for somebody who comes with background in public health.
Janusz Wojtusiak: But you know, because we are College of Public Health, there is this requirement of self accreditation? For you know, if if we transfer in that course or waived, of course, and the second is computational tools in hoping formatics. Hub. 6, 18. That also can be waived. For students who come with strong technical background. Usually that means that somebody, you know, has a degree in computer science or degree in it.
Janusz Wojtusiak: You know, we once in a while, you know, we have somebody who, you know, had
Janusz Wojtusiak: took a course, on coursera, on, you know, python programming. That’s not enough. We actually ask you. And you know, we actually have, you know,
Janusz Wojtusiak: uncertain to becoming somebody with with, you know, medical degree. The
Janusz Wojtusiak: you know we would do the medical degree with, you know, other non. It related degree. We have something which is called a bridge course, and that bridge course, it’s free online set
Janusz Wojtusiak: collection of
Janusz Wojtusiak: resources that we very strongly recommend. You actually go through in order to prepare you for the classes.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Right? So once you end up in Hub 6, 18. Technically, the way the course is built, we start from 0, and we teach you. You know how to write color world program in Python. And you know it’s it’s it’s it assumes 0 knowledge. However, if you really
Janusz Wojtusiak: have not seen programming before. You may get lost in week, 2 or 3,
Janusz Wojtusiak: because the phone will actually go very fast through that content. So we very highly recommend that you actually complete the bridge course. And what that will do is essentially, you know, point you out to some online courses resources. So you at least see python before
Janusz Wojtusiak: the same with SQL. And databases. So you know, you see SQL. Before, because that really will make your life easier once you get to. You know the database course in your second semester hubs 6 71 because the faculty goes actually,
Janusz Wojtusiak: you know, goes very fast. The bridge course is available pretty much the moment you’re actually admitted and activate your Mason email. So it is built in our learning management system. So we actually, there is physically no way to grant access before you have your Mason login so once you’re admitted to the program. And you know, you get your, you activate your Mason email. We can immediately grant you access today to the to the bridge course.
Janusz Wojtusiak: You know, if you want. If you’d like to start doing something a little before then you send me an email, and you know what what we can do is, you know, I can point you to a couple of courses, you know, like, you know, before you do the bridge. Course, you know. Do this thinking, of course, error right, or do something else. And you know this way, you know, you can start pretty much immediate to looking up some of those resources.
Janusz Wojtusiak: and you know that that will just make your life easier. And again they’re not per say required. But we know that students who did not complete the bridge course can get lost very quickly in the in the course of work. That will be very fast.
Janusz Wojtusiak: For foreign Broadway. Do you wanna answer that? Or should I talk?
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah. Yeah. So for requirements for foreign graduates. We do have international requirements. So depending on where? Your degree was from depending the country. We may need a language proficiency exam. We do accept duolingo ielts and then, we would need your transcripts to be evaluated usually by a nasis
George Mason Online Admissions: member. But or we do kind of see a lot of students using Wes, which is a world education service. Where they will get their transcripts evaluated. So those are really the only requirements. That are needed.
Abdul: There are Yanush, and there are more questions from students in Qa and a sections.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Dinner.
Janusz Wojtusiak: hey?
George Mason Online Admissions: Let’s look at that.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Okay, what are the prerequisites? Do I have? Though I don’t have background in it. The answer is, no, you don’t need background in it. But we’ll ask you to the bridge. Course. It it’s it is. It is actually good idea
Janusz Wojtusiak: to, you know. Start looking on your own literally go to. You know there is for several Linkedin learning, you know, Edx, you know, one of those sites, and, you know, just start learning python and start learning SQL. And to do some refresh on math because those you’ll need those skills.
Janusz Wojtusiak: It’s it’s you know, so there’s no formal requirement. But you know we’d like to see something.
Janusz Wojtusiak: And then in your goal statement, you’ll just write that, you know you completed, you know that course somewhere free course. And you know that gives, you know, the committee more arguments to you know. Say that. You’re taking this thing actually, seriously. And you know, you started actually learning before you get admitted to the program to catch up with those things. So no, no hard prequisites. But you know we’d like to see those things.
George Mason Online Admissions: Just just to add on that really quickly there is actually a requirement on the application for an experience statement. In that section you would be able to write what previous?
George Mason Online Admissions: You know, history you have in in it, or
George Mason Online Admissions: programming languages.
Janusz Wojtusiak: If you don’t have
Janusz Wojtusiak: 3 point O. Gpa, well, you can apply. We can’t guarantee that you’ll get admitted. You know it. It really depends on many things. You know, if it’s slightly below 3 it’s
Janusz Wojtusiak: probably possible.
Janusz Wojtusiak: And what usually happens is that we’ll need to, you know. Write some special justifications. And you know, there, there’s some per paper paperwork that the Admissions Committee need to do. But that also means that that application need to be like super, strong on everything else, and by super strong mean, you know, show us much of that extra experience and other things from before. So you know, or or maybe you know, that 3 point O Gpa, it’s many, many years old, and you know somebody had to no longer
Janusz Wojtusiak: in in in health. It so it’s it’s not impossible, right? It’s just something that you know. The application would need to be very strong on pretty much everything else.
Janusz Wojtusiak: And
Janusz Wojtusiak: okay, our class is flexible in our lectures and assignments due during a specific time.
Janusz Wojtusiak: to answer that. In short, you do it in a weekly modules.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Every instructor. It’s slightly different. And you know we try to structure all the courses in a way that you have a weekly block, and pretty much, you know. If you want to do it on on the weekend, you know it’s your weekend. If you want to do it on on Wednesday evening. It’s Wednesday evening, and so on. So usually you’re supposed to respond those weekly blocks, and if I go to would expect at the end of the week, you know, completed assignment. So that gives you some flexibility.
Janusz Wojtusiak: What we typically do, especially for technical courses. I personally believe that for teaching technical stuff, the face to face time, it’s actually with the instructor. It’s really important. So for most of the courses there there.
Janusz Wojtusiak: We call them office hours, but they’re essentially voluntary meetings in which faculty will be available to answer your questions. We don’t exactly use it to teach or to lecture. Because you know all the lectures and all the content is actually recorded. But it’s actually good time in which faculty can provide you provide you feedback to what you’re doing. And quite often, you know, when I work to students on those office hours, you know, somebody will connect, you know, share their screen.
Janusz Wojtusiak: And hey, this is the problem. This is the place where actually, I’m stuck coding some stuff. And we can go through the code. We can go through lots of other things, and so on. So there are. There is some synchronous time. It’s not required synchronous time, but you know it’s it’s it’s highly recommended for students, because it just makes the life easier. Everything else will be due in weekly blocks, with usually a big deliverable at the end of the semester almost every class will have semester long
Janusz Wojtusiak: project, and that semester long project is to deliver in the last week of classes.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Most courses will also have a final exam and some other things, and they have to be taken within some specific time period.
Abdul: Th. There is one more question regarding I I it’s iel ts, the person is asking, does it need to be resend one? Because I think there is a 2 year limit on, ie. Lts.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, I believe it needs to be recent. I can see.
George Mason Online Admissions: Can’t be more than 2 years old.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, so Camp, more than 2 years old.
George Mason Online Admissions: and that goes for all language proficiency. Exam. So toe full Duolingo ieltts, I, Ela peers and academic tests
George Mason Online Admissions: no more than 2 years old.
Abdul: Did. There’s a follow up question students asking regarding experience statement. Because you, we already mentioned from panelists that then statement could be any experience in it. Background. Follow up question.
Abdul: Oh, never mind, it’s us answering. Nope.
Abdul: my button.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Ye okay? So can I. Co access courses everywhere. If I go overseas? This short answer is, yes, I mean, if you go to Iran, Cuba or North Korea. You may have problems to access university computers. But everywhere else it actually does work. And to know, we have actually students from overseas, taking classes.
George Mason Online Admissions: Any other questions.
George Mason Online Admissions: All good questions today. In this QR code, you can scan to apply for our upcoming fall term. We do have a spring term open as well, but falls our next upcoming term. You can reach out to us
George Mason Online Admissions: at online, 2@gmu.edu, I’m going to put my personal contact information in the chat. If you guys have any questions about the application process, please feel free to email me anytime.
George Mason Online Admissions: I’m here to help.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alrighty. I think that
George Mason Online Admissions: that’s it. On the questions.
George Mason Online Admissions: Well, thank you. Everyone for joining today. Thank you. Dr. Voite to shack and professor. Thank you. The second voic to shack for joining in today we do appreciate your time and thank you everyone for coming in and asking great questions today.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Thank you.
Abdul: Thanks.
Abdul: Yeah.
Janusz Wojtusiak: There was actually one
Janusz Wojtusiak: other quick question to you.
Janusz Wojtusiak: It just showed up in the last mode.
George Mason Online Admissions: You don’t need both recommendation letter or questionnaire. So questionnaire on the application. You will only need to put down your recommendations email, address and name.
George Mason Online Admissions: Once you save that section, it will automatically send out an email from George Mason with a link to a questionnaire questionnaire is about 5 questions really should only take them 1015 min to complete
George Mason Online Admissions: once they complete that, it’s automatically marked as received under application. But if they would like to include a letter of recommendation. They absolutely can. But it’s not required to have both.
George Mason Online Admissions: Great question.
Janusz Wojtusiak: Alright. I see no more questions.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: like awesome
George Mason Online Admissions: grief.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alrighty. Well, thank you guys again for joining I think the recording will be available.
George Mason Online Admissions: Within the week. I think Sarah will probably set that up.
George Mason Online Admissions: Get me.
MS in Learning Design and Technology Transcript
Doug Wilson, PhD: This is a testimonial about the program from one of our students, and so give this a read.
Doug Wilson, PhD: This is from someone who took their last course.
Doug Wilson, PhD: and then they were asked to contribute
Doug Wilson, PhD: a comment
Doug Wilson, PhD: about their experience in the program.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And so I think the last line of this quote.
Doug Wilson, PhD: is probably the part of it that jumps at me. Maybe another part jumps out at you. But
Doug Wilson, PhD: the person the student is very appreciative to the faculty
Doug Wilson, PhD: and for the things that
Doug Wilson, PhD: they’ve learned in the program. And to me.
Doug Wilson, PhD: in addition to this, being a life changing experience which you see listed in the quote to me this suggests that this person is preparing to leave us ready to take action and participate
Doug Wilson, PhD: in not only an employment, but also in solving some of the world’s big problems, and everybody on the call knows
Doug Wilson, PhD: the world has no shortage of big problems and instructional design and learning
Doug Wilson, PhD: designing technology.
Doug Wilson, PhD: As you study it at George Mason University positions, you to.
Doug Wilson, PhD: you know, be at the table
Doug Wilson, PhD: looking at some of the
Doug Wilson, PhD: communities, your local communities, or nationally, or even globally, some of the the world’s biggest problems. And I’m happy to take questions about that. Once we get through
Doug Wilson, PhD: the presentation, there’s plenty of examples about it.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And so now is the time for us to
Doug Wilson, PhD: talk a little bit about ourselves. And so I want to turn this back to Dr. Deba
Doug Wilson, PhD: to share a little bit more about her background. And then I’ll talk briefly about my background. And then we have 2 other faculty members
Doug Wilson, PhD: who are here with us tonight and they’re gonna share a little bit about their work and what their vision is for students and for the program. So Dr. Deba.
Nada Dabbagh: Yeah, and
Nada Dabbagh: can we stop the
Nada Dabbagh: is it gonna text? Everything that I say, I guess? Okay. So I’ll be brief, because, like, we have a great team for you here. Great team of faculty for the masters of science in learning, design and technology, and myself and Dr. Wilson, Dr. Giacomo, and Dr. Fake, who are. We’re all I’ve been at Mason longest, I think, 25 years in counting. This is actually my 26th year and
Nada Dabbagh: I graduated with my Phd. From Penn State, as I mentioned it, was called Instructional systems design and I like to teach courses on how to design meaningful learning interactions. I’ve written books on online learning, meaningful online learning. And lately, with my colleague, Dr. Holly, Fake, who’s actually a graduate of our doctoral program as well. We’ve just written a book on designing personalized learning experiences.
Nada Dabbagh: So I really love our field and my, my area of expertise was in in online learning for a long time and also in problem solving and how to design training that is for higher order thinking skills and
Nada Dabbagh: problem based learning approaches. And lately I’ve shifted into mostly personalized learning, experiences. And just for that comment that Dr. Wilson shared about the testimonial that he that last sentence that he mentioned, I want to say that the program is
Nada Dabbagh: you don’t have it. No exams, no theses.
Nada Dabbagh: no quizzes
Nada Dabbagh: formal quizzes. No, no exams. Every course that you take in this program
Nada Dabbagh: has a design component. It’s all about design. So our field is instructional design or learning design. So you become designers. It’s all about design and every course that you take you design
Nada Dabbagh: something, a product, a training product, a training video. You use the principles of instructional design. So there are no mid terms, no finals, no thesis. We build in projects and design components in every one of our courses. And Dr. Fake will talk about the user experience design courses. Later in the
Nada Dabbagh: you know in in the presentation. Thank you.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So I’m Doug Wilson, Dr. Doug Wilson, and I’m in entering my 4th year at George Mason University. And this is actually my second career or 3rd career, I’ve had a couple of different careers.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And so I came to instructional design as a faculty member at a community college
Doug Wilson, PhD: and saw that we had problems graduating students. And so I wondered, how was I gonna fix a problem of a 50% graduate with my student population disadvantaged students at the time.
Doug Wilson, PhD: and I discovered that there was a whole body of knowledge available to me
Doug Wilson, PhD: that brought
Doug Wilson, PhD: strategies to the classroom that allowed me to bring strategies to the classroom, to move students forward when nothing else seemed to work.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And so, in one of my 1st projects as a teacher. We implemented some technology.
Doug Wilson, PhD: wrote up a design plan, and we instantly went, not instantly. But I would say, after about 16 weeks we went from what had been a 50% pass rate to an 85%
Doug Wilson, PhD: pass rate based on the kind of things that you’re going to be learning about in this program, instructional design and technology. So I got turned on by that
Doug Wilson, PhD: and decided I was gonna go back to school late in life and earn a doctorate because I wanted to do a deep dive on all of the things that we now talk about in this program.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And I think if if anything, I actually became a good student later in life I wasn’t always a great student, and in one of my prior careers I was a television news reporter, and so traveled all over the world all the continents
Doug Wilson, PhD: and
Doug Wilson, PhD: doing that
Doug Wilson, PhD: really allowed me to like open my head literally. And and so if you wanna have
Doug Wilson, PhD: someone who’s been out there
Doug Wilson, PhD: and done these things and has a lot of experience in the world, you know, Dr. Diva and I have those experiences, and I think that would be a great reason for you
Doug Wilson, PhD: to come to our program. A lot of what we do is coaching.
Doug Wilson, PhD: You do the heavy lifting of the reading and the the the research. And then, as Dr. The boss said, making these projects. And and we’re a project based, or inquiry based
Doug Wilson, PhD: shop. And what this means is, when you leave us, you have a you have a portfolio of things that you can show an employer, and it’s informed not only by our skill and our research abilities as social scientists, as instructional designers, but also by life experiences that allow us to, you know, give you what you need
Doug Wilson, PhD: when you need it, independent of the reading and the papers that you are going to write, which is also a heavy lift.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So I want to move on
Doug Wilson, PhD: and introduce our other faculty members
Doug Wilson, PhD: and Dr. Lisa Giacomo.
Doug Wilson, PhD: our newest faculty member, Lisa.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Hi, everyone! It’s great to be here tonight. Thanks so much. I’m super excited about joining up with George Mason University this fall. I have 10 years, 9 years of experience teaching 100 online in learning design and technology organizational performance and workplace learning focus.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I am a tenure track professor. I’m coming in as an at the associate rank.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I have experience working in
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): organizations, including for profits, nonprofits, higher education, Government Military Department of Defense.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): both in the Us. And abroad. I started teaching about 30 years ago. In at age 16, and aquatics which eventually led to community education and health and safety.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And then I did some K 12 enrichment programs and urban after school programs for adolescent interventions. And as well as I did a stint in a residential psychiatric treatment, disability, actually 2 different ones. So eventually, I found myself teaching foundations of education and surveys special education courses at a local community college, and I love the community college. That’s where I kind of entered into my professional career and higher education.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And I loved it so much that I decided that I wanted to pursue a Phd. And do that forever.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): So I chose to focus on learning and technologies. And for my Phd, my father was in the military, and he brought home our 1st family computer.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): in the 19 eighties, and I was fascinated. We were the 1st ones on our street with one of these things. And we only had it because he was in the military. And that’s how things went. I figured out how to program it and use my modem to call my grandparents, because at that time you weren’t allowed to call people long distance at least, not in my house. I don’t know about yours.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I realized at age 9 that that machine could open a lot of doors for me.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And my mother was a high school biology teacher. So my family was always focused on learning and teaching
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): and so I followed those interest into graduate school, and eventually found myself learning how to code web pages, what? Who to thunk right? And then use them in teaching and learning. So when I got to Arizona State University for my Phd. Started a graduate assistantship
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): teaching pre-service teachers who would eventually be practicing in Pre K, through 12 classrooms, integrating technology and teaching and learning. But I also started to research blended learning environments to support adult learners. At the university level.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And so from there I started to learn about applications for educational technology and instructional design and business settings right at the global level.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Not just in the United States. And I got really excited about that and took some called on some consulting contracts.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): For some large international global organizations as well as some local community colleges and some local startups.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I had studied economics
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): in developing countries and culture and a few different languages and undergrads. So I went to build on that and work internationally, and all that led to a full time position as an instructional designer in a multinational corporate setting
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): which then, of course, led me into working for an international Ngo as a performance improvement practitioner, human resource. Our human sorry, Hrd. Human resource, development practitioner and instructional designer.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And so it was while I was working for actually, I’m Gb. And living in the Uk that I finally found my y and what I wanna give to the to the world? For the rest of my career.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And I was working to support, to end poverty and support women and deliver sanitation and clean drinking water to survivors of disasters as an embedded instructional designer in their supply and logistics. Department.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And I saw them. I saw all of us making a few rookie mistakes. So I went into literature to see what I could find as a practitioner, instructional designer, and there wasn’t much.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And so all of that led me into really focusing my research and teaching agenda
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): on how to figure out to both do instructional design across culturally and in support of communities that have been historically marginalized and secure, discriminated against as well as to figure out how to help
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): other people who are entering into the position, into the profession and upscaling into leadership positions that wanted to work
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): to support diverse learners, inside of a more culturally relevant, equitable, inclusive, and socially just way
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): and so since then I’ve been collaborating across the globe, including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America, as well as North America, obviously. And I’ve traveled extensively through each of these areas as well. I’ve lived in some places abroad, too.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): So
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And then, I guess most recently, I started working for the Department of Defense in the Us. Armed Forces.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): and that was a couple of summers ago I went to Patrick Sports Space Force base in Florida and lived on on base with the the military my military counterparts for a summer, and learned how they’re doing their work in that organization. And so I bring all of that perspective. That’s where where I’m coming from when I teach, when I research, when I help people to get prepared for their next
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): their next level, dream jobs as well as setting their focuses on where they want their careers to go.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Thank you so much.
Nada Dabbagh: Wonderful, and she just published a book that’s titled. What’s the title of your book?
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Instructional design for organizational performance. It’ll be available July 24th on the market.
Nada Dabbagh: Wonderful.
Nada Dabbagh: All right.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Thank you.
Nada Dabbagh: Thanks, Lisa.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Thank you. Dr. Chiakumo, and you see her QR. Code on the screen, there’s gonna be a couple of more QR codes. So if you have your phone handy in your scanner
Doug Wilson, PhD: you might wanna snap
Doug Wilson, PhD: a picture. So let’s
Doug Wilson, PhD: move along here to
Doug Wilson, PhD: Dr. Helen. Fake.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Hi! Fake. Thanks.
Helen Fake: My name is Dr. Helen Fake. I’m an adjunct professor here at George Mason University. I actually started my career as an emergency medical technician and ambulance driver, and while I loved responding to people, lights and sirens, what I really loved and learned to love was that since this was a high reliability, organization, life and limb were on the line. They were constantly reskilling and retooling us.
Helen Fake: And it made me fascinated in designing training development programs and how to create engaging workforce
Helen Fake: programs which I’ve proceeded to do at a variety of organizations to include the Center for Medicare and Medicaid. Most recently the Motley fool multiple government contracting companies, nonprofits and corporations.
Helen Fake: When I was at the International Trade Administration, one of the things we were doing was building these amazing training assets, and what we found was, even though we were building these with the most cutting edge. Cognitive principles. No, no one could find them. So we have all these great library resources, and no one was accessing them. So it made me wanna fix this and focus on learning experience design which took me to this very program
Helen Fake: I currently serve as the Ux lead on a Medicare Medicaid contract addressing the issue of medical care deserts by creating user friendly platforms.
Helen Fake: That Leverage Cloud based AI and human centered design solutions to support the 65 million Americans enrolled in Medicare. Today.
Helen Fake: I’m also, as I mentioned before, a proud graduate of this program Dr. Dubai is a dear mentor to me, and I maintain close collaborations. As she mentioned, we’ve written a book together, and I’m conducting research on implementing workforce training development programs, reskilling and retooling in the workforce
Helen Fake: in times of these continuous changes and developing personalized learning programs. So we’re even piloting some of these advances, these theoretical principles in a corporate context currently and and doing more research to understand. If our theoretical principles are actually existing in the world, and and how we might further enhance their growth.
Helen Fake: We’ve also started exploring how Chach can support learning, design, using theories of affordances which is really exciting cutting edge work.
Helen Fake: I think you’ve heard a little bit from other people. But what I love about George Mason is the pragmatic lens inherent in the curriculum design. Drudoia was talking about project based learning. Doug was talking about the wonderful
Helen Fake: impacts that we have. Everything in this program is grounded in authentic challenges and research that drives outcomes our project, based curriculum, encourages you to tackle complex spaces with tangible work projects that you can point to as mastery in your domain. You’re gonna get your hands dirty. You’re gonna have the toolkit to design technical solutions that amplify your skill sets and have a real wide impact.
Helen Fake: And whether you’re looking to become more impactful in your existing role, you’re pursuing a career change or you’re looking to take in a promotion. I’ve seen 1st hand, how this program increases. Learn to confidence, to tackle the ambiguous and wicked challenges inherent in our age, the curriculum and the connections you build with your fellow students are, gonna prepare you for whatever comes your way. And I’ve seen our alumni. I mean, that 1st picture was so powerful
Helen Fake: they rise through the ranks. They’ve become chief learning officers and leaders within their training and development departments. I’ve seen them revolutionize existing training programs and find that many students are able to transition their learning from this program to new careers.
Helen Fake: and as a professor, I can say, there’s nothing more rewarding than to see your students presenting their cutting edge work at a conference, finally obtaining that permission or making the career change they’ve been so desperately seeking. So I hope, by the end of this presentation. You’re enticed to take that next step with us and to join this forward thinking community of change makers.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Dr. Fake well, says Dr. Jiakumo, Dr. Deba, very well said. You really get a taste of the different perspectives and personalities in the program which will all be focused on your success.
Nada Dabbagh: We have to mention Carla Carla. So I just sorry before we go to other slides. I want to mention Carla. She’s you can see Carla. A lot of corn.
Nada Dabbagh: and Carla is our administrator. I mean, we can’t do anything without Carla, so Carla helps us with scheduling our courses. She helps us with helps you. If you have questions about graduation, about things that you know your credits. So Carla just is, you know.
Nada Dabbagh: Jack of all trades, and she really supports the faculty and the students in the masters of learning, design and technology. So, Carla, do you wanna say a few words. How long have you been at Mason?
Karla Alarcon: Hello! How are you? I’ve been at Mason for 7 years now.
Nada Dabbagh: Wow!
Karla Alarcon: Yes, and that’s Dr. That I say I’m here for them. I’m here for you, so I’m happy to help with any questions or anything you need.
Nada Dabbagh: Thank you.
Karla Alarcon: Thanks.
Doug Wilson, PhD: You’re awesome, Carla, and Asana said we, we can’t do it without you, so I’m really glad that you’re on the on the call.
Doug Wilson, PhD: and those of you who come to us. We we hope you come to us. You’re gonna
Doug Wilson, PhD: talk to Carla and you. You want her on your side, cause she can make things happen administratively. That only she can do so. Thank you for being here, Carla, and thank you.
Nada Dabbagh: I can’t see anything in the chat again. But please let’s move on because we want to give the participants
Nada Dabbagh: time to ask questions. And there are 19 participants, and we’re already at 7, 38. So if you want to move to the so you know.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Yes, of course.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So dr. Fake really dove in on some of the career opportunities. As did Dr. Giacomo. But some of these probably look very familiar to you.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Instructional design, of course, under that umbrella heading of designers and Developers.
Doug Wilson, PhD: and then consultants, and then managers and
Doug Wilson, PhD: You. You can aspire with your Master’s degree to management
Doug Wilson, PhD: ranks and you know, we talked a little bit about AI, and so we are all all of us infusing that into our courses. Because we think that keeping up with technology is important. But also
Doug Wilson, PhD: it’s lifelong learning
Doug Wilson, PhD: you start this career, maybe at George Mason, or you get your master’s degree or e-learning certificate at Mason. But that’s not the end of the line for you. In order to stay sharp. You must continuously you know. Build on your skill set. So there’s a couple of the job categories that you’ll see on. Indeed.
Doug Wilson, PhD: dot com and other job sites, and I will move along to the next slide.
Nada Dabbagh: What about the one of the curriculum, the one with the curriculum, please?
Nada Dabbagh: Yep.
Doug Wilson, PhD: It’s coming up.
Nada Dabbagh: Oh, okay.
Doug Wilson, PhD: It’s coming up.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Let’s talk about money.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So you’re gonna make a big investment coming to George Mason University. And so you should
Doug Wilson, PhD: be thinking about what your return on that investment is going to be. We actually have a class on the business side of instructional design.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So if you have little experience less than a year. Looking over at the left side of that graph.
Doug Wilson, PhD: 56 k.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Is where you can start with a limited experience.
Doug Wilson, PhD: More toward the the middle
Doug Wilson, PhD: of that line there from 63 k. With one to 4 years to 70 k.
Doug Wilson, PhD: With 5 to 9 years, and then, of course, from 20 plus years at 78 K.
Doug Wilson, PhD: These are, just some numbers to give you an idea of what you can earn in the field with a Master’s degree or e-learning certificate. But a lot of what you earn is, gonna depend on you and what you can do with your design skills and your creativity.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So don’t think of this as like a siloed salary range even with some of the challenges in the tech field
Doug Wilson, PhD: folks with AI skill sets or Scott cyber security skill sets on the design side. I was just looking at the the Association for computing website. There’s people being offered like huge sums of money to do AI work, design work and that sort of thing. So there are some that give you this slide should give you an idea of the earnings potential.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So, as Dr. Debata was saying, we’re getting to the part of the presentation where we’re gonna talk about what it is we actually offer. And then also, we’re gonna take a look in another slide at some of the courses, and we can talk about a little bit.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Excuse me, speak a little bit about some of those courses, but we have an E-learning graduate certificate that’s built into the program. And so
Doug Wilson, PhD: what that means is if you work on an e-learning certificate, which is a 15 graduate credit program. This automatically applies to the master’s program so you could come in.
Doug Wilson, PhD: get your sea legs, so to speak, and then decide. Once you’re you’re with us, that you want to do 15 additional credits, and all of these from the E-learning certificate count toward the Master’s degree.
Doug Wilson, PhD: We have a part like a part of time online format
Doug Wilson, PhD: that’s flexible. So if you’re working, you have a full time job, this can generally fit in. It’s important to understand that you gotta balance your personal life in your work life and your family life with the program, but you can do it and we coach you on that. We help you get through that and find that work, life balance. There’s our ranking at the College of Education 67 out of 456, according to us, news and world report. So George Mason is a known
Doug Wilson, PhD: entity in higher education, in learning, design, and technology.
Doug Wilson, PhD: in educational technology, in instructional design. And, as Dr. Debba said earlier. There’s a very big network of alums out there, especially in the Northern Virginia DC. Area
Doug Wilson, PhD: of folks who came through our program. And so, as a as a graduate. It’s likely, maybe probable even, that if you’re interviewing for a job, that person who’s interviewing for that job is gonna be a graduate of the program, and
Doug Wilson, PhD: you’ve heard the the old adage that it’s not what you know. It’s who, you know. I don’t know if you agree with that or not. But we, the relationships you for jet. George Mason, can allow you to succeed in getting a job or getting a promotion, and then Dr. Deborah is gonna talk a little bit after I get through this slide. Competitive tuition that makes our top rated education
Doug Wilson, PhD: available to more students. We have some incentives. And we’ll get to that in a bit. I want to move along the presentation.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So there’s another one of those QR codes. And I’m gonna just briefly talk about the scholarship opportunities.
Doug Wilson, PhD: We have a lot of awards. At the college competitive scholarships
Doug Wilson, PhD: to qualify students to help defray costs associated with attending George Mason.
Doug Wilson, PhD: we have, announcements about these scholarships and other notifications. That we that we put out. I just sent some of my students a notification about the the deadline for applying for scholarships, and then we also have
Doug Wilson, PhD: college of Education scholarships.
Doug Wilson, PhD: that the office of student and academic affairs has a lot more information on. But again, you can snap that
Doug Wilson, PhD: or scan that QR code.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And then there’s a sample listing of some of the scholarships down below. Under that email address SAAS. SUPR. t@gme.e
Doug Wilson, PhD: do you? The Annandale Women’s Club endowed scholarship.
Doug Wilson, PhD: the student licensure and certification exam fund, the Helen Keller scholarship and more.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And so let’s continue on.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Yeah, and so.
Nada Dabbagh: Curriculum, slide.
Doug Wilson, PhD: This is another scholarship opportunity. You see the
Doug Wilson, PhD: social media connections Nsf, which is a big government program in the Washington DC area. So that is also something that’s available to you.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And then as Dr. Navar saying, we have a flexible and accredited curriculum, and so these are the courses that we offer. The required ones are on the left hand side, and the e-learning certificate courses
Doug Wilson, PhD: are on the right hand side.
Doug Wilson, PhD: and so Neta, anything to add about any of these courses.
Nada Dabbagh: Yeah. So I wanna say here that
Nada Dabbagh: you can see the same courses are actually
Nada Dabbagh: on both
Nada Dabbagh: images, right? And there’s a reason for that. So our masters of science is 30 credits, and it’s designed to be acquired as a on a part time basis, as Dr. Wilson mentioned, because all of you, and most of our students are adult learners who work full time or have families, and therefore we cater for
Nada Dabbagh: you finishing the 30 credits across 2 years, hey? If you want to
Nada Dabbagh: do it faster, we can help you do that if you have time
Nada Dabbagh: to take off, and you know, do full-time study. We can work with you towards that. But the program is designed for people who
Nada Dabbagh: work full time and want to study part time. That is why the program is 100% online. And it is asynchronous. Right? So you work at your own pace
Nada Dabbagh: every one of those courses. We sometimes do have office hours, Zoom Meetings that are synchronous. But
Nada Dabbagh: for the most part
Nada Dabbagh: you’re studying at your own time, and the courses are asynchronous. Also, I want to say that the courses are
Nada Dabbagh: in 8 week modules, and therefore we try to have you be taking one course at a time. Right? So if you start in the fall you will be taking, say, one course from when the semester starts with us. A August 20. Second, let’s say through October something, and then you finish that course, and then you start another course
Nada Dabbagh: October, say 21, st and then you finish that one
Nada Dabbagh: in December. So sometimes you can take
Nada Dabbagh: 2 courses in an 8 week module, but we will become your advisor. You will be assigned an advisor, and you will work with your advisor to take the courses in, you know, whatever flexible kind of
Nada Dabbagh: sequence you you would like. Now you have to remember, this is a graduate course program. It is accredited. So there are certain courses that are prerequisite to other courses. You can’t just willy, nilly, take any course you want anytime you want. So
Nada Dabbagh: if you look on the right side of the slide, you will see, as Dr. Wilson mentioned, some courses are 2 credits like edit 5, 26. That’s the web accessibility and design. Edit. 5, 7, 5. That could be articulate storyline, or
Nada Dabbagh: that could be, it will be captivate. But this is also a 2 credit course, and then you’ve got
Nada Dabbagh: the innovations in E learning, which is 3 credits, the instructional technology foundations and learning theories. 3 credits.
Nada Dabbagh: You will always start with the instructional design course, the edit. 7 0. 5.
Nada Dabbagh: And then you will do the business of learning technologies that Dr. Wilson talked about, and then we have a course.
Nada Dabbagh: a new course called Virtual worlds AR VR etc. And we infuse AI and all of those. So you’ve got nothing to lose. We’re gonna wave the application fee. Just because you are attending this session.
Nada Dabbagh: you will communicate with Pam, our facilitators, our facilitator, for this evening we are waving your application fee. You’ve got nothing to lose. All you do. The application is pretty straightforward. Is you submit a goals statement
Nada Dabbagh: like 750 words like, why do you want to study instructional design or learning design. What kind of experience are you bringing into the program? We value your experience, your life experience, your work, experience. So do you have experience in teaching experience, in training experience using technology. That’s what makes our field and our program and our students so diverse and so varied. So
Nada Dabbagh: you can apply for the e-learning certificate. And as Dr. Wilson mentioned, you can have that certificate within one year, because it’s only 15 credits. But then, if you look on the left side of the screen, pretty much all of the courses that you see on the right side are also listed on the left side right, because you would have completed 15 credits. The 1st thing you do is you
Nada Dabbagh: get your certificate, whether you like it or not, even if you apply for the master’s program, we have sequenced the courses in such a way that along the way, in the 1st year like, say, you start in the fall. So in December of 2025 you will acquire your e-learning certificate, and then you can continue for
Nada Dabbagh: one more semester and a summer or 2 semesters to get your master’s degree. So all of the 15 credits for the e-learning certificate will automatically apply towards the masters of
Nada Dabbagh: science in learning, design, and technology. And again, the courses are in 8 week modules.
Nada Dabbagh: and they are contiguous, not on top of each other. You will work with an advisor. We also offer summer courses. And you, if you don’t want to take courses in the summer, you don’t have to. I mean again, this is a graduate program the courses, you know. We don’t have the bandwidth to offer every course.
Nada Dabbagh: every semester. But you. We work with your advisor to help you complete the master’s degree of 30 credits, you know, in about 2 years
Nada Dabbagh: as well as the e-learning certificate. So really you’ve got nothing to lose. We’ll waive the application fee for you. You will start. You’ll get the certificate, and then you just have to write a goal statement and you have to just have 2 letters of recommendations from, you know, people that you’ve been working with, or your professors from your undergrad, or something like that. So it’s a very easy application process.
Nada Dabbagh: and Dr. Holly fake teaches. Can you go back to the previous slide, please, Doug, I wanna talk about the Ux design courses. You see, the 7 32, 7, 52, that Dr. Holly has been teaching, but Dr. Gia Kuma, who’s joining us in the fall, will be teaching those 2 courses. They are supposed to be taken back to back. But before you get to those courses you will be taking the
Nada Dabbagh: the the basic instructional design course. We also have the perspectives on learning analytics course that you will also be be taking and the innovations in in e-learning. So again, it’s a great program. It’s really sequenced in a way that’s flexible to you, and we’re, you know you’ve got nothing to lose by applying, as Dr. Wilson mentioned. If you only want the certificate
Nada Dabbagh: in the beginning you can apply for the certificate, but I would want to caution you that
Nada Dabbagh: if you only apply for the certificate, and then you decide to
Nada Dabbagh: apply for the master’s program. Right, Carla. Then you would have to pay the application fee
Nada Dabbagh: right? Because.
Karla Alarcon: Yes, if you apply for the certificate first, st and then add the master, you’ll have to apply again.
Nada Dabbagh: Yeah, you’d have to like, apply again. It’s just you know how universities work, because the masters program, the masters program is what is. You know you have, you have to. Yeah.
Nada Dabbagh: So.
Nada Dabbagh: So sorry. Go ahead, Carla.
Karla Alarcon: Once. We add this demand this master as a primary. Then you can add the certificate, but unfortunately doesn’t work the other way.
Nada Dabbagh: The other way. Rob, thank you.
Karla Alarcon: Yep.
Nada Dabbagh: So I advise you to apply for the Master’s degree.
Nada Dabbagh: you know, and then you know that along the way. So because you’re not gonna pay the the application fee, and then along the way you’ll get the the e-learning certificate. And then, if for some reason, you don’t wanna continue with the masters. You can always
Nada Dabbagh: opt out of it. Right? Right? Carla, they can. Yeah.
Karla Alarcon: Once they finish the certificate. Yes, they can either resign from the master, or they need to take time off and they can
Karla Alarcon: reapply in without paying the application again. But time limit of 6 years after that you will have to.
Nada Dabbagh: That’s right. So there’s a time limit. So yeah, there’s flexibility. Alright. So that’s what I wanted to say about the program. So you wanna go back. Finish the slides. Yeah.
12024366116: Somebody.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So we’re at the end of the presentation now, and
Doug Wilson, PhD: it was kind of a big information dump for you. So if you’re a little confused right now.
Doug Wilson, PhD: That’s okay. We have some time for questions. There’s another QR code that’ll take you right to the application.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And there’s a phone number
Doug Wilson, PhD: for folks who can walk you through admissions related topics
Doug Wilson, PhD: logistics about being in an asynchronous 100% online program. You see our
Doug Wilson, PhD: email address there, online, 2@gmu.edu, and then the website address
Doug Wilson, PhD: next to that arrow. And so at this point
Doug Wilson, PhD: again. We’ve shared a lot. It’s your turn to ask questions, and so I am monitoring the chat.
George Mason Online Admissions: I’m definitely happy to read out questions. If that’s helpful as well.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Yes, very much.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah. And just again. Thank you to everyone for attending today. I know we are getting close to calf time. Here. Please do share your questions in the chat. And, as was just mentioned, if you are interested in the program and you’re not sure who your admissions representative is.
George Mason Online Admissions: The telephone number on the screen here, please do reach out. Email address is also there as well, and the chances are, though, if you attended this evening. You will have a receive, a phone call or an email from representative here at Mason to support you with next steps as well. But again, those are the details for you to reach out to
George Mason Online Admissions: so we’ve got a couple of questions in the chat already. Our 1st question comes from Catherine Burke.
George Mason Online Admissions: She is asking. She’s curious what the employment rate for graduation for graduates is, and whether the salary charts that you guys showed earlier is actually up to date, cause it looks a little bit lower than what she’s seen and what she was expecting.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So the salary schedule is the latest information that we have, and, as I mentioned
Doug Wilson, PhD: during the presentation.
Doug Wilson, PhD: what you earn really in many ways depends on what you can negotiate.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And so
Doug Wilson, PhD: that those th the salaries were there, just to give you an idea of what the earning
Doug Wilson, PhD: potential is. And you have probably heard at this point that the tech sector has been under some pressure
Doug Wilson, PhD: post pandemic.
Doug Wilson, PhD: as people try to upskill
Doug Wilson, PhD: with AI, which has kind of taken over
Doug Wilson, PhD: tech sector right now. And so if you don’t have those skills.
Doug Wilson, PhD: then you are probably going to be less likely to to earn the highest salary
Doug Wilson, PhD: or or get that job in a a very competitive tech sector, which is why Dr. Devon, others we’re talking tonight, and I was talking tonight about the the need to constantly
Doug Wilson, PhD: over the course of a career. You know. Keep building your skill set
Doug Wilson, PhD: and and so on the admission side, in terms of the graduates that are out there, Nata, is that a question that you can tackle.
Nada Dabbagh: Yeah, I’m actually looking at the chat. I’m a bit surprised.
Nada Dabbagh: about this agism thing. I don’t. I don’t get it. So if you could let them speak, please, Pam, or and and then I think Holly can address that th. There is an agism problem. What does that mean?
Nada Dabbagh: Ver versus older job. I I don’t understand. So anyway, our program is not a tech industry. I just wanna make that clear, please. You are not coming into this program to be a tech.
Nada Dabbagh: You know, it’s not about technology. I wanna make that really clear this program and always has been from when I went to school. Dr. Giacomo went to school, and Dr. Fake went to school. This is a our industry is not a
Nada Dabbagh: tech industry. We are learning designers, we are instructional designers. We are curriculum designers. We have principles and learning theories in our field that we use to write a design document to make a case to the organization about, why do you need to spend money? And why do we need a budget to conduct training? I have some of my students building a learning ecosystem
Nada Dabbagh: for their organization. You know you learn how to do
Nada Dabbagh: training on demand just when you need it for your employees and a certain a company. Sure, you’re gonna use technology to create
Nada Dabbagh: training videos. But that’s not the focus. I mean, not all training is going to be using a training videos or using articulate storyline. Th, there’s there’s so many different technologies that you could use. Some training is designed through Lms. Some training is designed, you know. Some of it is online, some of it is blended. Some of it is on demand. Some of it is mobile applications.
Nada Dabbagh: Some of it is VR applications, you will learn how to decide which type of learning environment is appropriate for which type of learning outcomes
Nada Dabbagh: and the skills that you want. The employees of a particular company to be able to acquire. Right? So I’m not. I’m not clear about this agism thing. I’m sorry I I don’t get it.
Nada Dabbagh: What? What, what is the issue with agism?
George Mason Online Admissions: So I read that question was actually addressed in the chat already. I actually had a question from another student as well, who, actually working with. They were interested to hear specifically what programs are actually used. Throughout the master. This one. They want to kind of get some insight there. As to what programs you guys use.
Nada Dabbagh: What do you mean? What programs? We only have one program. Ms, in in in learning, design and technology. What do you mean? What program.
George Mason Online Admissions: So in terms of any software that you that they they would expect.
Nada Dabbagh: No, no, no, we’re not about software, you know. We we keep up to date. Doctor Freight can talk about this. We keep, we have. We have a course, edit. 5, 7, 5. That is offered either as learning articulate Storyline sometimes we offer it with adobe captivate, but those things you can learn pretty much on your own.
George Mason Online Admissions: The result.
Nada Dabbagh: Of the program is not. We’re not teaching you software. The the 5 26 is about web accessibility and design. How do you design? You know, training or websites or lms that are accessible to people with hearing difficulties, vision difficulties, etc. So again, this program is not about technology Dr. Fake. Do you wanna say a little bit about that, please?
Helen Fake: Yeah, I just added in the chat. I I understand the concern about ages. And what I would say is that that may be for more technical roles. As an instructional systems designer, you’re gonna be a
Helen Fake: strategist. You’re going to be likely in a consulting role.
Helen Fake: And you’re going to be trying to design for the people process and technologies.
Helen Fake: So what’s really great is that you have these skill sets where a little bit more seasoning is going to really benefit you in that role. And what we wanna do is make sure you have the toolkit to lead the change and to get technologists in the position that they can make the impact that they’re looking to make.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay. We also have a question from the heed. I’m just trying to find it here in the chat.
Nada Dabbagh: Let them talk. I I don’t mind hearing their voices, so if they can unmute and ask the question, instead of putting it in the chat, or.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): May I offer some perspective on that, too? I think that I’ve seen in my experience
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): helping students and working with students over the last decade. Is that there is a place for everyone, and that’s what also I found in my career. So you’re going to find the right spot for you. And I I think it’s it’s reasonable to assume that some people will be looking for a younger person because they have ideas about
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): preconceived notions about what they’re going to do with them. But, on the other hand, I’ve seen a lot of employers want the mature, very experienced.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): very polished
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): employee candidate who’s gaining entrance into our field or upskilling in our field to work in that consultant role. It’s hard to conduct a needs assessment or an evaluation about gaps, performance gaps and organizations and to be able to know how to position solution set
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): proposals. If you don’t have that experience being immersed in organizations in your past.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): So does that make sense like your perspective as a more mature person is going to be super valuable to the right employer, and you’re gonna get picked up immediately
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): into that kind of a position.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So we had, some people join late. And so we’re after the hour here by 4 min. But I’m certainly willing to stay
Doug Wilson, PhD: online here to answer some questions. There are some interesting questions in the chat. There was one about
Doug Wilson, PhD: AI, and whether that’s going to take jobs from instructional designers and Ldt type people. And I I don’t really see it that way.
Doug Wilson, PhD: I think that artificial intelligence is going to become a companion.
Doug Wilson, PhD: You know.
Nada Dabbagh: Exactly.
Doug Wilson, PhD: To the.
Doug Wilson, PhD: to the instructional designer. And and it’s
Doug Wilson, PhD: it’s the human person. When we talk about human centered design that is going to be the difference and understands
Doug Wilson, PhD: how that tool is used in a design context
Doug Wilson, PhD: to support
Doug Wilson, PhD: human design human centered design as practiced by
Doug Wilson, PhD: instructional designers and other humans.
Nada Dabbagh: They. I totally agree with the pros, and I have to go. If you want, if you wanna email me separately to ask specific questions. I’m happy to answer them. I I’ve answered the question in the chat from Vihid about the realistic time commitment, and I think
Nada Dabbagh: we’ve we’ve we’ve addressed the issue of agism. But again, thank you all for your participation. I’m gonna leave you in the hands of my colleagues and Pam, who can answer questions about the applications and looking forward to reviewing your application again, you have nothing to lose. We’re gonna wave the application fees and we’ll we’ll hope to see you in our program by everyone.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, and there’s actually one question from Christine as well. Just wanna make sure before she leaves here percentage of students that come in with a Master’s degree. Already she was interested in how many already come in with that master’s degree.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So most of the students who come in post pandemic with master’s degrees, were working
Doug Wilson, PhD: in
Doug Wilson, PhD: education in secondary schools.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And I I’ve actually seen
Doug Wilson, PhD: a drop off in that again. I won’t
Doug Wilson, PhD: try to give you the numbers on that. I I can look at those numbers. But more people who are coming to us now are either working inside an organization now where they’re practicing instructional design without
Doug Wilson, PhD: having formal training in it, or they’ve taken certificate programs at you to me.
Doug Wilson, PhD: coursera and other online organizations out there. And so
Doug Wilson, PhD: what they’re lacking that’s going to allow them to get ahead
Doug Wilson, PhD: is
Doug Wilson, PhD: not the Master’s degree, but
Doug Wilson, PhD: it’s more of the theoretical frameworks.
Doug Wilson, PhD: The the actual projects that you put together in a team based in environment, as Dr. Giacomo was saying.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And
Doug Wilson, PhD: those are the people that I’m seeing come through the program.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So yeah, some students have master’s degrees, but also we have
Doug Wilson, PhD: students who are veterans who
Doug Wilson, PhD: don’t have a Master’s degree or a bachelor’s degree in our field.
Doug Wilson, PhD: But the military training that they get from the the Us. Government and other governments really allows these students to excel. So
Doug Wilson, PhD: I hope that answers
Doug Wilson, PhD: your question in kind of a broad way, but in terms of the stats on who comes with a Master’s degree, I would have to. I would have to drill down into that and look at that.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): In my experience. about a a 3rd of people who are enrolling into graduate programs in this field already have masters and other areas. Sometimes people are coming in with communications, backgrounds or engineering backgrounds or marketing backgrounds or English backgrounds or teacher preparation backgrounds. Psychology is a common one.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): That’s not to say that you wouldn’t come in with a nursing background. I’ve seen a lot of people do that, or Allied health field. So I think it’s very, very common at the same age when we’re lifelong learners, and we’re transitioning through our lifetimes and through different careers to have multiple master’s degrees.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And it’s okay. If it’s your first, st too.
christine carter: Okay, that. Thank you.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): No, no.
christine carter: I was curious about that. Thank you. Cause I’m I’m toying with
christine carter: die pursuing a doctorate versus another Master’s degree. And so I was kind of curious if other people were coming through this already. Having completed master’s degrees.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Yeah. So I think. To. You know, Christine, I love that question. Should I do a master? Should I do a doctoral? Should it be a Phd. And Edd, you know. And I think that that’s really personal. So if you want to connect on Linkedin and chat about that in your specific situation and your goals like, I’m happy to
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): share my perspective. But I think that those are great questions to ask. Many people like, not just us, but also people in your network, and people with roles that you aspire to.
christine carter: Yeah, thank you. I’ve already been trying to
christine carter: peel apart the differences between the Phd. The Edd. And actually a doctor to speech pathology. So an Slpd degree. But it all comes back to the same thing. I wanna be able to work, teach adults, and you know. And so
christine carter: this kind of ties everything together, and it’s not as big of a time commitment. So so
christine carter: and cost. So there’s obviously time and money.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Yeah, yeah, so I don’t know anything about those other fields. But for our field people are commonly coming through our programs and then getting jobs as ids and trainers.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And then those kinds of roles. You are teaching adults. In organizations. And and I really loved it. I I loved being a trainer, and I love being instructional designer inside of corporate America as well as Ngos and government agencies and the Department of defense. It’s really.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I thought it was awesome. So.
christine carter: I appreciate it. And I actually did take your link. So I’ll connect up with you up on Linkedin, too. So.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Awesome. Thanks.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Yeah.
Helen Fake: My experience has been, too, that people Co, it’s always great to ask an instructional designer like, how did you become? How did you get here. There’s always this amazing story. I mean, like, it’s great to hear your story today. At least I hadn’t heard it yet, so.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Oh, thanks. Yeah. I’ve done all the things
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): like most people in our field.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I don’t. Everyone has a different journey through the heat. I think you’re raising your hand.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Yep.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Pam, can we hear from vihid.
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Please unmute yourself and ask your question. Behave! Go ahead.
George Mason Online Admissions: Looks like you are unmuted, Vihiva, and we can’t hear you. Unfortunately.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): So I noticed, Lori, you asked that question, would a Phd. In another field make it harder to get an entry level job in this field. So I’m not exactly sure what your the context behind your question is like, do you have a Phd.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Are you thinking
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): you might go get one. And then come. So I’ve worked with students. Who are in online 100 online, asynchronous and political science. Okay, so that that makes sense. Yeah. So you have a Phd, so I have had probably 4 or 5, maybe 6 students so far in my last 10 years, who already have Phds in different areas. Criminal justice is one
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): actually in
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): instructional design from an academic perspective. And they wanted to do workplace.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I worked with somebody like that who came back for our Master’s degree cause we’re very applied and we’re we do projects like we were saying in the earlier portion of this program. And so they came back and got applied master’s degrees, cause that was going to help them get entry into the position that they wanted to. So no. A Phd in a different area, that if you possess one, actually, that adds to your portfolio
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): because, what people know about you is that you’re able to analyze data and a pretty sophisticated level, which is something that people in our area do on occasion.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): everybody does something a little bit different. But if you are interested in data analysis, those jobs exist. And so they look at you and they see, oh, you have grit, you have determination. You know how to get things done. You can work independently. You can ask for help when needed. You knew, have learned how to learn.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I want you right? So I have not seen that as a deterrent at all
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): in my experience, I I can’t speak for
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): all of the world but
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): the people I’ve worked with. It’s only been a helper, not a hindrance.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, we’ve got a question here from Vihid in the chat. He asked. Can you please talk about the faculty’s experience level? And will students be exposed to practical learning in the industry from experienced practitioners.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So yeah, we covered some of that. And so I know we had some folks joining.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Oh, 8.
Doug Wilson, PhD: After we had started. But the program is based on inquiry, based learning or problem based
Doug Wilson, PhD: learning or project based learning, which is to say that everything is authentic
Doug Wilson, PhD: learning and applied and practical, which basically means that we ask our students
Doug Wilson, PhD: to come in and define problem statements. Where are the pain points in the context that you wanna work in? Many students bring many students who are working in the industry or or working at a company and have an assigned training duty to make training
Doug Wilson, PhD: bring their problems to us for their organizations, and we help them solve those and write plans and develop tools
Doug Wilson, PhD: and training materials
Doug Wilson, PhD: to solve those problems with evaluation plans and some other pieces. So it’s it’s all applied. It’s very practical, but I think it might have been Lisa or Holly, Dr. Giacomo or Dr. Fake who said it.
Doug Wilson, PhD: It’s all evidence based. So this is not stuff that we’re pulling out of the sky. There’s a a whole, a body of literature to support
Doug Wilson, PhD: design, sish decisions.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And
Doug Wilson, PhD: what we do is coach you through how to marry that evidence
Doug Wilson, PhD: with your idea about how to
Doug Wilson, PhD: solve an instructional problem. Typically. But there’s other problems that our students look at?
Doug Wilson, PhD: Did I answer your question?
Vahid Brignoni: I don’t know if this works. I don’t know if you hear me now.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, you can. You’d.
Vahid Brignoni: Oh, okay, great. Yeah. Well, yeah, I appreciate that that response. That question. I guess my
Vahid Brignoni: my underlying question is, you know the what I learned
Vahid Brignoni: is it gonna be something that immediately, right away, I can be set free into the working public and have the skills and the knowledge. I I apologize. I joined you late. So I I you may have already answered it. But is it something that I’m gonna be equipped right away after taking the courses in the, in, the in, the and the content to be set free and into the wild. Thank you.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Yes.
Doug Wilson, PhD: The short answer to the question
Doug Wilson, PhD: is, yes.
Doug Wilson, PhD: and the reason I can say that is as others have expressed here.
Doug Wilson, PhD: there.
Doug Wilson, PhD: the problems that we ask our students to address. They’re all authentic problems. And another way to say that is
Doug Wilson, PhD: the problems that our students address
Doug Wilson, PhD: come from the real world.
Doug Wilson, PhD: The George Mason values and Mission State. Ask of students and faculty members. As you teach, and as you learn.
Doug Wilson, PhD: one of the things that we expect you to do with all of this is to take action, to use the skill set that you’re developing.
Doug Wilson, PhD: so that when you finish
Doug Wilson, PhD: you’re prepared to lead.
Doug Wilson, PhD: You’re prepared to be that person at the at the table who
Doug Wilson, PhD: knows a lot about
Doug Wilson, PhD: how we can use technology and different
Doug Wilson, PhD: things that we have in our tool kit as instructional designers to solve problems. And you start doing that on day one. So by the time you finish an e-learning certificate, or by the time you finish the master’s program you have a collection
Doug Wilson, PhD: of evidence
Doug Wilson, PhD: of not just some paper you wrote which you’re gonna do in the program. But you have evidence for something you made
Doug Wilson, PhD: or something you designed. That’s evidenced base. And that’s gonna be in whatever organization you work in.
Doug Wilson, PhD: That’s going to be powerful
Doug Wilson, PhD: when you’re the one at the table
Doug Wilson, PhD: directing or trying to encourage leadership within an organization about a direction to head.
Doug Wilson, PhD: You’re gonna be armed and ready
Doug Wilson, PhD: and confident
Doug Wilson, PhD: to do that. So yes.
Doug Wilson, PhD: I gave you the short answer, and the long answer.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alright. Thank you. Dr. Wilson.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, in interest of time, I do see. Quite a few participants have have logged off there, and we’ve got a couple still still staying, and if you did join late as I say, you are more than welcome to reach out to us directly. We will have a recording of the entire evening. This for you to to share with you, so please do reach out to us at 703-48-5006.
George Mason Online Admissions: Telephone number. There’s on the screen. And that’s also the quickest way that you can get in touch with your admissions representative as well. You can also email us with your questions, and of course, visit our website. To learn more about the program. So to to reiterate. If you have more questions, or if you’d like to get recording of tonight’s presentation please do reach out to us.
George Mason Online Admissions: And again, I’m taking this opportunity to thank everyone for joining us this evening. Especially our presenters. Offered a wealth of information about the program and took out times even to be with us as well.
George Mason Online Admissions: So thank you so so much. To everyone. I do believe we were all able to cover those questions in the chat. So thank you to our presenters as well for getting involved there. Really do appreciate it.
George Mason Online Admissions: So it’s our last call for any questions I’m gonna give you go guys like 10 seconds to add anything else. If you have something otherwise we will need to log off for the evening.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alright!
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you so much again. Everyone have a great rest of your night.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Bye, bye, everybody! Thanks for coming.
George Mason Online Admissions: Way.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Hi, thanks!
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Woo! Woo!
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Do we know Katherine Burke! Katherine, how are you doing?
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Can you hear us.
Doug Wilson, PhD: I can hear you, Lisa.
Doug Wilson, PhD: but I don’t think Catherine can hear you.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Yeah, she must be a incoming student.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Here she is!
Catherine Burke: Hi, yeah, yeah, I’m I’m here. I’ve listened to the whole presentation.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Awesome. Katherine, how are you doing tonight?
Catherine Burke: Yeah, could. I’m also like trying to put my toddler to bed at the same time. So a little bit of multitasking.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I hear you. I’ve got a 6 year old.
Catherine Burke: Okay.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Yeah.
Catherine Burke: Yeah. Mine. Is 2.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I remember those days not too long ago.
Catherine Burke: Yeah.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Yeah.
Catherine Burke: So.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): What are you coming from us tonight? Are you in the DC. Metro area? Are you.
Catherine Burke: No, no! I live in New Orleans.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Oh, fun!
Catherine Burke: Yeah, and I, my background’s in graphic design.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Wow!
Catherine Burke: So I’d be coming from more of like, you know, having a visual background. But I’ve always I’ve worked in. I work for the Public library. And I’ve always kind of worked in the educational space. So it seems like, yeah, I I’m really interested in how those worlds kind of overlap and feeling like.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Oh, sorry. Yeah. Go ahead.
Catherine Burke: Oh, just kind of yeah, I don’t have an educational background per se, but like the sort of design background like, How how much do you see, like visual design playing a part in the field?
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Right? Yeah, you would be a hot commodity.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Usually.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): you would be a hot commodity because you could position yourself for the upper level jobs. Honestly, the upper level salary. Most people in our field have a background, obviously into instructional design, right and educational and design and learning design and technology. But not all of us have a background in graphic design. But what people usually get excited over is the look and feel right.
Catherine Burke: Right. And we.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Have we run into like more of a challenge when we’re consulting on the learning design part.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): But you would get top dollar because you’re gonna be able to to integrate these things and make things that are beautiful, but also work.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): So oftentimes, organizations. If they’re gonna cheap out, they’ll either hire somebody that knows a lot about learning design, and they won’t care too much about the visual design, and they’ll pay them a little bit less like th. They’ll be able to create things that are plausible looking, but are very effective working right? Or they’ll cheap out, and they’ll
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): hire graphic designers so, and they’ll build things that are absolutely gorgeous, aesthetically pleasing, stunning to look at.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): but don’t really like do a lot for performance.
Catherine Burke: but there!
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Really care about how things look. So their values are different, right? And there’s positions for everybody. And then there’s another set of orgs that wants somebody who can come in and kind of do from soup to nuts, because they’ve figured out that it’s cheaper to hire one person with this kind of background and skill set that you would have than to hire 3 people. You know what I mean to do the job. And so these are like more boutique
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I would say. They tend to be found in like boutique consulting
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): organizations you could be your own consultant, and a lot of are actually more famous.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Organizational performance and workplace learning, instructional design consultants out there have that kind of a background. You should check out Tim Slade. Do you know Tim Slade.
Catherine Burke: I’ve yeah. I’ve come across him in my research. Yeah.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Right. So he’s an example of the kind of profile that you could have. And you know, once you build up your portfolio and your online presence. And you could do that as a self employed contractor. But you could also be an internal consultant for an organization. And my students that have that graphics background that you’re gonna bring in
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): like, I said. They they land
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): really nice gigs. I actually had one that landed a gig with sephora
Catherine Burke: Oh!
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Because Fora obviously is very interesting.
Catherine Burke: Yeah, I’m aesthetic.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And they also care about performance right?
Catherine Burke: Right.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): They not only want something beautiful, but they want their their employees, and they want their customers to be supremely satisfied with their high end products. Right? So the person that’s gonna hire you the org that’s gonna hire you is gonna be a high end, national or multinational type of a
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): such context, and then.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): We’re going to have that that kind of cash flow to make something that’s beautiful and that works banks. Banks would like.
Catherine Burke: Oh, yeah.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Have that money
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): to hire the High End people.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): So I think. You, you have a little nice little
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): you know, package going for you.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Where did you.
Catherine Burke: Well, that’s yeah. That’s encouraging to hear. Do you find that most people are able to get remote jobs? Or do you usually have to kind of start in a more in person, setting.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Yeah. So that’s a really interesting question. You know, if you asked me that 5 or 10 years ago, I would tell you, you have to start in person, and then, when you get more senior, you can be remote. But I think, since the pandemic especially
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): there is just more remote available for everybody.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And so you know
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): one of the nice things about do you work full time right now?
Catherine Burke: I do. Yeah, I do. I work from home.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Yeah. So one of the nice things about going to grad school and working full time is that along the way? If you choose to go a little slower, you can take on these little side, console consulting projects which are almost
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): 90% of the time
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): remote. And so then you start building your reputation as being able to deliver remote right, and so.
Catherine Burke: So, then.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): You go, and you apply for remote positions, and they say.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Well.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): tell us about a time when you worked virtually right.
Catherine Burke: Yeah.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): You have. You’re like, well, here’s what I made for this person, and here’s what we did here. And here’s how. Here’s how we got that done, and virtually you know what I mean in a virtual team, and you’ll have that in like a degree program as well.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): But you can start
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): if you want to. You can start also while you’re in the
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): the graduate course work. Yeah.
Catherine Burke: Yeah. Yeah. And then, do you all provide like career connections? Do? Do most of your graduates come out with
Catherine Burke: jobs like right off the bat.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): I can answer that, for at the program level, but for me as an individual faculty member, students, that work closely with me like the people I would consider my mentees
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): you know, they tend to get jobs when they want them. So I’m not gonna tell you that like you won’t wake up tomorrow and get a job if you want one.
Catherine Burke: Right, right.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Start putting that out there into the universe.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): If you, after you take a couple of courses, depending on how much time and energy. You have to put on the task during the course right?
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): If you have a lot of energy to put into your work learning and your coursework. You’re going to be ready sooner, and but whenever you are ready like, whether it takes you shorter time or a longer time, I would say that my students will work closely with me. They’re landing jobs in 6 to 12 months.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): and it’s not that it’s 1 job offer. It’s the one they accepted.
Catherine Burke: Bring, my.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Get more than one offer some of them
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): but they will turn it down because it didn’t meet their needs, or they didn’t.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): you know, just didn’t want, didn’t want it.
Catherine Burke: Okay, go there.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): They’re more in the driver’s seat in that.
Catherine Burke: Yeah.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Not like they’re like, oh, it’s been 12 months. I haven’t gotten an offer right. It’s more like that wasn’t a good one. I’ll wait.
Catherine Burke: Right right gotcha.
Doug Wilson, PhD: George Mason has a lot of resources on campus
Doug Wilson, PhD: to support students who are looking for work. There are job fairs, and then we also have the alumni network.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And so there’s there’s a list. Serve
Doug Wilson, PhD: in the program that Dr. Debar runs. And so what happens on that list serve is, and you could sign up for it. Now
Doug Wilson, PhD: jobs come through the list. Serve
Doug Wilson, PhD: that aren’t
Doug Wilson, PhD: always announced.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And so those are alumni in hiring or managerial roles who send that
Doug Wilson, PhD: announcement to us. 1st it gets pushed out to the network.
Doug Wilson, PhD: and then I’ve seen students get jobs
Doug Wilson, PhD: that way. And so, of course, talking to your faculty member like like Dr. Jiakumo and others
Doug Wilson, PhD: who know people in the business who are looking for good people.
Doug Wilson, PhD: That’s gonna be very helpful to you.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And then just on your graphic design background.
Doug Wilson, PhD: a lot of the work that I’m doing these days. I didn’t get to talk about it during the presentation, but I’m working in the
Doug Wilson, PhD: extended reality domain. And it’s all visual. It’s not
Doug Wilson, PhD: solely visual.
Doug Wilson, PhD: but the bulk of it is visual, and one of the challenges there. And this might be something that you could look into is, you know how those environments
Doug Wilson, PhD: going to be accessible.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And so that’s 1 of the challenges that folks are looking at right now. So I think, as Lisa said, you’re well positioned
Doug Wilson, PhD: with your visualization skills.
Doug Wilson, PhD: The idea
Doug Wilson, PhD: and represent it on paper or using some kind of technology. I I mean, I have students in my course. Who
Doug Wilson, PhD: they’ll do storyboards, basically
Doug Wilson, PhD: as pen and paper, and take a picture of it
Doug Wilson, PhD: representing
Doug Wilson, PhD: and evidence-based
Doug Wilson, PhD: idea, low fidelity prototype. And so
Doug Wilson, PhD: there’s room for graphic designers, and then
Doug Wilson, PhD: folks who don’t have your skill set.
Doug Wilson, PhD: But yeah, you’re well. You would be well positioned in the business.
Catherine Burke: that’s great to hear. Thank you.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Of course.
Catherine Burke: Alright. Well, yeah, thank you both for kind of hanging back.
Catherine Burke: I appreciate your your time and your your advice and wisdom on this on the matter so.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Absolutely. And hey, if you have any other questions like, please reach out.
Catherine Burke: Okay, great. And I just connected or tried tried to connect with you on Linkedin. So you’ll have a request for me in there.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Awesome.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Very good.
Catherine Burke: Alright!
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Wow!
Catherine Burke: Yeah, I’m I’m I’m really planning on it. So it’s the August 1st is the deadline. And then when does the class? When does the semester begin? Actually.
Doug Wilson, PhD: So.
Doug Wilson, PhD: so I think. Don’t quote me on this. I’d have to look at the schedule, but it’s generally toward the end of August. Say, like.
Catherine Burke: Okay.
Doug Wilson, PhD: 23rd it changes. That’s toward the end of August.
Catherine Burke: Okay.
Doug Wilson, PhD: And so.
Doug Wilson, PhD: yeah.
Catherine Burke: Okay.
Catherine Burke: great, thank you. I’m to get back to bedtime. But I appreciate this little bit of extra personal attention.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Yeah, of course.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Cool man.
Catherine Burke: Yeah. Okay, bye.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Aye.
Doug Wilson, PhD: why.
Catherine Burke: Thank you. Okay, have a good night.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): And to, yeah.
Doug Wilson, PhD: Well.
Catherine Burke: Bye.
Lisa Giacumo (she/her): Bye.
Master of Science in Nursing: Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Transcript
Shanti Chang: As as Susan said, I’m Dr. Shanty Chang and the Msn. Division director and the Mason online program. Program director. If that’s a little confusing. And just to clarify, we do have an Msn traditional
Shanti Chang: program. That has some in seat option. So if you’re like, oh, I didn’t know. That was a thing I wanna talk to Dr. Ching about that. Let me know. But but that’s not what tonight is tonight is specific to our online program. And so for tonight agenda, we’re gonna meet the presenters. We’re gonna talk a little bit more about our program. Including some curriculum things and and things you can look forward to as a graduate of Mason, and then just some admission requirements. I think Susan will be the perfect person
Shanti Chang: to get all the details to you for that, and then we’ll open it up. This is, you know, quite
Shanti Chang: open. I hope I’m I’m a pretty approachable person, I’d like to think, and I if I don’t know the answer I can reach out to people who do know the answer for certain things, so please don’t be shy and and ask your questions, or you know. Make your suggestions, or whatever.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay. So throughout, feel free to post your questions in the chat box, or actually the question box. And then we can address those either throughout or towards the end.
George Mason Online Admissions: And yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: again, my name is Susan. I’m here as an admissions representative on behalf of George Mason, and joined by the program director, Dr. Shanty Chang, who is going to tell you all about the online Msnf piece. So take it away.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, thank you. I am a family nurse practitionering myself and a George Mason alone. I did the Bsn to Dmp. Program here at Mason, and then I’ve been teaching
Shanti Chang: full time for the past 7 years at Mason. But I’m an associate professor, and yeah, I love it. I’m so glad you guys are here. This is a great place, and I’m thoroughly enjoyed reading all of the essays and hearing about all of the passions, and just literally have a smile on my face when I see various things that I think tie in really well with us as a program. So thank you.
Shanti Chang: I’m wanted to brag a little right off the back. Cause why not the Us. News and world report rankings just came out for the year, and we moved up from 49 to Number 10 as a masters program in the nation.
Shanti Chang: are also our Dmp program. If you ever want to talk about that, and are thinking about that, too, again. That’s not tonight. But you can reach out to me, and I can connect you with the right people, or at least answer some preliminary questions. But that program was ranked number 2 in the nation, and actually number one out of public universities in the nation. So public and private, it ranked number 2 combo. But we have amazing financial aid programs and lifetime access to me career services. I will also say, here we’ve got
Shanti Chang: a really active scholarship office in the college that always is looking for nursing applicants. So please, Google, Cphg and use scholarships and keep an eye on things that pop up there for you guys.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, actively practicing faculty with decades of experience and curriculum. Informed by the latest research. We are doing a curriculum update right now to align ourselves with the newest essentials. I think that’ll be happening over the next couple of years. Every single faculty in our program is active in practice as a nurse practitioner. Mostly in settings outside Mason. But then also in our free clinic settings.
Shanti Chang: That we have in Mason that we provide for patients who are medically underserved and and vulnerable, and do not have insurance. So we just went through our reaccreditation from CC. And E. This past year. It was big deal. It happens only once every 10 years and was a lot of work as you can imagine, all those
Shanti Chang: people in here. We’re familiar with Jaco and all those other kind of things. It’s a big deal for us. Right? These accreditation standards, but we waiting for the final word. But the site visitors said, no compliance concerns. They love what we’re doing. Love. The curriculum loved lot of the outcomes. And the math clinics. So our curriculum is really founded on inner professional education. Collaborative core competencies like, I said.
Shanti Chang: that’s, I think, really central, especially to the newest essentials. And we infuse those concepts and others such as
Shanti Chang: policy ethics. You know, advocacy just into a lot of what you’ll get here in the program.
Shanti Chang: So what makes our Msn program unique? I’ve kind of mentioned a little bit about the community focused evidence based curriculum in terms of the map clinics. We do have
Shanti Chang: clinics that are in the community that we go in in in person for. But then also do telehealth. If you’re not local to the area, we do target medically underserved populations. But we have a lot of public and population, health concepts and fuse in each of the courses in the curriculum. We’re actually the only school of nursing under a college of public health in the State. So I think that it’s pretty unique position to be in, and
Shanti Chang: and nursing is certainly at the forefront in our schools, at the forefront. Of that work. The flexible online format does designed to accommodate busy working students. We are very understanding that you guys are juggling a lot in life work. Kids of your family responsibilities. And now, school. So these classes are online.
Shanti Chang: doesn’t mean that it’s out of touch, or that you that it is cold. A lot of the the faculty offer synchronous sessions like, Hey, can people, you know, log on to zoom on Tuesday at 7, you know. And then, if you can’t, then you can’t. When you watch the recording. And you email your teacher and say, Hey, can I talk about XY and Z with you at another point this week. So we also have a pretty
Shanti Chang: prescribe halfway through the courses. It’s super organized. Just so you guys kinda know what you’re gonna take. And when you’re gonna take it so you can plan for life things, or you can plan for a break if you need like, for example, those that are starting classes in fall 2024. You will start clinical in summer. 25 so I’m sorry. Summer 2026. So if you know, like.
Shanti Chang: I I think I’m gonna have a crazy, busy summer that summer, and it’s not the right time for me to start in my clinicals like that’s a conversation we can all have together and and adjust your plan of study. The direct contact with the practicing faculty is again, 100% of us are in practice. And our CC, me, accreditation is
Shanti Chang: definitely the biggest
Shanti Chang: most important thing to us that drives a a lot of those standards and competencies drive what we do to make sure that we’re offering you guys the best program that we can.
George Mason Online Admissions: Dr. Ching, when you mentioned the map clinic. What is that? An acronym for.
Shanti Chang: Oh, yes, it stands for Mason and partners so.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, no. Back to that kind of 1st or second slide with the inner professional and collaborative care model. It’s it started back in 2,013 from the current director, Dr. Becky Center, and any of you that are here that are maybe Mason alum
Shanti Chang: within the last 10 years would be familiar with it, but started as 2 little rooms in the back of Manassas Park Community health center and nurses and nurse register students just used to go there on Tuesdays and say, Okay, if you live in the area and you don’t have insurance, and you need to talk to a medical provider
Shanti Chang: you know. Show up. But then, as you can imagine, it was just a line down the hall around building all the time, and it’s it’s exploded. Since then we’ve now got 10 or 11 clinics. Including our own standalone structure in that location. Yeah, I’m seeing Tatiana here in the chat. That is an amazing clinic at work. There is mit as well. So now every day of the weeks got a little bit different flavor. You know we do chronic disease, Mondays and pediatrics, full physicals and vaccines.
Shanti Chang: scenes and TV test Tuesdays and Wednesdays are our medication assisted treatment for those who are at
Shanti Chang: or in recovery, or seeking to be in recovery from opioid and substance, use disorder so, and like I said, lots of little flavors, lots of little clinics, but at the end of the day I always describe it as a win win, because it’s an opportunity for our students who are in need of real hands on training and real life patient encounters. It’s an opportunity for you guys to get that in partnership with your faculty. And then on the flip side. You’re working with populations that otherwise
Shanti Chang: wouldn’t have that access. And it’s completely free. So you’re keeping that person out of the er you know, for something that they probably don’t need to go to er for and subsequently, then, you know, text dollars and deductibles and all the things, all the systems level things that just kind of go
Shanti Chang: Wonky from there, but inner professional
Shanti Chang: for sure. Because you guys work with social workers, you work with undergrad nursing. You work with students who are getting their doctorates in various fields, like psychology and nursing. Sometimes work with Spanish majors. We’ve got health admin, and policy students on health informatic students. So it’s just a really really cool model. And we work with everyone. I would say, we’re the safety net to the safety net. We work with people
Shanti Chang: to kind of catch them where they’re at in these medically underserved communities that’s targeted on purpose. To
Shanti Chang: get them to a safe and stable place and then lift them to other existing safety net, health, safety net structures like federally qualified health centers or other sliding scale clinics like Anova cares. So it’s it’s yeah. You each will get a chance to do at least telehealth, if not in person, in math clinics. And we could talk a little bit more about that with clinical. If there are more clinical questions, and I’m sure there will be. But this is just the the curriculum
Shanti Chang: kind of at a layout. So
Shanti Chang: you take this.
Shanti Chang: you take these courses kind of in this order, as you see here, and the 1st couple of semesters. It’s just one at a time for 8 weeks. So 1st 8 weeks
Shanti Chang: again using fall as the example fall from August 26th to October 20th would be 6, 65, No. 65, and then from October 23rd to December 18th would be Gch. 500 and so on, and so forth. So, as you can see from some of the titles of this of these courses, we really work to start with
Shanti Chang: a good ethical and theoretical foundation to help give you a solid place to build from. As you scaffold your learning and journey through the program. Gch 500 is actually also taken sometimes with other disciplines. So this is a requirement of the college in public health. So this is where you would be with, you know, nutrition students and social work students, and those help admin and health it people.
Shanti Chang: so it it kind of a a cool, interdisciplinary lens and project work in that course, nursing informatics. We focus on some project management concepts as long as well as nursing informatics, which we all know is just a a huge booming
Shanti Chang: field right now. So yeah, I I think it speaks for itself in its title there, nursing research, and bio stats a little bit more back to some research and bio statistical
Shanti Chang: assignments and objectives. But with the eye of I am a nurse practitioner. If I see an issue in practice, you know, I don’t necessarily need you to do a bunch of math problems, or you know a lot of complicated things. And Spss. But I want you to know how to identify a problem. Go the evidence.
Shanti Chang: rate the evidence, look at an article, and you know, don’t stop at. Oh, well, there was an article written about this. So I’m gonna take it, you know, how do you look at multiple sources of evidence in that field of inquiry and evaluate it and judge that evidence. You know, there’s levels of different studies,
Shanti Chang: and different grades within the levels. So kind of work on that to solve some problems and clinical practice that you can bring to your work as a nurse practitioner after graduation, organization of nursing healthcare delivery systems focus a little bit more on. Just I. I think systems level thinking
Shanti Chang: with
Shanti Chang: health in our nation, which I think a lot of us would agree could be greatly improved upon. And so our our goal is to equip you guys with some of the tools that you can take
Shanti Chang: to graduate and be those leaders and and disruptors, as we call it, and changers for the better. But it starts with also kind of understanding. You know how it all works, and
Shanti Chang: so community oriented primary care, you focus on again, public and population health. But in this time specific to as your role as a nurse, practitioner and practice. And then
Shanti Chang: 6, 43. So then you’ll take
Shanti Chang: little bit aborig. You’ll do the 3 P’s ultimately which are farm cafo, and then physical assessment. So those are 3 separate 3 credit courses where you’ll do just that, and you’ll learn
Shanti Chang: the threeps. And then you move into this through some 7 13 decision making class, which is, I think of it as then, just that kind of final gatekeeper for all of us and for you to make sure. Yes, I’m ready to start clinical and start seeing patients and and doing what I need to do to transition, to practice. And it’s putting a little bit of all the above coursework into it.
Shanti Chang: and then you start your clinicals in semesters in semester 6. This program is 7 semesters. Start your clinicals in semester 6, and you take
Shanti Chang: family practicum. Don’t get confused. It is a little out order, and you don’t have to remember anything that I’m saying. Now you’ve got a student success coach who helps you register for everything. So I hope this is an overwhelming but if taken in order, you actually do. Practicum, that is, 240 h first, st and then in the second and final semester of clinical. You do 2 practicums in the same semester that equals 360 h. So clinical practice total is 600 h. And then you’re doing the didactic
Shanti Chang: hearings with the curriculum and with those clinicals as you finish up so that’s the family primary care classes that you see that accompany the practicum. There’s 1 that’s just called family primary care, and then the family primary care practicum. But they go together.
Shanti Chang: It is flexible in the sense that
Shanti Chang: yes, we have a pathway that in a specific order that we like you guys to take these things. But if you’re like I don’t know lice little crazy. I want part time, you know. I I don’t need to meet that 6. Credit a semester threshold for financial aid. I can take 3 credits a semester. That’s fine. It’s it’s an easy conversation to have with Hayley. The Student Success coach, who will be reaching out to you, I believe, shortly
Shanti Chang: after you start in the program. I think it’s someone from admissions who initially registers you for for your 1st classes. But then from that point on it would be Haley. So anything that you have that comes up that you want to adjust your plan of what you’re taking. And when that’s just a conversation you need to have
Shanti Chang: career outcomes. So I will say, super proud of this board of readiness.
Shanti Chang: If there’s a question I think board readiness wise. I just got the Ancc. Pass rates for 2023 and 97 of 1st time. Test takers passed it
Shanti Chang: from from our school for the family nurse, practitioner, board certification. So that
Shanti Chang: is, I think, a good measure of our program being able to adequately prepare you. We do also infuse other external partners curricular
Shanti Chang: pieces into our stuff like you’ll do a Sarah Michelle review course in your last didactic. And then this week I’m offering like a Barclay and associates. Pre. Diagnostic readiness test for boards for everybody all day, Thursday and Friday, just for them to take for free, just to see how they might be pacing and what areas they might need to study a little bit more.
Shanti Chang: so yeah, I’m seeing Gabby has a question about, is there a prep personnel prepare? Yeah. So Sarah Michelle is one of those kind of
Shanti Chang: very popular prep courses. And and and we purchase that and give it to you guys in your last didactic like when you’re finishing up clinical right before you’re about to graduate. And then also, we’re piloting this summer. These other
Shanti Chang: tests from Berkeley and associates that it’s a 2 and a half hour test. It’s proctored like I’ll be on Zoom, just watching everybody take the test. I’ve opened it up for all day, Thursday and all day Friday for people’s schedules to kind of pop in and out as they can, but but it’s 2 and a half hours, and then it’s 45 min to review what you got wrong. And then areas, it suggests that you focus your learning and studying, and
Shanti Chang: as well as I think just our regular curriculum. Very much so is, you know, the test that you take in the courses. You know. The activities that you’re doing, they will all contribute to your learning as
Shanti Chang: how to function as a nurse practitioner. But then, also, just how to also pass the board. We know that’s step one for for us. So but career outcomes here so absolutely huge demand for nurse practitioners. So so glad that you guys are here again.
Shanti Chang: there is typically a bump in salary once you make the nurse practitioner. Transition, if that’s
Shanti Chang: you know something of interest to you. I will also say there’s besides this list here that you can see these career settings. There’s just so many ways to get creative. As the nurse practitioner, I mean.
Shanti Chang: telehealth is huge. Insurance companies are hiring nurse practitioners like. So I just think this, especially with this degree as a family nurse practitioner from Mason. We just really prepare you to be able to go into almost every any setting that you could want with that said, when it comes to clinical and your training, I do prioritize you getting enough
Shanti Chang: primary care experience, you know, and focusing on preventative and health promotion matters as well as chronic disease management kind of other things like that. So, but it’s it’s it’s a little vague, and that’s on purpose. It’s just so that you guys
Shanti Chang: can make it what you need and want it to be. Maybe I read in some of your essays. Some of you are really passionate in certain areas, you know, nursing, and you already know it. And you want to go that direction. And that’s great. Maybe others are less certain. And they’re like, you know what? I don’t know, what I don’t know. I want to keep an open mind. I want to get a little bit of everything, and that works too. And and I will say you have a clinical faculty member directly assigned to you once you’re in clinical. So it’s not like you’re
Shanti Chang: floating around. We have clinical information sessions, every semester post, the recordings, if you can’t make it. Katie Benitez, little coordinator and me are always available for questions and working things out. But
Shanti Chang: yeah, once you’re in clinical, you’ll be in groups of like 5 to 6 students per faculty. I I text with my group like on a weekly basis, just anything that comes up. Hey? You doing? Okay, you know. Or hey? My preceptor saw blah blah blah today. What do you think of this? So it’s
Shanti Chang: I know it sounds like, it’s like a big program. And you’re online. And that could be a little scary, because it does require some some organization from yourself to stay on task. But it’s not like, we’re just like, okay, release you into the wild. You’re free. Figure it out like we have a lot of support for you throughout.
Shanti Chang: So went on a little tangent there for career outcomes. But it’s the world is your oyster. As far as career careers go.
George Mason Online Admissions: That’s awesome.
George Mason Online Admissions: Let’s see, Gabby’s asking.
Shanti Chang: Yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, what support, staff!
Shanti Chang: Yeah. So, Gabby, if it’s like content in a course. The faculty who teach these courses are very knowledgeable, very engaged, very open minded to have extra
Shanti Chang: sessions, or send you extra resources, or whatever during the course, if that’s something that you need.
Shanti Chang: And if it’s like a combination of things like, maybe
Shanti Chang: it’s some of the course. Work is hard. But also you’ve got a lot of life going on that’s competing with your ability to prioritize school, and you need to talk that out. And what does that look like? We do offer incomplete options for grades. So like that means if you started the class, and you can’t finish it. Then you have 10 weeks into the next semester to finish up what you need.
Shanti Chang: Before we give you your final grade for that. So there’s always flexibility here.
Shanti Chang: You have Hayley Lee, who is student success coach and we have her student success coach director. I meet with Read and Haley and Katie the clinical team, and Vicky Huff is another name. You’ll see Pop up a lot. She’s our admin person in school of nursing. We meet literally every other week, and we just talk through student situations and like, Hey, is there? Is there a need over here? Can we put our heads together and make sure we’re on same page over here, you know, we just
Shanti Chang: stay really connected with each other. So I don’t know if that speaks to Haley is usually your 1st go to person for, hey? Something’s happening in this course. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to pass or move on.
Shanti Chang: What do I do?
Shanti Chang: She will either then pull me in.
Shanti Chang: you know, if it, if it truly is just like a course problem like you’re not getting the content. The faculty are amazing.
Shanti Chang: We do have doctorate students, that we have the graduate nursing organization, which is completely open to you guys, too. It’s open to masters and Dmp students, but a lot of times there, too, they have additional support and resources. I know they have a mentorship program. Where they pair doctorate students with those that are maybe in the beginning parts of their curriculum of their program for curriculum help.
George Mason Online Admissions: That’s amazing.
Shanti Chang: Sleeping.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alright. So there’s a couple of questions.
Shanti Chang: You.
George Mason Online Admissions: Helen.
George Mason Online Admissions: do we work with Nps for our practicum? Can we work with Mds.
Shanti Chang: Yes, love that question. I don’t limit. I want you to go with everyone. I want you to get a good experience. I want you to see how everything’s done. I I mean, I love the idea of you doing at least one little sting with a nurse practitioner. Just so you can, in addition to seeing
Shanti Chang: patients that they’re seeing. But see what that role looks like in practice in certain settings. You know. Ask them about the ethics of things. Ask them about the legal aspect of things. Those are all concepts that can pop up on your board. Certification. But I’m not. I don’t require you to only be with your inspectors. You can be with Mds. Deos pas Mps.
Shanti Chang: I’ve even had some people request about certified midwives. That area is a little bit more gray if you can give me their credentials and their experience. And what
Shanti Chang: if you can give me an idea of what you’d be doing together in your time. Then I just, you know, evaluate Katie and I, Katie, the clinical coordinator, and I kind of say yay or nay, but at the end of the day, like I really am open minded, I think, to your passions in in your needs. So if that means that you’re like, like, I had one student, for example, who really really wanted to do Hospice.
Shanti Chang: and we considered Hospice prior to her, a specialty where you can do specialty like you can do inpatient oncology, sure. But I can’t let you do all your hours in inpatient oncology. Because it doesn’t meet the primary care definition that we need to meet for our program for you guys, as this is an outpatient Np program. But her.
Shanti Chang: the student being told she was told. Oh, no, you can only do a hundred hours in Hospice. It’s specialty sorry. But she wrote a beautiful long email to me, and I pass it on to who the person who’s the director
Shanti Chang: to before me, and she just made a great case, for why? It was primary care, and this is part of the stigma of Hospice. And this is part of the problem, like more people need to think about Hospice sooner. And and you know, quality of life matters and everything sooner. It shouldn’t be a specialty, because we’re all gonna die. Someday. So why not expand our
Shanti Chang: our curriculum and our willingness to allow our students to spend a little bit more time in that in that setting with those folks. So I was like, Yeah, that makes sense to me. Sure, so the director believe them agreed at that time, too. So.
George Mason Online Admissions: So, Dr. Cheng, so are you saying that if somebody wants to do a specialization, the minimum hours and family practice has to be 500, and they have a hundred. Okay.
Shanti Chang: They have a hundred to play around with, and those 100 could be specialty, or it could be. We also allow for up to 100 non direct, patient care, clinical hours. So let’s say that you have found an awesome
Shanti Chang: family site that sees kids and grown ups and some geriatrics. But you’re not getting nearly as much women’s health as you thought you would, or men’s health, you know. That’s oftentimes overlooked as well. I think.
Shanti Chang: using those non direct hours is a way that you can still
Shanti Chang: get credit for your effort. If you were to find some Ceos in some areas and women’s or men’s health that you felt you wanted to take to round out your knowledge. You can count those as non direct clinical hours as long as you get your faculty’s permission, we almost never say no. If you can say what you want, why, you want it.
Shanti Chang: If they’re unsure, they ask me and I kinda just asked, what do they want? Why do they want it? Okay? So you know, it’s it’s I know it’s clear as mud sometimes when it comes to clinical. But it’s really
Shanti Chang: it’s really to benefit you guys to be able to build your time in this program to be the best nurse practitioner that you can be, and another clarifying point on clinical, you do in a perfect world. Take clinical over 2 semesters. Again, if you need to break that up like th. There are options, but just for simplicity sake. It doesn’t mean that you only have to go to one site, the 1st semester, and another site, the second semester. If if you.
Shanti Chang: if you find 2 preceptors and sites that are willing to take you in the same semester, and you can divide your time and organize it between their schedules and yours and your work schedule and your family life. That’s fine, like we have some students that even go to 3 sites a semester. So don’t
Shanti Chang: don’t be afraid to kind of keep on looking for multiple places, even if you’ve already got someone who’s said yes to you. It’s not a bad idea to have another option.
Shanti Chang: or maybe they say yes, but I can’t take you in the summer. I could take you in the fall. You could say, great, yeah, I so it just it’s all the game of
Shanti Chang: puzzle piecing together. But again we go a lot more into clinical in our clinical information sessions, too, which
Shanti Chang: we’ll have one in about a month. Actually.
Shanti Chang: So.
George Mason Online Admissions: So does it have to be at least 2 different sites, though.
Shanti Chang: No, so that’s a good other side of that point. If you are at a family practice.
George Mason Online Admissions: Are you?
Shanti Chang: I feel like they do everything. I had an amazing family physician preceptor when I was in school, and she used to deliver babies, but she didn’t do it anymore. But she did. Small babies. She did kids. She did adolescence. She did haps. She did, you know.
Shanti Chang: simple gynecologic procedures. She didn’t do prenatal visits, but you know she did. Sti testing family planning, counseling. She did.
Shanti Chang: you know, substance, use treatment, anxiety, depression, regular just like kind of chronic care, management, diabetes, hypertension. She did some jerry and dementia care like she did it all, and so I went to her, my 1st semester clinical at the time in my program, clinical 3 semesters. And then I went back in my 3rd for her again. So there’s no like minimum hours that you have
Shanti Chang: have to spend, or in any one population in primary care, like people often ask me, well, do I have to get 100 h and 100 h in women’s health. We don’t define it like that again. It’s clear
Shanti Chang: clinical faculty to make sure that as best as we can that we’re helping you get a well rounded experience. And again, our map clinics are good ways to round that out like, let’s say that you really want to do peeds, but you’re having a hard time finding a pediatric, you know, or add a lot of adolescent medicine site.
Shanti Chang: we can then get you into our pediatric and adolescent clinics in the map clinics we’ve got, you know, our Manassas on Tuesdays, and then we’ve got one clinic that’s co-located in the largest central registration building for Fairfax County schools, at their Central registration center in dung boring in Virginia. So and they just do all peeds. They do all shots. They do all TV testing. We do ton of sports disciples. So there’s a lot of ways that again, map
Shanti Chang: clinic can kind of help you. We’re doing now, Sti, testing HIV, testing they’re not doing, perhaps, right now. But that’s another reason that we stand for Mason partners because we’re always trying to make more connections with other people, to to continue offering as
Shanti Chang: as many and as many best services as we can within Lucen. So.
George Mason Online Admissions: Wonderful
George Mason Online Admissions: Jessica’s asking, Is there assistance with clinical placement? Has there ever been any issues with students securing sites.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, good question. So,
Shanti Chang: this is
Shanti Chang: a very commonly asked question.
Shanti Chang: Again, with finding clinical site, we start the conversation early, so that you know what you’re getting into as soon as your courses start and some strategies for success ultimately finding the site is up to you. But again we have support and the math clinics to fill in and supplement as needed.
Shanti Chang: So I I start with kind of giving you guys, Katie and I start with to giving you some tips and tricks.
Shanti Chang: in your 1st couple of semesters. Hey? Here are ways to talk to people. Here are things to say. Here’s how you can ask. Here’s a ultimately, if you’re like, yep, I’ve tried all that. Nothing’s happening. Can’t find anyone. Katie will give you a list of people in the area that you live in. If we’ve had a student in that area before, she’ll give you a list of some sites that people have gone to. So you can target those sites to say, Hey, I understand you took a George Mason University student before. Also in that same program. Would you be willing to take me on but
Shanti Chang: I wouldn’t say, we’ve never had anyone, not finish the program for lack of clinical sites, military hospitals. Yes, we can do that. And I think there was another question about State Department and other countries to just keep in mind with like state department, military sometimes on their end. They have additional contractual needs and eligibility criteria that we all need to pull together and speak to. So just give.
Shanti Chang: If you think that that’s the way you’re gonna go. Communicate that to us.
Shanti Chang: usually. Maybe when you start, patho and farm is a good time to just make sure that we’re super clear. And again, there’s there’s a very clear process. You submit a pre separate data form. There’s a checklist where you can see. Like, okay, I submitted my form. Where am I at in the process? Like, has the contract been signed? Okay? Has my hassle branch stuff for my own TV and immunizations, and all that been approved like there’s a
Shanti Chang: really transparent place 1st communicates you ultimately, worst case scenario. If you’re like, yep, due to start clinical since summer. Couldn’t find a site. Don’t live in Northern Virginia. Can’t get myself to the map. Clinic.
Shanti Chang: we’d probably say, Okay, just take a pause for this semester then and keep working on it and jump in on fall, and then it just pushes your graduation semester.
George Mason Online Admissions: And what would you say to people that are applying outside of Virginia and Maryland?
Shanti Chang: Yeah. So same thing. We have students at this point. We’ve been around for a few years. So we do still have lists in other regions of the country we have at this point. I feel like we’ve had students in clinical. Oh, you know what no New Hampshire, New Hampshire has been tricky sorry, but I think I was looking at the list of admits for fall, and most of you guys are from Virginia. But
Shanti Chang: there is a couple of Georgia, maybe a couple of North Carolina like we had a fair number of students in those States as well. So the process is the same.
Shanti Chang: regardless of what physical location you’re in geographic location. You’re in you know you do your best. Oh, I will also say minute clinic counts as well, if you want to do some like minute clinic or some other thing like that. So just Google, Cvs minute clinic, nurse, practitioner piece of ship, and it’ll have. It’ll pop up like
Shanti Chang: careers, you know something. It’d be the 1st thing. Click on it and scroll down in the middle of the page. It’ll say, nurse, practitioner, practicum like, and eligibility. Criteria gives you all the dates, and they take people on 3 times a year. We have a very good relationship with them. I I know the Amy Wagner, the director of like the placements and everything for minute clinic. She always tries to get our Mason students, and and that’s all around the country.
Shanti Chang: you know. So keep things like that in your mind open to and get that, maybe all of you Google tonight, you know. Minute clinic. When is my application due? Again, if you guys are starting clinical, if you’re starting courses in fall, then you’ll be in clinical summer 2026. So you just want to make sure. Then headed into that summer 26 semester. You’ve got your application everything you need in for the minute clinic.
Shanti Chang: just as like a safety.
Shanti Chang: So but, Katie, yeah, Katie has lists of of places in others, other areas, too. But we request, just because of, you know, volume and everything. Just support that everybody just do do their best to put in a wholehearted effort. And that doesn’t mean that you’re alone in your efforts. But,
Shanti Chang: We can talk about other options if it’s not playing out the way that you want it.
George Mason Online Admissions: But that also allows you to be placed where you want to be placed.
Shanti Chang: On the floor.
George Mason Online Admissions: Side of it right? It’s not like you’re being placed in a place that you don’t want to be, you know, or super far away.
Shanti Chang: Right? Yeah. And we’ve had a lot of students recently. I should probably bring this up to ask about the pay payment. services. There’s a lot a lot of those popping up that are like, hey? If you pay us 4 grand, you can get 200 h of clinical with the preceptory
Shanti Chang: we don’t forbid it by any means, because, hey, it’s you your money, if if you want to, and need to go that way. That’s fine, Mason, contractually and legally. We can’t be the ones to pay for that or have that in our contract language for you. But, I do know some students who have done it, and they’ve just paid on their own, you know, on the side. And it’s been okay. Sometimes that is really a situation, though I bring this up to Susan’s point.
Shanti Chang: I mean, honestly, more than not that many students end up needing to go down that road. Quite honestly, but the the couple that have, and they said, I’m exhausted. I’m just gonna do it. I’m gonna try it. But more than half of them have not been very happy with the experience that they’ve gotten so. And but then they also feel like they can’t walk away because they’ve just spent thousands of dollars on this placement. So
Shanti Chang: we do have like they said. The map clinics. We have like telehealth options, too, and for that substance use clinic that mit there’s telehealth for that. We’ve got pnhps running that with peer recovery specialists and family nurse practitioners so interdisciplinary team telehealth all day on Wednesdays and then we’ve got evening telehealth clinics at least
Shanti Chang: 2 nights a week. It’s 2 nights a week this summer, and the spring of 3 nights a week, so there’s also options for you. If you’re not local, to the area for us to help you get clinical hours and and experiences in.
George Mason Online Admissions: So Katherine is asking, is there a specific guide that states how many hours are needed in specific fields
George Mason Online Admissions: relating to clinicals.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, I’m sorry. This is yeah. One of those. It’s a great question that I get asked all the time. It’s 500 h. This is. This is why it’s so ambiguous when you take boards, and when I’m signing your form, saying, Yep, they did what they need to do to be able to be eligible to take boards. You know what the eligibility, eligibility, language says
Shanti Chang: that I’m verifying that at least 500 direct, patient care hours have been spent in time with populations that you will serve. And I’m like, Hmm, that’s big. Okay? So I look to the standards for nurse, practitioner criteria and within different populations. And I look at some of the competencies and skills that you need to get.
Shanti Chang: I don’t personally think that skills and competency are a number thing like, I think that you know better, and your clinical faculty, who’s got 5 of you in their group, is going to be able to come to a better decision on what you need and where you need to focus on to round out better than I can tell you, black and white at this point.
Shanti Chang: Some of you guys have amazing school nurse experience and or lot of peeds outpatient experience already, and maybe you don’t want to spend much of your 500 h as a provider in that setting, because you already feel like, yeah, I got a pretty good idea. I do triage nursing for a pediatrics office like I don’t need to do 120 h of pediatrics. I want to see how I like
Shanti Chang: you know.
Shanti Chang: medication assist treatment, you know, or I like, I wanna see how I do with folks, you know, who’ve got longitudinal chronic care issues. I wanna go to a clinic where I know I can go there most days of the week, and I’ll be able to see the same patients over and over again to to learn about the management of something over time longitudinal. So it’s just
Shanti Chang: there are no clear cut numbers other than 500 direct, patient care hours in what I define as primary care and women’s health and pediatrics doesn’t count as specialty. That’s primary care. So you can go to an internal medicine. You can go to a fast track. Er you can go to urgent care. You can go to health department. You can go to Minute clinic and go to family practice internal medicine.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, he’s gonna tell all of those are primary care settings, and you just need to get 500, and then your clinical faculty will work with you like, I look at my students case logs. Every week. And I say, yeah, looks like you, just, you know, especially if we’re headed into the second half like, looks like you’ve been focusing a lot on.
Shanti Chang: you know geriatrics thus far. Do you think you’re gonna have any opportunities to see any peeds or adolescents, and they’re like, not really my thing. I’m not really interested. I might say, okay, fair enough. But you are being certified as a family nurse practitioner. So I have a responsibility, and making sure that you’ve got at least some level of comfort and safety with those populations, and we’ll be able to pass boards.
Shanti Chang: For those populations. So why don’t you? You know? Let’s let’s let’s get you into our math clinic next Wednesday, or do you want to go do that? Sports physical event on Saturday with
Shanti Chang: another faculty? Who’s doing sports with equality or something like that? Just just like, so you get at least little flavors of things.
Shanti Chang: To round yourself out.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, thank you so much.
George Mason Online Admissions: Jessica’s asking a great question. Can you explain a little bit about what we should expect out of our clinicals? Is there something we provide the clinical site to show what we should be learning and seeing.
Shanti Chang: Great.
George Mason Online Admissions: Do we shadow our clinical instructor, and by the end are we seeing patients on our own.
Shanti Chang: Yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: etc.
Shanti Chang: Really getting into the nitty gritty here.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, wow, yeah, yeah.
Shanti Chang: Is a good
Shanti Chang: yes, so like, for example, I’ve got a clinical group right now that I’ve just started clinical this summer. I’ve got 5 of them I meet with them. I get all of their preceptor contact information, and as soon as I know they’re starting clinical, I send a message that preceptor saying, Hey, my name is Shanty Chang. I am the clinical instructor working with Student
Shanti Chang: A. Here are some resources that you might want to use to help you, you know as well as the course objectives. You know. It’s like a little preceptor packet. It’s got little pearls on like one to 2 min precept or tips on how they can phrase feedback for you. And this is all evidence
Shanti Chang: based. This packet is because when you ask people their main reasons for not wanting to precept. Obviously a high reason is time that it takes a lot of time to do it. But that’s actually the second biggest reason. The 1st is they wanna make sure that they are adequately prepared and and going to do a good job in their role. So this preceptor packet is structured to be able to give them that knowledge, and or they have my number, and they can talk to me. And we can
Shanti Chang: figure out some strategies on how to best give feedback and work with their students. You use a system called Typhon
Shanti Chang: to document your hours and your case log. So I asked that you document one to 2 patients an hour, and within those case logs you specify the level of autonomy you had in that patient encounter. So in the beginning, sure, I absolutely expect it to be a little bit more observation observation like you’re not gonna show up the 1st day and be like I’m here. Let me do everything with you for your patience. But over time I would hope that I would start to see that that observation
Shanti Chang: would turn into like, okay, yeah, I I did like 25 and then 50. And then I did it mostly by myself, and just reported back. I mean to be super clear. You guys are never allowed to be with any patient without adequate supervision from a license provider, and then also
Shanti Chang: on the other end. Observation only experiences are not allowed like it’s gotta be, you can observe in the beginning at the clinical site. But then at that site with that pre sector, you have to be able to
Shanti Chang: speak with a patient, and or even if you’re not the one conducting a lot of the encounter. Like at least thing your presenter needs to ask you about the differentials or the treatment plan and pick your brain with that patient, you know, prior to going back into that room. So it’s still got to be a learning experience where it’s not just a person talking to you, telling you what to do all the time.
Shanti Chang: as you can imagine. That wouldn’t make you a very good nurse practitioner.
George Mason Online Admissions: And y’all have very good pass rates, too, on board. So yeah, yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay. So Alyssa’s asking. I know you said there was an option to go part time if needed, what would be considered a part time student? Do people often start full time and transition to part time.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, so good question. So I’ll be honest the part time and full time thing always throws me a bit. And I know you guys are all asked to choose which one you want. When you apply the courses are offered
Shanti Chang: 3 times a year. Every course is pretty much offered 3 times a year. So for you, part, time can be defined. How you want it to be defined. Like, if you’re like, I can only take
Shanti Chang: a course in the beginning of the fall semester.
Shanti Chang: you know. Then you’re just gonna take 665, and then you might wait to take Gch 500 the next course in line until the following is free.
Shanti Chang: You know, till spring, 2025 second half of the spring semester. So
Shanti Chang: it. It doesn’t have to be like
Shanti Chang: super black and white because we offer the courses so often.
Shanti Chang: So I think that that’s a nice thing that gives you guys a lot of flexibility with that said, most people do it pretty much
Shanti Chang: one course, a session, because we purposefully organize this program in mind, keeping in mind that you guys are really busy and juggling a lot of things. So we, for the most part, especially in the beginning, only offer one course at a time. So up until you’re in patho and farm, you’re only ever focusing on one
Shanti Chang: one class content
Shanti Chang: every 8 weeks. If that makes sense.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, cause the semester is 16 weeks. So what you’re doing is.
Shanti Chang: Stretch.
George Mason Online Admissions: The 1st class, the 1st 8 weeks, and then the second class, the second 8 weeks. So even though you’re completing 2 classes, a semester. You’re just focusing on one at a time.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, put.
George Mason Online Admissions: Can I hear?
Shanti Chang: Actually a plan of study that I could even bring up and show if that would be helpful. But
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, that’s.
Shanti Chang: I know we’re also kind of running over time, too, and I want to be mindful of people’s time. But were there other questions, too. Maybe we can loop back to it.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah,
George Mason Online Admissions: it?
George Mason Online Admissions: Well, I just wanted to know. I just wanted to clarify for the students. So a a lot of students are working full time. And then some aren’t. But when they get to practicums, is, what would you suggest.
Shanti Chang: If I’m being really honest, is very hard to work full time while in practicum. And that’s that’s because usually you’re at the mercy of the preceptor schedule. That’s not because, like we’ve put so much on you, it’s because you’re trying to juggle your own life and work.
Shanti Chang: plus this other provider, or 2 or 3 providers schedules which has to be a priority. So really, when you’re in those practicum semesters like, if you needed to space out the didactics like, you’re like, I really can’t do the classroom part of this semester
Shanti Chang: But I’m gonna try to focus on the practicum. But can I do the classroom part after like again, we can break them apart if we have to. But when you’re in that practicum semester you have that semester to do those hours. And then, if absolute worst case scenario, you need to take it incomplete and take 10 weeks, which is 3 fourths of the next semester into the next semester to finish it up. Then then that’s what we do. So I’ve never had anyone fail or like not finish the program for
Shanti Chang: clinical drama. Do some people take a break in between clinical semesters, or maybe a break prior to just starting the last 2 clinical semesters. For sure, once they realize. Like, oh, actually, yeah, if I’m to space this 600 h out, evenly, between the 30 weeks. Roughly, of that, I have to do this. That’s about 30 h of practicum a week.
Shanti Chang: Once you’re in those semesters. So keep that in mind. Maybe you take a break for a semester or 2 prior to jumping into that. And you work a lot to build up some cushion, you know, for you to financially be able to take that on so that you don’t have to have
Shanti Chang: such competing priorities. I mean, obviously, we’ll have to have food in the fridge and moves over our heads. So there’s no judgment there. That that’s why it’s flexible like. If you need to take a pause from clinical to get everything in order to be able to do clinical.
Shanti Chang: then we can work with that for sure.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay. And I did want to mention that we do allow up to 6 years to complete the degree.
Shanti Chang: Yep, yep, exactly.
George Mason Online Admissions: So, okay, so how can I improve my chances of acceptance into the program with an undergraduate? Gpa of 2.7 9. I have 10 years of experience at a level one trauma hospital.
George Mason Online Admissions: Are there any successful precedents of applicants with a similar Gpa. Being admitted? And what steps can I take to strengthen my application? Considering the minimum Gpa of a 3 point. O, additionally, how effective is a Gpa addendum in such circumstances.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, I love that question. I was just telling Susan. Actually, earlier, I struggled through my Bsn program. But I also feel like I was a different person. Back then.
George Mason Online Admissions: Sure.
Shanti Chang: Grown and matured, and in some ways I’m still working.
Shanti Chang: But right. But
George Mason Online Admissions: Love it.
Shanti Chang: I think my bachelor program is probably the time that I like, cried most in life, and was so confused.
George Mason Online Admissions: My goodness.
Shanti Chang: No? Yeah. So personally, then, and because the binding review does come to me for decision, what I like to see in an application. If your GPS was less than you’d want it to be less than you know we put we put 3, but we don’t prohibit anyone from applying was lower than that, and for good reason. If you want to make your application
Shanti Chang: I guess, speak to a level that would be enough for me to say, like, Yeah, care about. That is kind of what you just put in that prompt like.
Shanti Chang: yeah, I acknowledge that it wasn’t as great as I wish it was, but I’ve grown, and I’ve worked 10 years, and that includes time in a trauma one, and I’ve really had time to mature and hone in on, you know, different studying practices, or whatever, just even my passion for nursing you know, really propels me, and I know that I’ll do well, I think a lot can be
Shanti Chang: just
Shanti Chang: justified. I guess I don’t know if that’s the right word, but a lot can be justified and described in your essay. Use that as if there’s something that you’re not proud of on your transcript, or like. Maybe something happened in life. You started out of school. You didn’t do well there, and you had to stop, and you had to go to another school like, does you have a lot of life going on. If you’re comfortable, it’s no pressure, either, but like, if you’re comfortable and you want to speak to it. Even generally like.
Shanti Chang: use your essay as the space to speak to your resilience and ability to rise above and be better and just kind of state. Why, you want to be a nurse, practitioner and make this work, and why you think you can.
Shanti Chang: So we don’t
Shanti Chang: have any official caps on our admission numbers just Fyi currently. So that’s good. We do still maintain small class sizes, though I like to keep it at like 24 per class students, so that you have a real, you know, connection with your faculty and those other students in your class. But I think that’s always nice to know, too. So you know that you’re not like competing really hard, I guess, against other people, because I think we really
Shanti Chang: prioritize, we, we recognize the need for more primary care providers to get out into the world so that a great program we’ve got the resources and the support to be able to get you guys out there in a successful way to do what we all need to do. And that’s our goal.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yup, that’s wonderful. Okay, let’s see admissions.
George Mason Online Admissions: Dr. Ching and the Admissions Committee. Look at the person holistically. They look at your work experience. Just submit strong supporting documents but
George Mason Online Admissions: myself and my fellow enrollment counselors or representatives are very happy to assist you in the application process. I usually tell my students that I’m your personal assistant along the way. So but the application process is super easy. We do accept unofficial transcripts. We will attempt to order official transcripts on your behalf.
George Mason Online Admissions: Course a resume.
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, 3 letters of recommendation. I thought it was just 2. It’s 2. Yeah.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, it.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, too.
Shanti Chang: It’s 2. Yeah.
Shanti Chang: Sorry I missed that.
George Mason Online Admissions: Into the application portal. They receive an email that takes them to a link literally takes them 10 min
George Mason Online Admissions: to do this questionnaire. If they want to add something in writing. They can do that as well. And then, like Dr. Shang said the personal statement, that’s really where you tell, you know, speak your truth, and why you want to do this, and why you’d be a good candidate.
George Mason Online Admissions: And of course you have to. You do have to have a Bsn
George Mason Online Admissions: and an active Us Rn license, and at least one year of experience as an Rn. And a current Cpr card.
George Mason Online Admissions: So, yeah. So the application process is very easy. And I’m just gonna if you don’t have an admissions representative feel free
George Mason Online Admissions: to reach out to us. And there you go. There’s the information.
George Mason Online Admissions: and we’re happy to assist. That’s what we’re here for.
George Mason Online Admissions: Any questions. Oh, do the letters of recommendation need to be from people in the medical field.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, that’s a great question.
George Mason Online Admissions: That is an excellent question.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, I think we usually ask that at least one be from someone who is in a supervisory position to you somehow. So yeah, ideally, clinically, would be great. But maybe some of you haven’t been at the bedside in a long time. That’s another thing. Then, then fine, if it’s your supervisor, and you’re in an administrative position currently. Then that’s fine, too. But then use your personal statement to
Shanti Chang: Tell me, then, to like acknowledge again, like. I realize I haven’t been at the bedside in 5 years, but this is why I want to get back into it and become a nurse practitioner. Cause. Sometimes I read these essays, or you know, I I see certain things. And sometimes it makes me think like, Oh.
Shanti Chang: okay, yes, I want them for this program. They they’d be great, I’m sure, but also given what they’re saying, maybe they should go to like our leadership dmp, program. So I just sometimes, also, I’ll take notes myself. Given what you’ve said and what you’re writing down and and I might reach out to be like, Hey, you got your application. But also, you know, once you accept. If you want to talk about transferring over here, or you don’t want to learn more about that, let me know. So we do have a few programs and and
Shanti Chang: and pathways in our school, and we all work super close together.
George Mason Online Admissions: Great. Now, Gabby’s, hey? Do we have an application fee waiver! I wish.
Shanti Chang: You know. Yeah. So no, not right now, unless.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, I don’t think there’s any like official one right now with that said, like, if you’re like.
Shanti Chang: Look, I wanna come. But finances are an issue. I really wanna apply. But $75 is $75 is like.
George Mason Online Admissions: $35.
Shanti Chang: So yeah, it’s not like a little amount like, I I wish they would just go away altogether.
George Mason Online Admissions: Am into that Amen. To that.
Shanti Chang: Send me an email. I can always have a conversation with my directors in the college and say, like, Hey, is there something we could do about it, I mean, I guess I should cautiously say that, because now I don’t want, like everyone emailing.
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, my goodness!
Shanti Chang: You know. Yeah, I mean. So I don’t know. And I say that.
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, my!
Shanti Chang: I have whatsoever. But so we do not have interviews at this active time. At this time. Currently we’re waiting the interviews for applications, and then 2 supervisor letters are fine. You do not have to have one from a professor. I would just say again, like seeing if if you could use it in a way to, I guess.
Shanti Chang: look at it as like diversifying your application like I really do love holistic applications that I want to see like after, just like math greater up, or whatever like this is my favorite. I’m totally biased. But I want to see kind of your experience. And yeah, letters from a supervisor. And then maybe someone who’s worked with you clinically, or maybe in another setting. You know that. You didn’t get to speak to as much. So
Shanti Chang: just use it as an opportunity to kind of showcase yourself if that makes sense.
Shanti Chang: One year bedside experience. That’s fine. We define the one year as one year at the time of starting classes.
George Mason Online Admissions: Which is great. Yes.
Shanti Chang: But with that said.
Shanti Chang: We want you to have some good nursing foundations under you as an Rn. Because it is. It is a rigorous program. You know, you’re getting a nurse practitioner degree to be an advanced level provider like you’re gonna have
Shanti Chang: scribing and treating all these things, you know, expectations on you. So we just wanna make sure that you’ll be the best and safest respect issue that you can be so. But again, I don’t think that time. Always like numbers. Don’t meet that definition always. There’s other ways of demonstrating that. So.
George Mason Online Admissions: Now, Tatiana wants to know she could email you about the Bsn, dnp program.
Shanti Chang: Yes, if you are interested in Vs entity dmp, program. And you want to email me, I can pass you on to that program director. It’s Dr. Andrea Landis, also throwing out there. We do have other Np programs besides fmp, so we have a Bsm to Dmp fmp, but then we also have an adult Jeroen, Psm to Dmp, and we have a psychiatric mental health nurse, practitioner vs. And a Dmp, and I actually just
Shanti Chang: finish that postmasters psych certificate, and I will be taking my psych boards this summer. So wish me luck. It.
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, wonderful! That’s so cool! Alright, so. Somebody. Tatiana says she loves Dr. Landis. So there you go.
Shanti Chang: Amazing. She, she definitely, this is the program director for the Fmp and Agmp Dmp program. Whereas I’m your Msn.
Shanti Chang: Especially, based on online person we do have an Msn hybrid program. If any of you decide like, you know what I don’t know. If this 100% online thing is for me. I think I would benefit from from some face to face time. Our hybrid programs
Shanti Chang: online, most of it, I would say. But
Shanti Chang: it’s a little bit of a different layout, and it is more, you know. You come to campus every once in a while for something, so we we could always talk about switching over to that one. If that’s something you’re interested to just send me an email. And you’re like, Yeah, I like this, and I’ll connect you with the right person.
George Mason Online Admissions: Can I clarify? So you’re saying the campus? F. Msnf P. Is a hybrid.
George Mason Online Admissions: is it? Can’t.
Shanti Chang: This Msn. Fmps is a hybrid.
George Mason Online Admissions: Good to know.
Shanti Chang: It’s not fully in person. So a lot of those classes, the level ones are all online.
Shanti Chang: Half of the level twos are online. And then the other half are half online and half the person. And then for the level 3 is they go in on campus every other week.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay.
Shanti Chang: It’s really not too much. But then, you know, you’ve seen people face to face. So any on campus intenses we do not require on campus intensive right now. I’ve heard some feedback for some people that that’s something they’d be interested in and and want the opportunity to which I would always love to talk about. This came up at a faculty meeting last week. Actually, so we’re considering it. We kind of gotta get our ducks in a row to see what that might look like. I think
Shanti Chang: an alternative to that, honestly, is that we’ve almost kind of got a built in version of that already with our math clinics. So if you’re like, I want to go and be with faculty and be in the clinics and see patients in real life with someone at the school or multiple people at the school and see what this looks like. Like. You could fly in or drive up, you know, for a couple of days in a row. We could get you in clinics. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, back to back, and in a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, at Manassas you could see
Shanti Chang: chronic disease care. Then on Tuesday you could see pediatrics analysis, and then on Wednesday you could see substance, use disorders all side by side with, you know, faculty at mason or spectrum or faculty, and then that would be a nice time for us to assess and give you pointers on some, some skills and assessment things. If it was of interest to you.
Shanti Chang: but not required.
George Mason Online Admissions: Cool. That’s great.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alright! So
George Mason Online Admissions: I think we are at that bewitching hour. Am I? Yeah. 8. 0, 3.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you.
Shanti Chang: We always could talk forever and ever. So my email is S. Chang 13@gmu.edu. If anybody else has any other, follow up questions for me. And like, I said, if I don’t know the answer, I can at least hopefully point you in the right direction. But yeah. Your admissions counselor also is obviously a great 1st person to go to as well.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yup, we’re happy to help. Thank you so much. Now you see why they’re rated. Number 10 in the name.
Shanti Chang: Yeah.
Shanti Chang: Oh, I can’t take.
George Mason Online Admissions: Sure you can.
Shanti Chang: No, yeah. Yeah.
Shanti Chang: I was seeing, of course.
Shanti Chang: cool. No, honestly, when we do those reports, I was just talking to some about this. It’s it’s the students. I love the student, the student information that we get to brag on about who our students are coming into us and then who they are when they’re leaving us, and just everything that they do in the program to get there. And and the experiences that you guys bring into our program, and and that we all share with each other is just really, I think, what makes this unique and special and excellent. So thank you, guys.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, thank you for joining us. And Dr. Cheng, you’ve been so in informative, and this has been wonderful. And thanks thanks, thanks for all your great questions. So again, Dr. Cheng just shared her. Em, email.
George Mason Online Admissions: be sure to reach out to your admissions representative, and we’re happy to help, and thanks again for joining us.
Shanti Chang: Yeah, thanks. Everyone.
George Mason Online Admissions: For now.
Shanti Chang: Has.
George Mason Online Admissions: Bye.
Shanti Chang: I’m great.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you so much.
Shanti Chang: Thank you, Susan. Talk to you.
George Mason Online Admissions: Bye.
Shanti Chang: Reach out. If you need anything.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you so much.
Shanti Chang: Bye.
George Mason Online Admissions: Bye, bye.
Master of Professional Studies in Applied Industrial and Organizational Psychology Transcript
George Mason Online Admissions: So everyone welcome to the virtual open house for the online masters of professional studies and applied industrial and organizational psychology. I am an admissions representative on ha! On behalf of George Mason. And we have
George Mason Online Admissions: Dr. Amon and Dr. Staggle, who kindly are joining us tonight. To do the presentation. So we thank everyone for taking the time. We have a good crowd here. 32 people. Right now. So we thank you for taking the time out of your night to join us.
Afra Ahmad: Alright!
Afra Ahmad: Well, welcome everyone. We’re really excited to have you here with us tonight. Thank you all so much again for joining we really want to utilize tonight for you all to share some information about the program. But we really want to give you guys an opportunity to ask us questions live. So if you can put it in the chat and
Afra Ahmad: the everyone feature should hopefully be available. So both Dr. Staggle and I can see those questions, and he’ll be answering some of them through chat or out loud. We just also have to keep an eye on the clock. But, we will be sharing the information about the program, and we also have an alarm, not as well as the current student who’ll be speaking to you all at the end. So that you get student perspectives from a recent graduate as well as someone currently still in the program.
Afra Ahmad: And Dr. Staggle remind us that we actually had several alumni join in the spring open house. So if you haven’t already, please do check out that video, because
Afra Ahmad: really it’s best to hear from the students directly word them. You know about their experiences and where they’re at and what they’re doing with the knowledge and skills that they gain from this program. So again, tonight, we’re here for you to answer your questions. But, please continue to learn. Grow learning about the field, learning about the program, and hear from different students and make sure you get access to that video as well.
Afra Ahmad: Alright, with that we’ll go ahead and get started. We do have a full agenda where you’re gonna get to hear a little bit more from us up here about our history. The program like the actual Nps program. And you know, student testimonials and some quick reminders about admissions and some QA.
Afra Ahmad: So my name is Dr. Opposite. That month I am a long time patriot I was. I’m a native of Woodbridge, Virginia. So if anyone here from Northern Virginia raise your hands, there’s so is a couple from Virginia. But I went to Mason for undergrad masters and Phd. And then I was abroad a few times once on a full bride, and then wants to work in a business school in Dubai.
Afra Ahmad: And then I’m back here, you know, as a program director, and I teach the research methods and practicum courses in the program
Afra Ahmad: and my research interests are in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion. And if you join the class, you get to learn a lot more about some of my projects and work that I do.
Afra Ahmad: and with that I’ll turn it over to Dr. Stagl.
Kevin Stagl: Well, we already have 2 questions about your background. So that’s awesome. Protis, go ahead, and then I guess Joyce was next.
Protus Ambe: Oh, no, it wasn’t the question I I put my hand up. Cause, she said. Put your hand up. If you’re from Virginia.
Kevin Stagl: We have Virginia, November.
Afra Ahmad: Representatives, great.
Kevin Stagl: Okay. Virginia.
Joyce Davis: Right, and this is the same reason why my hand is up. I’m active right across the street from George Greyson.
Afra Ahmad: Oh!
Kevin Stagl: Oh, wow!
Joyce Davis: Yeah, I can walk right into the campus across the street.
Kevin Stagl: That’s cool.
Afra Ahmad: Well, you’re closer, Joyce. You’re closer than I am. I’m about 25 min away, but you’re walk away. That’s awesome.
Kevin Stagl: Okay, so I am. The Assistant director assistant professor here. At 1st Masons, Iowa Mps program, and most much of my information is already in the chat.
Kevin Stagl: But I will add that I started my career about 29 years ago.
Kevin Stagl: 28 years ago at boutique assessment consultancies and
Kevin Stagl: working a lot of assessment center work and test administration and some some for Developmental assessment center work, but mostly for selection
Kevin Stagl: and studied thereafter. At graduate school, at a research institute at Ucf.
Kevin Stagl: And Research Park under the great Eduardo Telus
Kevin Stagl: And then, later, I transitioned into a series of R&D incubators primarily for the Dod
Kevin Stagl: and now I’m here in Academia, in in Mason. So I hope to share a lot of the practical wisdom I have for
Kevin Stagl: working for 115 different clients. half dozen or so in the fortune. 100 are close to it, and and I I look forward to meeting each of you sharing that so welcome. And thank you for joining us this evening. Oh, I study team performance team, member team and Multi team system performance.
Kevin Stagl: And I I lead a couple of your courses. So I’m I’m looking forward, including the 1st one. So I’m looking forward to getting to meet each of you
Kevin Stagl: and connecting with you during that course. Welcome.
Afra Ahmad: And again you have a great opportunity. Dr. Seagull is the one that sort of helps onboard you into the program and the field, and so, and share that wealth of expertise with you all.
Afra Ahmad: Alright. So not to spend too much time about this. But maybe Joyce knows, since she’s been around Mason. But you know Mason has a long history. We are you know we’re established in 1,956 as Northern Virginia branch of Uva. So for those of you are native to Virginia may or may not have known that we became our own independent institution in 1972. We’re the largest public university, and we have a lot of accolades, especially you know, in the Carnegie system, as our one doctoral Research University
Afra Ahmad: and we have 3 campuses. So for those of you that might come to town, which many of you do at graduation time. We have the main campus, which is the Fairfax Virginia campus, but we also have one in Prince William and Arlington. You don’t want to go there for graduation
Afra Ahmad: but we also have one in South Korea and several online programs just like this one. So sometimes students ask me, do I need to come to campus? And no, you don’t need to come to campus during your tenure in this program, but you’re welcome to. And if, like, if you’re like Joyce, it might just need to walk over to library and study. You’re welcome to the faculty are around their students around. But we are, you know, obviously focused on being online and supporting you fully online, since our students are from all over the country and sometimes all over the world.
Afra Ahmad: So an introduction to I/O psychology. So for those of you that may or may not know. But we have a professional association called Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. And
Afra Ahmad: there’s a short video that you know we’d like to share with you all, to give you a introduction to the bill. Hopefully, you all have been doing your research, and when learning about, I see it being nodding our head. And, Frida, that’s great. We love to see those nods, but you all have been learning about the field a little bit more. But we’re going to spend a minute to do that. Anything else you’d like to add, Dr. Stable before I show the video.
Kevin Stagl: I would just add that we we pride ourselves on having almost a hybrid fully hybrid experience where there are live interactions that you can walk across street and enjoy like picnic in the park, and there are events on campus, and there are meet and greets, and there there are ways to meet masters and Phd students. It’s not required, but it’s it’s very very healthy and interaction, and and very educational in in live conferences and other events that you can attend face to face and get to connect with people personally.
Afra Ahmad: Absolutely so. We have a fall picnic. And you know, students are. Everyone gets the invitation, and some, you know, even some that are in Richmond, or maybe 2, 3 h away, or Maryland. They come down to enjoy those interactions. And then we have another meeting greet in the spring, and then we have the Siup Conference, where everyone’s invited, and to the reception and get an opportunity to connect so lots of opportunities. And obviously, as you cross the finish line at graduation. That’s always a lot of fun.
Afra Ahmad: We hear comments in the
Afra Ahmad: news or from coworkers or friends. The workplace is changing businesses have to work smarter to compete in the global economy. Technology is altering the way
Afra Ahmad: and pace at which we work. We need to find and prepare employees for the jobs of tomorrow
Afra Ahmad: to meet these challenges. Organizations are increasingly relying on experts in workplace science. These professionals known as industrial organizational psychologists. Or I/O psychologists, work to improve organizations, productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness while striving to make the workplace better for
Afra Ahmad: both employers and employees
Afra Ahmad: alright. So these slides and the video and so forth will be sent out. So we’re not going to spend the whole time doing that. But hopefully, you all joining tonight, know what the I/O psychology is.
Afra Ahmad: and the video and other resources will provide additional information as to what industrial, organizational psychologist or related. Job descript. You know, title sort of does to help the workplace. But again, there’s a ton to learn, and even if you know it already, or are exposed to a little bit of it in the application process. Know that it’s going to be something that you’re gonna sort of accumulate through your time with us in the program. So it’s okay if you don’t have it all figured out.
Afra Ahmad: Now, Mason’s industrial organizational psychology program. That’s on ground was established in 1,972. So that’s the Phd and Ma program. We’ve had professors and faculty members from the field of academics and practitioners. And we’ve actually had 5 members, you know, from our program that have been presidents of our professional association sigh up.
Afra Ahmad: And so we have our students, you know, graduate, go work for top organizations or in academia, and we have several. We’re the largest I/O program in the country. And so that’s just a little bit history about our, you know Phd and Ma program that’s been established and running. And now, 5 years ago. I can’t believe it’s already been 5 years. But in the summer of 2019, we
Afra Ahmad: launch the fully online masters program. So that’s what you all are applying to. So the masters of professional studies and applied industrial Organizational Psychology program.
Afra Ahmad: Now we recognize the need
Afra Ahmad: for the prior to the pandemic, the need for access for students, right all over the country, and not everybody could quit their full time jobs and move to Fairfax, Virginia, and, you know, be in the master’s program, and there’s limited seats in the master’s program
Afra Ahmad: and so we were trying to make the program, the knowledge of the field, the skills of the field, you know, sort of accessible to a variety of individuals. And so we do take students in the spring, summer, and fall cohorts. Many of you are probably looking at potentially a fall start date. But if that doesn’t suit you, and please be aware that we also take students.
Afra Ahmad: In this, you know, next spring, if that’s better summer, you know we work with you? And so forth. So we are sort of based and founded on the scientist practitioner model, which is sort of the heart of I/O, and we prepare you for a wide variety of fields. So as you take the 1st course with Dr. Stable, you’ll realize that you’re not looking at just job descriptions. Let’s say, industrial, organizational psychologist. There’s a ton of job titles that sort of reach, the training that we’re providing.
Afra Ahmad: You take courses for about a year and a half, and we follow an 8 week. Modular calendar schedule. So if you were to join in the fall, you’re taking 2 classes with us 8 weeks at a time. So you’re not taking them at the same time, we want you to dive deeply and focus on one class at a time, especially since you are balancing work life demands.
Afra Ahmad: and so you’ll take one pause at a time again in the spring and the fall, and then in the summer we have 7. It’s a little shorter. It’s a little more condensed into 7 weeks, but we do make sure we allow for some break in between the semesters, which is something that always didn’t exist in the 1st couple of years of the program, and it was very challenging.
Afra Ahmad: But, we do have that built in, and every course you take with us. We have applied projects and assessments. So you know, for those underground undergrads who dreaded those cumulative finals. That’s not sort of our teaching philosophy. We want you to be able to apply what you’re learning into the work that you’re doing now in ways that are possible.
Afra Ahmad: and that we can talk about briefly. But, we really want you to be able to apply that information into these real life scenarios. So, for example, you know, Dr. Stapleton talked about a number of ways that he incorporates, that in his course and the research methods and practic. Of course, you have students identifying workplace problems and trying to collect data from their organizations and addressing those
Afra Ahmad: problems.
Afra Ahmad: Anything else that you’d like to add
Afra Ahmad: any questions, thoughts, or comments.
Kevin Stagl: You. You can add questions to the chat room, and I’ll I’ll monitor that if you’re
Kevin Stagl: you don’t want to answer or ask out loud.
Afra Ahmad: Alright, no questions. Yet.
Afra Ahmad: So what makes our program unique? So one thing is that all of the faculty in our program bring their wealth of expertise. So we have all of the tenure track faculty who are teaching the doctoral and master students.
Afra Ahmad: They, I have either developed and or teach in the program as well. So you’re getting access to their expertise and maybe Alex can share this a little later when she’s speaking. But I don’t think you realize how neat that is. I don’t think I realize how neat that is when, until I sat and Dr. Sees a car leadership class and realized half of the articles I was reading was written by him. And so it’s really a unique opportunity to be able to get access
Afra Ahmad: to the folks that have actually written book textbooks and books and articles about the topic, and be learning directly from them. And similarly, our alumni cadre is, or excuse me. Our adjunct cadre is made up of people who are alumni of the program and outside, and working in amazing applied experiences and bringing that wealth of expertise and experience into the classroom, and a lot of times these office hours which I like to put that in quotes because they’re not like undergrad office hours where you only attend if you have questions.
Afra Ahmad: Students are highly encouraged to attend, and those that are strong and bright. Students regularly attend each week. But not only do we, you know, support you, and addressing questions you may have about the course, materials and deliverables and expectations, but you know, faculty make themselves available to you about, you know, professional growth and development. I think
Afra Ahmad: Dr. Staggle and I, even just today, we get ton of emails, this con constantly about professional growth. I’m looking for internships. What do you think I should do about this? Can you review my resume? Can you give me some advice about this and we’re always trying to find ways to support you, whether it’s in the classroom or outside the classroom and giving you access to different talks that are available again to doctoral master students as well as tailor, just for you in the monthly call. So lots of access to faculty and their experiences and expertise.
Afra Ahmad: We actually have done a benchmark survey. We are competitively priced for, you know, respectable master’s degrees. And again, you want to do your research when you’re out there. One of the things that I they get very worried about. And I have an article coming out this summer about it, but there are predatory programs out there, and it’s very important that you understand and distinguish the 2. There are many out there who are willing to take your money, but you will not walk away
Afra Ahmad: with the skill set that you need to be successful in the market. So it is essential that you understand?
Afra Ahmad: what sign up even they they put out. Do the research there? The professional Association has an education training guidelines.
Afra Ahmad: and you’re welcome to take a look at the course offerings we have and the, you know, expectations we have, and you’ll see that they match those guidelines that are set by the professional association.
Afra Ahmad: We aim to be flexible. And so that, as mentioned, while we have many hybrid opportunities and live opportunities, we really strive to be flexible to meet the needs that you have with your work. Life demands.
Afra Ahmad: and we again, we understand. So you know the courses pre sort of pre set, and it’s asynchronous. And you can facilitate your way to the program. Using that format. But again, those who are most successful are tuning in to as many of these live interactions and sessions as possible, and are highly encouraged to do so. And Dr. Sego and I can tell you now doing this for 4 or 5 years that we could tell the difference between the students who are taking advantage of those opportunities. And and you’ll be able to
Afra Ahmad: have that competitive edge. When you are doing your interviews and seeking employment opportunities outside the program.
Afra Ahmad: And finally, you can reach out to our the admissions team who’ll connect you to the Financial Aid Office
Afra Ahmad: and to talk about some programs and support systems through there, as well as several career services. Several of our students not only get their resume and so forth, looked at by us, but they do seek the services of the University career services. You know, through resume reviews and interviewing
Afra Ahmad: any questions, thoughts, or comments. It’s a quiet group, or sometimes I keep looking at my chat and thinking. The chat feature is not working.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, I’m not sure what’s going on. My, I I’m getting some direct messages. Oops. Go ahead.
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, yeah, just.
Frida Moreno: I’m from Arizona. I’m Frida, and I am actually going to be moving to Oregon with a couple of friends. I’m looking for live change right now. And I’m excited to be applying. So you mentioned that
Frida Moreno: we can do this
Frida Moreno: program asynchronously and obviously would love to join for live classes or interactions.
Frida Moreno: What would those times be, or does that differ? Dated like week, week by week, or something? Cause? Obviously, there’s that time zone difference. I just wanna
Frida Moreno: make sure that that’s still in line, obviously.
Frida Moreno: with everything.
Afra Ahmad: Okay. So you wanna take that one bye.
Kevin Stagl: I can take that one this week. We hosted. I hosted 2 h 2 meetings of office hours. One was for an East Coast contingent, and actually for anybody who wants to come to both.
Kevin Stagl: And and the second one was offset. So we
Kevin Stagl: we start at 7 on Monday because of the way the summer works. We had to start early in this in this particular semester. But
Kevin Stagl: we started 7 on Monday, Eastern, and then 8 30 on Tuesday, Eastern.
Kevin Stagl: And and so this week we did about 5 h of office hours. It’s the toughest week of the course, and that’s why we’re there’s so much of the course. Now, that’s not everyone attends that. But
Kevin Stagl: we review the module with you each week and answer your questions. And we also post videos in case you can’t make it to office hours, you’re able to access those videos and review them.
Kevin Stagl: Their overview and the assignments and and what other people might be asking on camera.
Kevin Stagl: But we also have a, we have multiple components, elements of this off camera.
Kevin Stagl: So we are hosting some of this presentations
Kevin Stagl: and guest speakers learning games and and ser, what we call serious games. Activities like. Last night we did a midterm review as well as self test.
Kevin Stagl: Several presentations. The night before we had a guest speaker from the Department of State. And so there’s multiple activities that aren’t on camera for you to review. And that’s that’s the extra bonus. If you’re actually in office hours and you’re welcome to attend both events, if you’d like, or just one. And it’s it’s really flexible to
Kevin Stagl: what you want to accomplish and how. And but the videos will overview
Kevin Stagl: the the major assignments and and activities for the week. So just just in case you can’t make it, you’re you’re always covered.
Kevin Stagl: and we’re going to encourage you and help you cede study study groups based on your research interest and
Kevin Stagl: that that pure learning component is also very valuable to this experience.
Kevin Stagl: I see. I see we hear a couple of questions. Finally, Jasmine, go ahead, please.
Jasmine Locke: Hi, I just had a clarifying question. I know you said like 7 or 8 30. Do you mean am or Pm.
Kevin Stagl: Oh, they’re in the Evening Post Post. This. The program is generally designed for working professionals.
Kevin Stagl: And so even when we host at 7, you know, we I give a few minutes to warm up and people to chat amongst themselves. So they’re not
Kevin Stagl: racing out of parking lots. And we’re, you know I’m there for a couple of hours. We’re typically there for an extended period of time. So even if you couldn’t make it at the beginning, it’s not, it’s not, it’s optional. You can come in later during the the event and still ask your question.
Kevin Stagl: and even if I’m doing a presentation, I would stop and answer your your weekly question. So it’s it’s not rigid, as in the sense you have to check in and check out. You’re you’re gonna be working this around your professional schedule, and we encourage you to work. So you can generalize and reinforce your lessons from the program.
Jasmine Locke: Okay. Thank you.
Kevin Stagl: You’re welcome, Laurie.
Laurie Heinzelman: Alright.
Laurie Heinzelman: so my question is related to those of us who are currently working or not working. I re I retired from my business, I or my company. I just got tired of it and started my own business and I decided to go back to school, because this is what I’m interested in, right. This is really what I should have been doing. Will I be left behind, or
Laurie Heinzelman: kind of be in a space where I’m not able to do some of the work, because I’m my own business, like, it’s just me like I don’t have an organization to maybe follow up with anymore. Or to look at how, how we’re working, because it’s just me.
Kevin Stagl: So we will have to stay in tighter coordination and and work through a few of the projects, particularly during the second course.
Kevin Stagl: But I assume, as you have ample work experience, you have business contacts elsewhere.
Kevin Stagl: And some of the basic studies that we would do during the second course would rely on some of those business contacts. But
Kevin Stagl: no and we have sole proprietors and other executives that are in similar positions, small business leaders and
Kevin Stagl: or a large business leaders. And so we would work with you and flexibly tailor an approach that you would be able to accomplish, based on your current situation.
Laurie Heinzelman: Okay. Alright, thank you. And you’re right. I I know a ton of people. So I can just always go back to them, too, if needed. So thank you.
Afra Ahmad: Sorry. I just wanna remind you that it really does take a village. And one of the my favorite memories of the program is
Afra Ahmad: we graduated soon, 3 times a year, and we have a virtual graduation celebration as well as the in person graduation, celebration
Afra Ahmad: and then virtual one. We always do, because it’s more intimate. We get to invite the graduates, their family, their friends, and the professors, and every single semester. You have
Afra Ahmad: friends and family members that are like.
Afra Ahmad: I’m so glad this person is graduating. And now I will have to go out another survey again, or or give another example again. But no, they really do enjoy it, though they do talk about how much they learn through those interactions. And so you do have a community of people who are still working that you can tap into. And you have your peers.
Afra Ahmad: So in the research methods practicum course, you are not asked to do the practicum project by yourself. You’re in groups of, you know, 3. And so that way, if you are trying to collect data, say, like 150 participants. Everyone’s just doing 50 each or so. Because we do talk about getting enough power and having what power analysis looks like and things like that. But you know we do try to facilitate ways for you not to just be obtaining when, like Dr. Stagl said, lots of coordination. But it’s not impossible. It’s done by many others.
Laurie Heinzelman: Okay. Alright, that was my main concern. Okay, thank you.
Kevin Stagl: I’ll just add to that that the inverse is true as well. We have students our mobile students. A little bit more
Kevin Stagl: experienced work experience, typical graduate student. I think we’re 7 plus years on average. But there are students with no work experience who come straight from undergrad. And we also craft the plan, you know, an individualized learning sequence for them, and then we address their project concerns and
Kevin Stagl: we work with them to find, you know, ample sandboxes to work in, and we team them with more experienced people. And so you shouldn’t feel concerned if you have less experience, and you’re coming from right right from undergrad.
Kevin Stagl: Here.
Afra Ahmad: I think I saw Abina’s hand next.
Abena Fredua-Agyeman: Hi, yes, my name is Abena. And so I had a quick question. And essentially, we’re going around. How do the projects and assignments tend to look like.
Afra Ahmad: So that’s a great question. To kind of come back to what Frido was asking earlier. So every week in our learning management system. You’ll actually have the whole course laid out in the very 1st day. So you you know how like you’ll have to wait until what’s coming up in week, 3 week 4. We do want you to obviously take it week by week, because material builds on each other. But you’ll have the entire course pre-built and developed for you on the very 1st day.
Afra Ahmad: and every single week in a given week you’ll have an introduction message. You’ll have an well, you know introduction video, it’ll talk about the weekly objectives. And then it’s broken through where you’ll have your learning resources, which are often your textbook readings, journal articles, videos, supplemental learning. This is how you’re learning the information. And then some practice exercises. That’s not graded. So if you want to be like, do I really understand what I’m doing. Let me take this self, graded Squiz, to see if I get what I’m doing. But we don’t look at that at all.
Afra Ahmad: and then you have some application assignments, and these application assignments could be short writing assignments or short parts of make, larger deliverables, like projects and things like that. And then finally, we have
Afra Ahmad: a knowledge check quiz, that is like, you know, short, multiple choice. Quiz, that you all are taking. That’s like timed. And it’s like, do we? Do you understand what we’re? You know, we were covering that week.
Afra Ahmad: But the projects, you know, every class does have different types of projects. But like, for example, in the selection class, you’ll do a job analysis project right where you really need to create up a job description for an individual can, you know, can do some research conducted, collect some data, do some interviews, and then write up that job analysis? Then other projects. You know, there’s also validation project in there. And then the I talked a little bit about the research methods practicum. So there’s a ton of ways, some of them aren’t you do by yourself
Afra Ahmad: and others, you doing in small teams
Afra Ahmad: and and just be aware that whatever you’re doing, the all the directions, instructions, everything’s laid out. So I know Freda was really concerned like, what if you can’t join the one office hour? You’re not gonna be left hanging dry? Everything you need to know and be successful is already built into the learning management system. But of course, to help your UN. Enhance your understanding, and you learn with each other, you coming to office hours. You’re talking to the faculty member and so forth.
Afra Ahmad: Does that help provide some more clarity on how the class is set up.
Abena Fredua-Agyeman: Yes, that’s perfect, especially with it being online and still being able to get relationships. That’s amazing.
Afra Ahmad: Okay, great. And then I think I saw Tony next, and then Jared, and then we’ll try to.
Tony Labib: Yeah, so.
Afra Ahmad: No question.
Tony Labib: As far as like admissions go, I just wanted to confirm. So is it a possibility like
Tony Labib: I can apply for the fall semester, which I’m not mistaken. The deadline is July first.st
Tony Labib: Is it a possibility like if I apply for the fall semester? And I’m like I change my mind. I want to start in the spring, and like, say, just say, I get in like, is it possible that I defer to the spring, or would I have to reapply for the spring semester.
Afra Ahmad: Casey, correct me if I’m wrong, but you can defer.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, and also the deadline, for our fall term is August 15.th
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay? Oh, God.
Kevin Stagl: Learn.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, I’m always. I was shaking my head. No, so.
Tony Labib: Yeah, I thought, it’s on July first, st somewhere.
George Mason Online Admissions: No. So, August the website sometimes has the wrong.
Kevin Stagl: It’s not your.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah. So August 15, th start date August 26.th But we work on a rolling admission. So the sooner that you apply the sooner you can get a decision. If you get admitted to the fall, you can defer your enrollment for an entire year, so you can defer till fall 2025
George Mason Online Admissions: or the spring or the summer, but you can only defer once
George Mason Online Admissions: And again you have the ability to defer for an entire year so.
George Mason Online Admissions: and again, August 15.th
Afra Ahmad: August. Yeah, that’s what I was looking. I think Dr. Stagg and I were looking at each other. That’s early. We we.
Tony Labib: Yeah.
Afra Ahmad: Which is all the way up till the end.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah.
Afra Ahmad: But, Tony, we’d love to have you earlier, if possible. But we do understand like circumstances. We want you to be best set up for success. So whatever that looks like personally and professionally for you and your you know, Timeline, we’re we’re here, and we’re love to support you. Jared.
Jared Dorsey: Hey? Good evening. This is Jared coming out of northwest Florida.
Jared Dorsey: I said a couple of questions. The the 1st one is
Jared Dorsey: kind of where do you see a majority of students? Kind of geared toward after the program as far as like where they tend to to work, etc. And then in regard to like systems that you guys utilize in the program for like data analytics.
Afra Ahmad: Don’t you say, go! You wanna take that.
Kevin Stagl: Yes, so I was just gonna pull the actual last cohort as did as you were answering. But
Kevin Stagl: we have 3 people from the Pentagon in the current cohort one. It’s just retired.
Kevin Stagl: 2 more that are in the Dod, 3 that are in a high end, private sector positions.
Kevin Stagl: and some that are in nonprofits are there, and then, I would say a handful that
Kevin Stagl: have relatively less experience. But are, you know, learning as they go. And and you know, I work with all students and their vocational guidance. And and so
Kevin Stagl: it’s not just instruction. We’re gonna we’re gonna take a personal interest in your development attract trajectory. So where’d you go? There you are. So you you’ll send me a resume. We’ll work on that and we’ll talk about. You know where the the fit is and where you’re you can think about a a broad trichotomization right now as you know, the Federal Government is a major employer of Ios
Kevin Stagl: large private sector entities and midsize private sector entities. And I would put, you know, research institutes slash nonprofits.
Kevin Stagl: And and there are quite a few of those. Mason has a stellar reputation. And their Phc students have been, you know, for the last 4 decades have been going out
Kevin Stagl: and and securing position. So they’re they’re globally situated right now all over the world.
Kevin Stagl: and and we have our own 300 plus alums are are approaching that. And so
Kevin Stagl: and many of our students are working. So
Kevin Stagl: we’re gonna try to introduce you. As many of those students as possible connect you. We, we serve as an intermediaries to make those initial links. But eventually we’re gonna be able to get you to various events and communities of practice that we built. There’s a brand new community practice. I know you were mentioning about the Dod. There’s a brand new community practice. For military members here, led by one of our new adjuncts who who is at the Pentagon right now?
Kevin Stagl: And and so he leads that
Kevin Stagl: it’s a very large group of 30 plus people that have already joined it. They’ve just had their 1st meeting, and it’s expanding rapidly. It just got started. So it’s gonna expand rapidly. So we will talk about all the different potential prototypical or typical career paths.
Kevin Stagl: As well as the 1st assignment during the 1st course is about exploring different work opportunities, and it comparing yourself
Kevin Stagl: benchmarking to actual job requirements in these different opportunities and developing an individual deal development plan
Kevin Stagl: and including how the courses will help you close the gap to get to where you want to be at work, and you’ll you’ll study a career lattice and and different levels and different heart levels of positions and and not just positions at where you’re at now. But where you want to go.
Afra Ahmad: And, Jared. One thing I want to share with you, and everyone is I told the folks like don’t just take it for us from our mouth. One place to look at is, we actually have an I/O newsletter and so if you go to the I/O the ion, I put the link in there, you can click the spring, the latest edition, and we go back years and years. So if you want to even look at the last 5 years where Venice is going.
Afra Ahmad: So you’ll see, you know. Welcome. And this is again. We’ll include information about the Nps program. We welcome our cohorts. But where you want to go is you want to scroll all the way down?
Afra Ahmad: Well, it’s in different spots. Where is it? Where’s my good news corner. There we go our good news corner.
Afra Ahmad: So here you have where folks are getting jobs, and so you’ll if it says Mps cohort, you know, that’s when you know they’re graduating from this specific program. There’s also Phd, ma, but we really encourage our folks to tell us where they’re going, where they’re working what they’re doing. And so this is a great place to look at and like, I said, you’ll have years and years of data to learn where folks are working at.
Afra Ahmad: so I encourage you to check it out.
Kevin Stagl: We just updated the website as well. So you should be able to see a list of employers that our students are currently at or at least a subset, and then I will share a much more extensive list during week one, and you’ll see some of the major names and what they’re you know where what their titles are, and we want to connect with you. But we want you to connect with them. And we were. Gonna
Kevin Stagl: we’re gonna make those introductions for you make make it easier for you. And and people from different cohorts are gonna come in and speak each week.
Kevin Stagl: and they’re gonna introduce you to what they’re thinking is and where they work at and so you’re gonna get to meet people from the prior cohorts that are currently active as well.
Afra Ahmad: Alright. So I wanna get to a couple of the questions in the chat real quick, and then we’ll start wrapping up our portion, so that you guys can hear from the students and alumna? So some questions in the chat, does the campus programs have the option for concentration and psychology as well. I’m not in Anissa. I don’t know if you can say anything a lot. I’m not sure if I understand, because.
George Mason Online Admissions: I think the she private, direct message. I think that she meant that if there was a campus program for Mps and I/O psychology. And if there isn’t, is there like a I/O psych or a psychology?
George Mason Online Admissions: Campus similar to.
Afra Ahmad: If there, if someone’s looking for in person options, we do have the ma, the masters of arts, and you know you can look into that and on the website, and maybe something you can share. Casey is, we do have a table that we’ve worked on creating so that folks can learn about the similarities and differences between the Ma and Mps program, so that might be a good resource.
Afra Ahmad: The difference between a full time and part time schedule. So this is a great question, Melanie. If you are taking so, students will typically take 2 classes, a semester. You are not taking more than that because again, it’s 1. It’s very
Afra Ahmad: remember. I said it was 8 weeks long for one class, and if you guys can put your thinking caps on and remember, back in undergrad classes were 15 weeks. So now we have about 130. You know, there’s requirements that need to be met so 135 h. Of course, requirements in 8 weeks means you’re spending about 20 HA week on, you know, coursework. So we really do not have students taking 2 classes at the same time. You are taking one class at a time, and they are built in a sequential order on purpose.
Afra Ahmad: And so you’ll 1st take, you know, the introduction to the to the you know, aisle psychology. Then you’ll take work set like there’s a way in pattern that we have it built out. So you’re not taking 4, 5 classes or 3 classes, or anything like that. Part time. It gets a little tricky if you try to take one class a semester because
Afra Ahmad: you would miss the next 8 weeks, plus the 1st 8 weeks to get back, or you know, you’d have to play around with the schedule because the classes again are offered in a way, you know, fall session, one fall session, 2. So if you skip, fall session 2. You’re coming back in spring session 2, because that’s when the class is gonna be offered again. So it gets a little tricky. But do we work with folks we absolutely do. If they’re only able to take one class. But it’s really not gonna be great for your learning curve, and just sort of keeping up the momentum.
Afra Ahmad: the flexibility within each 8 week. Rotation. So you are not typically seeing folks do 2, 3 weeks of work on a go. I mean, we sure some people might work ahead if they have a big work trip or something like that coming up. But, as I mentioned, you know, information build on each other. There’s flexibility within a given week, and then you have a deliverable due Sunday. But I’m gonna once we get to the student time. I’m gonna have Alex and others
Afra Ahmad: speak a little bit more about that and sort of their strategies as they planned. Maybe around there are people that take vacations and work trips and things like that. There’s a lot of coordination and planning that goes into that but it’s not impossible.
Afra Ahmad: Alright, with that, and let me
Afra Ahmad: make sure. Here’s a little bit about the.
Afra Ahmad: you know curriculum. So, as I mentioned those, you know, we have a required set of courses that you’re taking in a particular order, and then you have a set of electives that you’re taking at the end. And they are built in a certain way. Right they are, you know, following a certain sequence. So it’s very important that you follow that sequence a lot of times we get information about the practicum course. So the practicum course is built in with the research methods course. So it’s
Afra Ahmad: of course, that’ll take 16 weeks if you’re in the fall or spring or 14 weeks, if you’re in the summer. But you’re building a research proposal and identifying a workplace problem building a research proposal, collecting some data
Afra Ahmad: analyzing, and your final deliverables are a full academic paper, white paper and presentation. But I just wanted to show this a little bit so that folks don’t get all worried, because sometimes they hear the word practicum, and they think, do I need to quit my job and do a internship or a practicum. And the answer is, no, you are doing what you’re doing in the workplace, and you know, sort of combining with the learning and the program.
Afra Ahmad: We talked briefly a little bit about the career outcomes already, and that was a great question that was posed. And I again, I showed you guys the newsletter. But that’s a great place to check out.
Afra Ahmad: Some professional development opportunities. We’ve already alluded to. You have your course work, and you’re gonna take advantage of those office hours and engagement with your peers and faculty. We have monthly calls where you get to connect with Dr. Staggle and I. Because this isn’t the only time we’re gonna answer questions from you. We are there for you in our office hours, but also monthly. We make ourselves available to you all to answer questions, provide support. I had someone, as I mentioned, asking for some
Afra Ahmad: professional, you know, guidance, and I said, Come to the monthly call. I’m leaving the June Monthly call, and I can. I’m happy to share it, not just with you, but everyone on the call, because these are going to be great tips for everybody.
Afra Ahmad: We invite guests a lot of times. We’ll invite recruiters to come. Speak we have learning series that are featured during the academic year in the fall and spring. And those are talks that
Afra Ahmad: are open to all faculty alumni, current students and the Phd. Ma. And Mps programs. They’re during lunch hour. Typically. So we encourage you all if you’re able to to take a lunch break. But you get to hear from amazing thought leaders of the field that get invited. I’m talking about cutting edge research. They do not record this because they don’t want some of those research information getting taken before it’s getting published. But you really they’re setting up some great panels this summer. I know I was. I just sent out an email to alumni list. Serve and
Afra Ahmad: Some great folks are already responding and signing up for those panels. You know. What is it like starting your own consulting business and things like that.
Afra Ahmad: Then you have university career services, and we and we connect you to external opportunities. We’re constantly all the faculty will send you job opportunities, internship opportunities.
Afra Ahmad: opportunities for consulting competitions. If I mean, sometimes we internally think we send too many emails. But my take is that, hey? We get you all the information opportunities out there. It’s up to you. If you want to take advantage of them, are available. It works for some and not for others, and that’s your choice.
Afra Ahmad: But you have a ton of opportunities when you’re in the program with us.
Afra Ahmad: Anything else, Dr. Siegel.
Kevin Stagl: Yes, ma’am, I would just add that this is not just this is the major benefit. And I I wanna, I wanna emphasize it.
Kevin Stagl: This isn’t a 1 off. Why, why, you’re here at Mason.
Kevin Stagl: We have alums even from the Phd. The 20 years ago. Come back and be at these top talks by by the top consultants and and top academicians all around the world.
Kevin Stagl: And you. You have access to this and and the career services for the rest of your career. So this isn’t a 1 off thing you. These talks will be directly beneficial to some subset to wherever you work at
Kevin Stagl: and literally you can. You can tap into this and and and benefit from it. Leverage this expertise the rest of your career.
Afra Ahmad: Alright. So with that, instead of just sharing a quote, we’d like to turn it over to some of our speakers here for the last 15 min, so that you all have the opportunity to ask your questions. Thoughts, or comments, and Casey will sort of, you know, wrap up, remind you all that in the admissions process you wanna make sure you get your information in if you’re considering the program. But
Afra Ahmad: when we turn it over to the student guest speakers. Dr. Staggle and I pop off so that you guys can ask any questions freely without being worried that we’re gonna remember your name when we’re reviewing applications. Any of that. But no, seriously, we want you to ask all your questions that you have to our alumni students. Because we want you to get that information. But before we hop off I know we have some good questions going. Is there anything else that Dr. Stable and I can answer before we leave
Afra Ahmad: now.
Kevin Stagl: And and you have some top people in this room today to answer.
Frida Moreno: Mission.
Afra Ahmad: Yeah.
Kevin Stagl: Please!
Frida Moreno: Sorry. Can you hear me?
Afra Ahmad: Yup. We can.
Frida Moreno: Okay? I guess. One question that I have is.
Frida Moreno: what
Frida Moreno: made you both come into this field, or what has been your favorite particip remain in it, and actually, like, teach other people like us to learn to locate.
Afra Ahmad: You’re gonna get me all emotional.
Afra Ahmad: Do you want me to start on your schedule
Afra Ahmad: for me like a lot of people who declare their major psychology. I was like, Oh, the cliche word! I wanna help people. I thought that I was limited to clinical and counseling, and when I learned about industrial organizational psychology, I was blown away that I could have an impact at such a larger scale. I’m like, it’s not gonna be just the one walking into the office seeking clinical or counseling services. It’s everybody everybody has to work, or your partner has to work. Somebody has to work in your household to support you, and I can make a difference
Afra Ahmad: in organizations and in people’s lives and their work matters. They spend 40 or more hours with, you know, people in in their organizations, and that definitely bleeds over into their personal lives. And it just matters so much. And I was really excited about the field of industrial organizational psychology because I knew about the impact.
Afra Ahmad: And I’ll tell you that in terms of being an academic program director professor. It’s really being able to see that impact through you all. It’s, you know, teaching. It’s seeing those Aha moments in the office hours, seeing those curious questions and cameras on.
Afra Ahmad: but then also seeing the journey, and then seeing you across the finish line, you know, at graduation. But then that’s not it. We get to again. I was at the Siup Conference, and I have so many people that were along 9 from the program running up and telling me about all the amazing things that they’re doing now in organizations. And we get blown away like that. All this impact just continues in the circular, you know, circular way, and it’s just it makes it very meaningful. And that’s sort of why we do. I do what I do.
Kevin Stagl: I I have the same story, I I and I think most Ios probably do. It’s it’s it’s watching you all grow and and develop
Kevin Stagl: I was fascinated by assessment, and I was an undergrad. And I I wanted to be a psychiatrist.
Kevin Stagl: So I interned at an acute stabilization center. And it was there about 6 months. And I realized I wasn’t having the impact. I thought I was gonna have. You know, these facilities are often not as funded as well as they should be for the communities. And
Kevin Stagl: you see the same people sometimes, repeatedly, and you’re trying your very best to help children or adults with severe problems. And
Kevin Stagl: it’s very difficult sometimes. And so
Kevin Stagl: I transitioned into a more general assessment based position.
Kevin Stagl: And immediately was hooked on the power of I/O. And what it could do for people
Kevin Stagl: who are invested in their own development and change. And so
Kevin Stagl: that was 30 years ago. And and here it is, you know, almost. And here it is now. And it’s still about.
Kevin Stagl: It’s still about students and and the relationships that you’re gonna that you’re gonna connect and make here in the program.
Kevin Stagl: And that’ll bond you and form teams and groups that are just. You can amplify your effects
Kevin Stagl: through the power of those collectives. And and that’s why I study team performance. And and and
Kevin Stagl: that’s why I’m I’m an I/O.
Afra Ahmad: Frida. Thank you so much for that question, because.
Kevin Stagl: Was. That was a tricky one. I didn’t.
Afra Ahmad: No, but I really appreciate it, because you’re sort of ending us before we log off on the note that it’s all about community and the people, and that’s why we encourage you all to turn on the cameras. We will have our cameras on. We are make ourselves available, I mean Dr. Staggle and I. We some give out our numbers. We’re texting with our students. Not that we’re expecting that from you, but we are. We are invested in you all like it is not like you’re in this online program and don’t
Afra Ahmad: see the people and hear the people and feel the people. You will be you. You’re valued here. You’re part of this community and you know, Alex, I think, got all my text message graduation pictures, and she was able to distribute it to the cohort because I was like, it’s on my phone. I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to email it out to everybody. And it’s just it really is a community. And I hope that you’re able to pick up on a little bit of it tonight. And if not, continue reading the Ion Newsletter, and you’ll see a ton of pictures.
Afra Ahmad: I take a lot of pictures, and you’ll hear it from yourself, from Alex and Hannah. So with that Alex and Hannah, I turn the group over to you all. So please. While Dr. Stale and I, you know, log off, introduce yourselves, and I know you guys are in great hands with Hannah and Alex.
George Mason Online Admissions: Armada. Thank you, Dr. Staggle, for joining us tonight.
Afra Ahmad: Thank.
George Mason Online Admissions: Appreciate it. Thank you. Bye.
Alex Ditursi: Bye, Dr. Sego, bye, Dr. Amad, it was good to see you.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: See it. I’m just taking.
Kevin Stagl: And Alex.
Afra Ahmad: I’ll see you on Monday, I know bye.
Alex Ditursi: Hi, guys, this is really, really exciting. I actually just graduated. So I know that right now, you’re like about to embark on this really exciting adventure. You’re probably maybe a little nervous. You’re probably wondering. What am I getting myself into? But you thank you. Sureita, am I saying that right?
Alex Ditursi: You guys are gonna love it. It’s a fantastic program. I can’t even.
Alex Ditursi: I probably can’t describe in words how much I I took from this program. You learn a lot about yourself. You grow and learn as a team member. Really lean on your cohort. You’re gonna make friends forever. And then you’re really gonna be well prepared to go out and make real change in the world. So I’m excited for you guys.
Alex Ditursi: Hannah, you want to go next.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Yeah, I’m still in the program. So I’m Covid 13. I’m actually in the Proc. I started last, I guess, summer, really. And I’m in the practicum now, or research methods and then practicing sets in couple of weeks. But there.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: can they go together?
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: and yeah, I it’s been an and really incredible experience so far, and is continuing to be you really can get.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: I mean, like any kind of school. I think it. What you get out of it is correlated to what you put into it. But you can get. There’s there’s so many opportunities
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: to get out just so much like more opportunity than you can reasonably
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: take advantage of, which is great. Even if you know you’re you’re able to take advantage of of a lot of things, and that is coming also, even for me. I’m I know someone mentioned that they’re they’re on the West Coast, moving up to Oregon, and I’m in California. So
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: happy to talk more about that if you want
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: for me, it was really, you know, I have a stem background, my undergrad, and it was important to me to
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: find a program that was rigorous and as you know, some accredited and and rigorous in that same way, and, you know, had me kind of working with some data, too. And so that was also Co, you know, vice president in the program. So yeah, all sorts of stuff. There’s just been so many things, you know. Alex and I have met. We know each other. We, you know.
Alex Ditursi: We do. I love her.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: You know, we’re not missing forward, you know. We managed to connect that way because, you know, through calls like our monthly call, and then, you know, we both went to Sia, and then we’re able to connect that way. So kind, I didn’t know she was gonna be here for now. So just to give you an idea.
George Mason Online Admissions: That’s awesome!
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Happy to answer whatever questions you know that I’ll have.
Alex Ditursi: Ask away not everyone at once. Please.
George Mason Online Admissions: Someone raised their hand. Jared.
Alex Ditursi: Hey, Jared.
Jared Dorsey: Hey? Good evening.
Jared Dorsey: Oh, I wanted to ask about kind of like the data and the data methods used in the curriculum like, what what systems? Do you guys typically use.
Alex Ditursi: So for like data analytics is that, yeah? So you’ll learn all about spss, so Ibm.
Alex Ditursi: and then your second course of data analytics will be mainly focused on r, which I know whenever I was 1st taking both those courses. That was something I was really nervous about I love statistics, but you know it. I knew it was going to be very challenging, right, especially in a truncated, you know, 8 week class, but
Alex Ditursi: the materials. That the professors use the way that they lay out the course. It’s really manageable. You really can die like if you spend some time with the materials you’re going to do, really? Well.
Alex Ditursi: so yeah, that’s that’s the the 2 programs that you’ll mainly be using. You do a little bit of excel, too, but.
Jared Dorsey: Thank you.
Alex Ditursi: Course!
Frida Moreno: I haven’t actually.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: That would be nice. Okay.
Frida Moreno: Atlanta.
Alex Ditursi: Yeah.
Abena Fredua-Agyeman: Yes, yeah. Hi, everyone. My name is Abna. So I had a question for the both of you. Also. What do you all plan on doing with I/O after, since you just graduated congratulations. And then.
Abena Fredua-Agyeman: Anna as well, what do you plan on doing.
Alex Ditursi: Kenna you wanna take this 1 1st and then I’ll go.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Sure. So
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: currently I work as the administrative director and chief of Dei for a small traffic engineering consulting firm. So some of you know, I/O stuff
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: I do. Now, you know, I that’s not. My role isn’t like an I/O practitioner, you know.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: role necessarily like, entitled necessarily. But there’s, you know, things that I was already doing and things that I have done through, you know, while working, you know, in this program, like, there’s definitely been things that are applicable. Whether that comes, you know.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: you know, doing a little bit more robust job analysis, you know, before you write or review, you know, job descriptions to
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: So you know, setting up
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: hoping, you know, I’m a huge fan of structured interviews, so like I’ve always used those. But you know.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: in a recent round, like version, like went a little further in terms of the materials we use, and, like the rubrics we use for those.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: you, you know, using certain behavior. We include scales stuff like that that you’ll learn about
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: or even, you know, developing. You know, we’re a small firm. So there’s a lot of things that like don’t work for
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: for us like that, we can’t, you know.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: really plug and play things that you know, are developed, or or you know. So there’s there’s a lot of opportunity that said
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: I am really interested in kind of the organizational, you know effectiveness, and then also transformation spheres. And so that’s the area I, I, personally would like to be able to
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: work more fully in that sphere rather than only a part of my! My pay job, you know. As it were. So if that answers your question.
Abena Fredua-Agyeman: Yeah, that’s super cool. Thank you.
Alex Ditursi: I I can’t type and talk at the same time, so give me one second.
Abena Fredua-Agyeman: No problem.
Alex Ditursi: Putting my email in the chat for anybody who feels like they don’t have enough time tonight.
Alex Ditursi: If you wanna connect it at any point, please feel free to reach out. But so the question was, what do I plan to do now with I/O? Okay.
Abena Fredua-Agyeman: Yes. Yeah.
Alex Ditursi: I currently work in training and development at a nonprofit organization here in Northern Virginia. So I think that I/O definitely lends itself well to training and development. That is something that almost every organization across all you know, all kinds of organizations are really beefing up right because training is so important for literally everything that an employee does throughout their life. Cycle.
Alex Ditursi: That being said, I have been kind of doing a little bit of job crafting and
Alex Ditursi: taking a little bit of a brave step to kind of advocate for a higher position with a little bit more responsibility, just because I’m ready to kind of flex these new skills and get those working. So I am actually moving into a manager of employee engagement at my nonprofit organization. So I’m really excited about that. Thank you.
Abena Fredua-Agyeman: Congratulations.
Alex Ditursi: Thank you. Yeah, it’s it’s super cool. You really get to see the fruits of your labor. I know that there are a lot of jobs out there that
Alex Ditursi: you know you’re you’re grinding day in and day out, and you might not be able to see that, you know, tangibly. But with I/OI really feel like you get to actually see the difference that you make in. You know the the experience of the employees around you and I feel like that’s really valuable.
Alex Ditursi: Like, Dr. Moss said. We spend way too much time at work for it to be terrible and and you know, I think that it’s just a really great opportunity that you guys are all embarking on. And I’m really excited for you.
Abena Fredua-Agyeman: Thank you so much.
Alex Ditursi: Course.
Alex Ditursi: questions galore. Who’s next?
George Mason Online Admissions: Think, Tony, go ahead, Tony.
Tony Labib: Hey? I just had a question. So I’m interested in both, like industrial, organizational psychology and like human resources management. So like Hr, so I was wondering, do you guys know what the main like distinguishes and similarities are between the 2? And like, how do they
Tony Labib: like
Tony Labib: like, what’s the overall like view on both of them, like, what’s your advice on both of them?
Alex Ditursi: So alright. Here’s kind of my take on that. And, Hannah, I hope that you can chime in as well.
Alex Ditursi: I feel like they’re not all that different, especially in today’s age. We’re really moving towards science-based, the, you know, evidence-based
Alex Ditursi: work solutions. So you’re gonna see that in Hr, you’re gonna see that as an I/O
Alex Ditursi: you’re gonna be set up well for both, I would say, Go, I/O. I’m might be a little biased. I’m actually very biased. But definitely go I/O and that’ll set you up really well for any kind of Hr position right? And then you can also lean on that. And maybe really use that kind of research and your ability to take complex information and make it accessible to a larger audience. That’s really what you’re going to be doing in Hr, anyways. So you’ll get a little bit of both, I think, Hannah, what do you think.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Yeah, I’m i i get. I’m this, I have the same bias. You know. I think there’s there’s a lot of overlap. There’s gonna be a lot of people, you know, in the poor, like in my program, my cohort, and I think other cohorts who are in Hr or Hr. Managers, you know. There’s there’s a lot of
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: of overlap. I would just does come from that kind of evidence. Base.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: you know.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Kind of stem more stem approach, and which I think is
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: you know, hopefully, a growing trend, you know, and I in the Hr. Spirit seems certainly seems like it, you know. And then it’s also gonna have. There’s certain things that are, gonna you know, pro
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: prepare you, you know, if you are going into like Hr management. You know, it’s nice to be able to feel comfortable.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: understanding
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: data and understanding. You know the kind of what where that data is coming from what it means, and and being able to, you know, talk with analysts or talk with senior leaders.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: being able to come from this kind of perspective. I think we’re definitely, I think you know, helps with all that strategically.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: And just to jump in on that I know, as in from an admission standpoint, a lot of students like you mentioned either going into the program or coming out of the program. Get into Hr management. And things like that as well. So it is definitely a merge of the 2.
Alex Ditursi: Go. I know.
George Mason Online Admissions: Go ahead, Kirsty.
Christie Huter: I? I don’t know if this personally applies to either one of you, or maybe you. If not, if you have been in the cohort with someone
Christie Huter: where it does. But I’m trying to get a pro, an honest perspective about the program from someone who works full time and has children.
Christie Huter: I know it’s a huge time commitment, and you know, don’t hold back. I’m 1 of those types who thinks like I can do it all, all the things all at the same time, and still stay married. And so
Christie Huter: please be honest. I’m just trying to figure out if it’s feasible, or, if I, you know, should back off a little bit with the big dreams, for now you know, I’ve got kids of all several age ranges. So just looking for that perspective from a parent.
Alex Ditursi: I will take this one. I actually had a baby while in this program. Yes, so I brought my daughter into the world during this program, and then I also have a 6 year old. Son, so they keep me plenty busy. And you know what I will never tell you to reel your dreams back end like that’s please do it.
Alex Ditursi: The thing about this program that I found it. It feels natural. You have seen the types of things that you’re gonna learn in here. You have experienced it, likely and other, you know, jobs that you’ve held. It just really gives you kind of the science behind it, and a vocabulary to describe the things that you are already seeing.
Alex Ditursi: So I feel like it’s absolutely manageable. What I would do is try my best to plan out my weeks ahead of time.
Alex Ditursi: really focus on the reading in the 1st half of the week. Because there is, I’m gonna tell you guys, it’s a lot of reading. There’s a lot and don’t skip out on that because it’s really important. You’ll you’ll take so much more away from the program if you just buckle down and do the reading so I would do like Monday through Wednesday or Thursday, if I was feeling a little lazy that week. Reading, and try to start in on my assignments through the weekend. But
Alex Ditursi: I know plenty of other people from my cohort who were rocking out their assignments in the beginning of the week, and they had children as well, so I think it just depends on how quickly you take in information, how much time you need to process, what your schedule looks like, how long it takes you to write up things. But I mean if you you’ll find your groove and
Alex Ditursi: it’s gonna be lovely.
Christie Huter: Thank you.
Alex Ditursi: Absolutely.
George Mason Online Admissions: Great question.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alright, Melanie, I’m just going by. Who’s on my top here.
Melanie Jalim: Yeah. Thank you all so much for like particip. Like having this time space for us. To be asking these questions, I do have a question, though, when it comes to like the practicum and or an internship, whichever one you all chose to do. How was it like during your program. And how do you think it like
Melanie Jalim: well, matriculated into your career as of right now?
Alex Ditursi: Hannah, do you? Wanna well, you’re still in you. Okay?
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Answering someone’s.
Alex Ditursi: No, you’re good. You’re good. So my biggest advice with practicum is.
Alex Ditursi: choose your group wisely. You’ll meet
Alex Ditursi: right? You’re going to really get to know one another. Try your best in the classes that come up to Practicum to really work with a lot of different people that way you can, you know, find who your work style works well with people that you share similar interests with, so that you can really collaborate well on practicum. I will say,
Alex Ditursi: research methods and practicum it is. It’s a tough one. Particularly. I thought the 1st half of research methods was was a doozy because there’s a lot of lit review. And oh, my God! I thought my eyes were gonna start bleeding by the end of that.
Alex Ditursi: I know Hannah. She’ll probably share some in a moment about research methods, so I won’t do a spoiler right now, but definitely choose who you work with wisely. I’m not sure about an internship. I don’t think that that was an option for the Nps program, at least that I know of.
Alex Ditursi: Is that correct?
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: I’m not aware. I you know. Maybe it’s something I wasn’t aware of it, I guess. So. You know, the practicums definitely kind of like the research methods and practicums kind of like the capstone
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Project research project. So I you know, I don’t think they would encourage you to do it. But maybe if there was something else you had going on, you’re like, Oh, I have this opportunity. They’d probably work with you, cause they seem to want to do that with, you know, to to really wanna make make it. So, students get the most out of this, you know program as possible.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Yeah, I agree, though. Choosing, choosing a group. And it’s not necessarily I wouldn’t say choosing, based on what necessarily what you want to
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: do. And there’s a there are a lot of constraints given. The timing of of you know how quickly like this isn’t a dissertation as much as you know. You might want it to be, you know, you only have a semester, basically but there are other group projects that happen in the course. There’s at least 2 before then. So, and
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: they involve a team charter. I recommend you do that, you know. So you get in the practice that it sounds kind of when you 1st come across that idea. It sounds kind of like on. Do I really need team charter? Yeah, you do go through, you know, go through that. And so
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Alex’s point about, you know, getting trying to work with people who are similar to you like, who wants similar things from the process, you know, like not everyone wants the same things out of something, or who have a similar working style, or you know, you know, and making sure you you’re just explicit about those types of expectations will
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: really make.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: I think the process a lot better, you know, and the whole, you know, the learning, experience and and everything a lot better. Throughout. Because, yeah, there are some, especially in the beginning, I think, from what I understand, I haven’t finished the whole process.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: The more you do in the initial to really line things up and tee things up.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: the the more manageable it becomes later. Because you, you know, if
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: that’s a theory, if you got, you know, underpinning what you’re doing, you do it.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Review, which is just a heavy lift, no matter
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: what the then it I think it. It really pays off. And I’m only in. I’m still in the research method section, which is the 1st 8, or, in my case, 7 weeks.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: The 8 weeks thing is, is
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: condensed by a week, so it’s a little extra sounding in the summer. But
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: it’s already paying off, you know. We’re, you know. My group is already kind of seeing that, you know. Having really done, we started working together a little bit ahead of the course, starting to kind of
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: get into what we wanted to do. So it’s definitely paying off.
George Mason Online Admissions: I know. Charles had a question.
Alex Ditursi: Can I answer one more.
George Mason Online Admissions: Like, oh, yeah. Go ahead.
Alex Ditursi: A second half of that question, how does that apply in the work setting?
Alex Ditursi: I, my group, did
Alex Ditursi: do job demands, predict turnover. So essentially it does the makeup of a job. The way that
Alex Ditursi: the tasks that you have, the autonomy that you have in your work, your ability to be involved in decision making. Do those things predict the level of turnover within the organization? And is it mediated or explained by a level of respect.
Alex Ditursi: And I actually gave that work straight over to my company as soon as we were done with practicum, I was like, Hey, please look at this and and I think that you can do that with any kind of topic that you guys look into in terms of practicum. So I would definitely, you know, lean into your passion as far as what topics really speak to you. What topics you see are most prevalent to you in your workplace now where you’re at, or maybe past workplaces that you’ve been in.
Alex Ditursi: and then you can really see, you know, be able to say, hey? Here is what. Here’s all this research that we’ve done. Here is what we found.
Alex Ditursi: How can we take this and apply it in this workplace now? Or how can we use this to create some new processes? Or you know, whatever
Alex Ditursi: whatever it lends itself to, essentially.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, Charles, go ahead.
Charles Bell: Sorry I can’t find the button anywhere. So my Max winning tonight. My question isn’t yet
Charles Bell: right. Human interaction.
Charles Bell: How much human interaction is in the class. What I mean by that is, if I have a question or I’m stuck on something, or I’m trying to get through something. Is there someone I can
Charles Bell: ask a question to and talk to? I know they talked about office hours I’m not so familiar with that.
Charles Bell: But yeah, that’s my question. So how much human interaction I gonna I need help if I need it from somebody.
Alex Ditursi: Constant human interaction like Constant. My cohort had a group. Me. We had a slack channel. Then we really siloed into the group. Me cause. That’s where everybody was. There’s different channels that people will create for specific classes, especially when you get to your electives, because you might not be all in the same electives. But you really
Alex Ditursi: What you put in is what you get out. You will have other people in your cohort who want to put in the same amount of effort that you do, and you will have ample time to lean on each other. Ask each other questions, brainstorm, think, tank all of those things. It.
Alex Ditursi: The community that that I came away with from here is remarkable.
Alex Ditursi: yeah. And I I owe a lot to them in terms of the success that I had in the program as well. So I think that as long as somebody is brave enough to start the group. Me channel. Then you guys will have you know, that community as well.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Yeah, agree. We we don’t. Our phone is to have grooming. But we you know, I was that person who created the slack channel and so not everybody’s in there, you know. They’re all invited. They I think most of them found it, you know. But you know some people there’s a core number of people.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: usually the same people who show open up Sars who are kind of more, you know, active. And you know you have small group just direct, you know, threads or direct chats that you have to but then, also, when it comes to instructors a office hours.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: I definitely think you know going to those is is very, very fruitful. You really get to know
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: your professors and and the other people who you know who. So up there?
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: But then also, there’s like, you know, professors responding emails really fast. There’s also in, you know, within, like the learning system. Their management system. There’s, you know, ask to be instructor, which you know, I think sends them email notification. People are usually responding in less than 24 h. I’m not really sure that
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: All of our professors have the best work, life balance so boundaries like for for themselves. But I they love what they do. So yeah, there’s
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: being, you know, being out here in California. That was definitely a
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: a concern of mine. I was very eager. And yeah, there’s a lot. There’s a lot of opportunity for interaction.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Thanks.
George Mason Online Admissions: And how how many people are usually in a in a cohort? Would you guys say.
Alex Ditursi: I I’m just making a guess here, I think we started with, I wanna say, like 30 or 40, and then maybe ended with about 25.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, that sounds about right, 30, 40.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Ours has been around hovering around
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: 20 you know, 17 to 20, say 18 to 20, probably for the whole time, and you know. Some people, you know, have a cross country move. They drop out into the next cohort. We’ve had some, you know, and then people.
George Mason Online Admissions: Right.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Appear in our cohort doing somewhere. Kind of thing. But yeah, we’ve hovered, or, you know. But again I started in summer, and I believe that cohort tends to be smaller.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, absolutely.
George Mason Online Admissions: Jared, go ahead.
Jared Dorsey: Hey? Sorry did. And this would be my last question.
Jared Dorsey: I wanted to see about the correlations with this program with like executive coaching. If you guys have experience with executive coaching or team coaching and then, if so, how well this program may help, or or what things would you recommend on top of the program?
Jared Dorsey: If executive coaching was something I was interested in.
Alex Ditursi: Good question. I need a minute to think, Hannah, do you have any immediate thoughts.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: My immediate thought is, I mean, I’m not sure what’s tracking that? You know, and admissions, or in the program necessarily within terms of like how many people are are doing executive coaching, I would say there are a number of people. So a lot of the
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: I’ll you know. Stay, Professor Segal in his office hours. Sometimes the monthly meetings will have guest speakers, and these are people who like generally are like from the network of the professors, so they might have gone to done their Phds together, or whatever. So there’s a fair amount of consultants who work, who have created their own business, you know, they they might have done something for 20 years, and then decided, you know, I’m just gonna do this myself, and I would say
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: a fair amount of them do executive coaching. So.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: But I couldn’t speak to that myself, you know, like I you know as much as I might do a little bit of coaching like. That’s not what my role is like in a nutshell. But there’s you know you’re gonna be
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: between that between, you know.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Going to if you go to Si OP, or something like that, you know, there’s gonna be sessions talking about like training. I went to a session this this year at Siab Conference in Chicago on that was talking about training
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: teaching leaders how to coach, which is not exactly what you’re talking about, but is related. Really interesting. But then, like, you know, you get, you can get in contact with the people who are actually doing that work also. So
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: it doesn’t directly answer your question, but it’s
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: I think.
Alex Ditursi: I’m about to do the same thing here. I’m not in coaching just much like Hannah. I do training which you know. I think that there’s definitely some crossover there.
Alex Ditursi: in terms, of coursework that
Alex Ditursi: may benefit your efforts in coaching. I I think that you could take a lot of the lessons that you’re gonna learn in class, whether it’s group dynamics or scheduling or finding ways that have helped you achieve your goals within the program or ways that you have interacted with your peers and built them up. You can apply all of those kinds of lessons in a coaching environment in terms of executive coaching.
Alex Ditursi: The way that the courses are set up in the projects you do a lot of presentations. Right? So at the end of almost all the courses. You’re going to do some kind of video presentation, and I feel like that was great practice for me, at least. In terms of the way that now I have more confidence in presenting my ideas to to the executives within my organization.
Alex Ditursi: Additionally like Hannah said up this year had a ton of sessions, on coaching one of which I went to and it had some really great nuggets of you know, people’s experience. And it wasn’t just, you know, from one type of organization they have, you know, specialists from all different types of areas. So you guys can make sigh up. Happen I highly recommend it. I wasn’t able to go
Alex Ditursi: the 1st year, but I went this year, and it was amazing. So I I think that additionally, looking into a coaching certification, I mean, that’s that’s not going to hurt right and then you can kind of use this wealth of knowledge that you’ve already built within the program, and then just kind of perfect it with that coaching certification. So that’s that’s what. Maybe I would. That the advice I would give to you?
Alex Ditursi: But I mean, you can learn a ton on Linkedin learning. I mean Google Scholar like you have
Alex Ditursi: information at your fingertips, right? So you can also do a little self study on some executive coaching and go ahead and
Alex Ditursi: get some of those ideas and theories and techniques under your belt.
Jared Dorsey: Awesome. Thank you.
George Mason Online Admissions: Basically.
Jared Dorsey: Nice.
George Mason Online Admissions: Chrissy, your hands up.
Christie Huter: Okay, yeah, I think. I think Sarah asked a similar question in the chat, and I apologize if it was addressed, and I somehow missed it. But were there other
Christie Huter: particularly for me, I’m curious to know if there were other online I/O masters programs that either of you considered
Christie Huter: when applying in addition to gmu, and if so,
Christie Huter: not, I don’t need to necessarily know what they were. But what made you 0 in on Mason.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: How’s that over.
Alex Ditursi: Do? What.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: You wanna go first.st
Alex Ditursi: Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. So I actually whenever I 1st started at Cri, which is where I work. I had a co-worker named Kofer, and we just really got to know each other. I’m very much an open book, so you know, you learn a lot about me within the 1st week that you know me. And she was just like, Hey, I think that you would be a really good fit, for you know, I/O psychology. And I was like, huh! What is that? Did a little research? Came upon gmu, and it was sold like I put in my application that day.
Alex Ditursi: And it was the best decision that I’ve probably ever made.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: David.
Alex Ditursi: Yeah, it. It’s 1 of the top programs, if not the top program for I/O in the country. It is well renowned, well respected. The access that you have to just some spectacular people in the field here at Gmu is is really amazing, like you’ll find yourself Fan, growing a little bit so I think Gmu is the the perfect program. Again, I definitely have some bias. I did not look into any other programs.
Alex Ditursi: But this one is, you know, it checks all the boxes right. It’s got flexibility. It’s got a great curriculum that is rigorous, and and really, truly will set you up for a great lifelong career outside of the program.
Alex Ditursi: Additionally, you have a a beautiful community. Both with the staff members, your teachers and with your cohorts. So yeah, Jim, you all the way.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Yeah, I agree, I did not consider any other online programs. I, I will say, I am. I’ve been interested in I/O for actually a number of years. I was a academic academia for over a decade, you know, to working. I was like, I’m not gonna be competitive on paper, how am I gonna do this like I, you know, and I think someone had said to me, you know.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: look at all my programs. Hello, like. And I’m like, Okay, like, I’ll go and look back. And I looked at who are the top schools for this, and they’re all these, you know, mostly on ground masters and Phd programs, not in California. So I don’t know if you know this, but like, I always like, there’s
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: there’s some awareness, mostly the tech companies. But like, there’s not a lot of awareness otherwise. And there’s not a lot of programs out there.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: And so I was like, okay.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: And I think I found Jimmy to sign up as you know, cause.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: you know, trying to find like who’s got a good, who are who’s well ranked. Who’s got, you know.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: good online program.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: And you know, the more I learned about
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: the Mps program. You know.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: I was just
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: okay, like this looks like what I’m looking for attended a virtual house. In fact, I don’t think I I attended. I think I
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: watch the recording later. The the like. I kind of alluded to before the stem. Accreditation and and kind of focus on being, you know, rigorous in that way, was very important to me. So check that box. Hearing about. You know how connected you can be and how accessible faculty is, you know. Not like, you don’t feel like some forgotten
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: little you know other, you know, over here, because you’re in an online program. You know all of that. And I can definitely say that you know.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: that’s been.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Those things that drew me in that were important to me has have been consistent with my experience. And then on top of that. Yeah. But gmu! George Mason’s got a top 5, I hope. Program. People know it.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: you know, we won a bunch of awards at sigh up this year like which you know to absence point about sand rolling. It’s like it’s it’s kind of cool to be a part of that also. So
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: yeah.
Alex Ditursi: We roll, we roll deep at sigh of, for sure.
Alex Ditursi: there, with a bunch of other people.
George Mason Online Admissions: Representing it.
Alex Ditursi: Yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: And you guys got that right with the top
George Mason Online Admissions: top 10, I/O program in the Nation, so definitely, really, great program. And a lot of times, even the campus program, as we mentioned again, it’s not
George Mason Online Admissions: not the same as our online program. The curriculum is very, very unique, and as everyone Alex and Hannah has attested to. It’s, you know, great.
George Mason Online Admissions: The professors and everyone involved are really spectacular. So that’s what makes it the best. One of the best. So for sure, and anyone else have any other questions, it did really, quickly. I know we’re kind of running over time here. And thank you, Alex and Hannah again for taking the time out of your night. To join us. But regarding the application.
George Mason Online Admissions: our next upcoming terms are fall and spring. Fall starts. August 26.th Deadline is August 15.th We do recommend. Sooner you apply sooner you can get decision. As they mentioned about 30 40 cohort. There was 40 people in this virtual open house tonight, so again sooner that you apply sooner you can get a decision, especially with fall being our higher number of applicants.
George Mason Online Admissions: We do require statistics for our program. As I think, Alex mentioned, there’s Linkedin learning. We actually offer a free Linkedin learning statistics. Course. To take if you do not have that prerequisite from your undergrad. So
George Mason Online Admissions: that’s 1 thing. Research methods is
George Mason Online Admissions: recommend, it’s not required. So if you don’t have a research methods course, don’t stress yourself out.
George Mason Online Admissions: I/o related course, work or work experience. Is not even recommended. It’s just something nice that you can add to your resume or to the application if you have it.
George Mason Online Admissions: We also do like to see a 3 point O Gpa, not a hard requirement, it’s preferred, but if you have a lower than a 3 point O, we would just ask for a Gpa addendum sa in in your application, which is just an essay stating.
George Mason Online Admissions: maybe why, a circumstance your Gpa. Was low, and how you’d be able to maintain
George Mason Online Admissions: in your masters. We also asked for your resume transcripts. We only ask for your unofficials for an app for the application.
George Mason Online Admissions: Officials are required for
George Mason Online Admissions: by the time you’re starting classes, and when you’re registered we asked for 2 recommendations, either professional or academic. At least one of those recommendations should come from a supervisor. I know that some students might, you know, own a business things like that. If you can get a colleague, if you had a past supervisor.
George Mason Online Admissions: Just as do as best as you can with those recommendations. And we don’t.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, as it says here, 2 letters of recommendations not required.
George Mason Online Admissions: We do something very simple and easy. It makes the application process go so much faster, especially because the letters are usually out of your hands. So all you need to do is put down the name and email of the recommendation. We automatically send them out an email from George Mason. With a link to a questionnaire
George Mason Online Admissions: questionnaires about 5 questions
George Mason Online Admissions: really
George Mason Online Admissions: 10 min to complete, I would say probably 5, very simple, very easy. And then, lastly, is a personal statement. Essay.
George Mason Online Admissions: I am an admissions representative here at George Mason. You all. Anyone that’s interested in the online program would work with the admissions representative to help you throughout the application process. So I, myself and my colleagues are here to help you with the application. Make sure that you know nothing’s missing your resumes uploaded correctly. Personal statements not missing word count things like that. So
George Mason Online Admissions: I imp! I put down my contact information at the end. I can add it again.
George Mason Online Admissions: But feel free to
George Mason Online Admissions: Email. Me call me text me, if you are interested in the program or the office number is there as well? Give us a call, and you can speak to one myself or one of my colleagues, and we’d be happy to help you.
George Mason Online Admissions: But the application is pretty simple, pretty easy again. Sooner that you apply sooner you can get a decision.
George Mason Online Admissions: awesome. Thank you all for joining, and again, thank you, Alex and Hannah, for taking the time.
George Mason Online Admissions: Really help me as well as as a representative kind of getting some of your perspective as well.
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, yeah, you can add, you can add the letters to the application. There should be a section to upload those
George Mason Online Admissions: great question.
Alex Ditursi: Christy’s on it. Love that.
Charles Bell: Thanks guys.
Alex Ditursi: Thank you guys so much. Please feel free to reach out. I did put my my GM, my email in there as well. So.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Yeah.
Alex Ditursi: Yeah. Happy to chit, chat and answer any additional questions. Give advice, look over. You know anything you guys want.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you. Guys again.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: Hi.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you all for joining.
Alex Ditursi: Good to see you, Hannah.
Hannah Yung-Boxdell: He’s this.
George Mason Online Admissions: This will also be recorded. As mentioned, there’s some pre recorded virtual open houses, so these will this. These sessions will be the next one. So look out for those alright. Everyone, thanks. Have a great rest of your night.
George Mason Online Admissions: Have some dinner, as you mentioned before. Can I.
Frida Moreno: Night.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alright, bye, bye.
Master of Public Health Transcript
George Mason Online Admissions: Without further delay I would like to hand over to our presenters this evening. Dr. Mary and Beth Mitcham and Sarah Lee.
MB Mitcham: Hi! Thank you for that. Welcome and welcome to all of you who are joining us tonight. I’m Dr. Mitcham, and I am the director of the online Mph program at George Mason University, and an assistant professor in the department, and I would like to introduce my colleague, the amazing Sarah.
Sarah Liu: Hello! Thank you. Oh, hi, everybody! My name is Sarah Lou. I’m the Mph program coordinator. I am the academic advisor to all masters level programs at in our department of global and community help. It’s nice to see everybody.
MB Mitcham: Alright. Thank you, Sarah. So tonight we’re going to go through a little bit of information about the program. And now, if you’ve attended any of the information sessions that Sarah has offered. Some of this information may be a bit familiar, so please bear with us. It shouldn’t take very long to go through our spiel, and then afterwards we will be able to answer any questions that you have. Could you please go to the next slide.
MB Mitcham: Thank you. So while that is being done, just a a couple of things about the program that may not be on the slide deck.
MB Mitcham: So the online mph program at George Mason University is fairly new. It has been in existence now, for officially, one year is very exciting. However, the Mph program at Mason has been in existence for much longer.
MB Mitcham: So although this is a new program as in the fact that it’s online facing, it’s not a new program in that. The program has been established for a while. It is safe accredited, which is something that we’ll talk about in a little bit
MB Mitcham: and it is, very well established, not only as far as accreditation is concerned, but also with linking up our our alums with excellent jobs, job opportunities and things like that.
MB Mitcham: Is there a can this slide be progressed, please?
MB Mitcham: So while we’re working on that, and I’ll just kind of go through my spiel organically. So what are the things that make our program unique? Well, 1st of all, Mason is located right outside DC, which means that it’s perfectly placed, not only for our students who attend in person classes to have in person opportunities within the capital.
MB Mitcham: but it also means that Mason has been able to establish some very solid relationships with some excellent organizations in the hearts of the United States. So that is one excellent opportunity. Both for on the ground students on campus, but also for online students. Now, you may be asking, okay, what benefit would that be to me if I don’t live near campus, and that may be one of the reasons why you may be considering completing your Mph. Degree through this particular program is that you don’t live near campus.
MB Mitcham: And the simple answer is that our faculty, our opportunities, the relationships that Mason has built throughout the duration of its program have meant that all of those resources are available. So when we get to your practicum, which we’ll be talking about in a little bit.
MB Mitcham: then there are some opportunities potentially for you to be able to have those virtual practicum linkages through Washington, DC.
MB Mitcham: Other factors that make our program very unique is the fact that our faculty are multi disciplinary. One of the things I love most about our department is, it’s interdisciplinary nature. Although we are one of several departments in the College of Public Health, the 1st College of Public Health in the State of Virginia, and right now the only College of Public health in the State of Virginia. We also have other programs. So one of the courses that is a requirement for the online Mph, as it is for all graduate students in our college
MB Mitcham: is Gch. 500
MB Mitcham: and Gch 500 is an introductory course into public health, and students who take that course will be taking that course along with students from all of the other departments in the College of Public Health. So whether those students are nursing social work, nutrition, health administration and policy, or global health. Our all of our graduate students will take that course together and explore what exactly public health means.
MB Mitcham: And obviously, I’m extremely biased because I love the field of public health. One of the factors I love most about public health is just how practical it is, and how, again, how interdisciplinary. It is so. Our program leverages that interdisciplinary nature, not only of the faculty and the resources and the research that’s being conducted within the college, but also of the faculty and our departments. We have a solid epidemiology program which is not one of the
MB Mitcham: concentrations offered online. Currently. But there will be an epic course. That is part of this course requirement. That would be Gch 6 0, 4, for the purposes of your your course. Progression. But so we have epidemiologists, we have behavioral scientists, we have environmental scientists. We have
MB Mitcham: faculty who research and sexual health. We have faculty who conduct research and nutrition and wellness. We have faculty who do conduct research into social justice issues. So our students have available to them a wide variety of expertise both in research and in practice.
MB Mitcham: So what courses would you be expected to take as part of this program? So I’m going to talk a little bit more, and then I’m going to pass it over to Sarah to explain a little bit more after me.
MB Mitcham: So the courses that are a requirement for this program are kind of a a 3 part. Prom, so think of it. Kind of like as a 3 legs of a stool. The 1st component of our requirements are our core courses and our core courses are required for all of our Mph students, regardless of the concentration that they choose.
MB Mitcham: So whether you are a concentration in public health practice, which is the online Mph program. Or you’re in a different concentration. All of the students in our program have to complete those core courses.
MB Mitcham: Each concentration also has courses that are unique to that concentration and the concentration specific courses. I will again explain a little bit more after Sarah discusses about them. So you have the core courses that are required, you will have your concentration courses that are required, and then the 3rd part of what you will have available to you is the component that is known as the practicum.
MB Mitcham: and our practicum has a 2 course requirements. One course is Gch. 7, 80. That course is non credit bearing. But a lot of students go into the practicum. And for those of you who may be wondering what on Earth is a practicum. The practicum, basically is an experience where you’re going to be able to work in the field. You’ll be completing 200 of field work hours. And during that field work experience, you’re going to be able to put into application everything that you’ve learned throughout your Mph practice.
MB Mitcham: You will get that experience working in the field, you’ll be able to get some lovely experience to both your resume. You’ll be able to have some experience of creating contacts and hopefully new colleagues that will help you, then be able to leverage that work for a job.
MB Mitcham: But you see, 7, 80 will set you up, so that by the time you get to the completion of that course, even though it’s 0 credit which we do for your benefit. So you don’t have to pay student fees for that particular course. You’ll spend that course getting everything ready for your practicum. So identifying a practicum site, identifying some strategies that you’ll need to have ready for your practicum, so that when you go into your practicum again, which is a 200
MB Mitcham: experience, you’ll have done all of the legwork necessary for it. You’ll be able to go into the practicum, complete those hours and all the requirements that are part of that capstone experience.
MB Mitcham: and then graduate with your Mph. Degree. So I’m going to give you a chance to hear from somebody who’s not me right now. And if Sarah, if you don’t mind, could you please explain a little bit about the courses, and then, when you’re done, I’ll tag team back off of what you have to say.
Sarah Liu: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much. Well, Dr. Mitch, I’m
Sarah Liu: it, it explained a lot beautifully already. But as as she mentioned. So there are 7 core courses that every Mph student is required to take and some of these include epidemiology classes, as she mentioned. Some also include health administration and policy classes. As public health is very interdisciplinary. We felt, we think, that it is very important for students to.
Sarah Liu: you know, although it might not be your concentration. You know they everybody needs to understand the fundamentals. And have an introductory course for a lot of the different
Sarah Liu: concentrations. And it will all be a part of public health. And so that’s very important. And also you as Php students, there are also electives that you will be required to take. So as of right now. We have rural health available.
Sarah Liu: possibly environmental health as well. In the future, and also 5 concentration courses as well, which will focus heavily on the practical public health. Practice, skill sets and knowledge. That you will be getting the whole program is 42 credits. And so we when you take these classes, all of these classes will be available to you online.
Sarah Liu: which is great, and that’s what makes it very flexible for a lot of students. It’s online asynchronous. So you know, you don’t have a particular meeting time. So if you’re working full time job, or if you’re not available to come to campus, this is a great, great concentration for you to go into so you can apply these skill sets into your field after you graduate.
Sarah Liu: And then just to talk a little bit about the practicum. So it is a 200 h.
Sarah Liu: Essentially, I call it an internship when I talk to students about it. But it, as Dr. Mitcham said, it is a great opportunity for you to add on your resume as well. It is basically an opportunity for students to know what it feels like to work in the field of public health. For them to get experience and then for them to leverage that experience onto their next career path.
Sarah Liu: and you will be working together with a practicum advisor who will not be me use right now. It is Dr. Winter, but during the seminar course, you know you will be preparing your resume your cover letter, you will be ready to know how to interview properly, and so all of those will be included. So you are set up for success for your practicum. When that time comes.
Sarah Liu: so that’s basically what makes it really great and flexible. Dr. Mitcham, if there’s anything else please feel free to add on.
MB Mitcham: Thank you, Sarah, so I will say. Sarah is greatly loved by all the students who work with her, and although view coming into the public health Practice concentration will have the support of Rise Point, and all of their advisors and success coaches. You’ll also have the benefit of having Sarah and her expertise. So that that’s kind of like an extra bonus that you get
MB Mitcham: as far as the courses. What I like about them is they are online, asynchronous, which I know. If you’ve ever taken online versus in person classes. For some people, the online modality works better with having jobs or having family responsibilities, not living close to campus things like that.
MB Mitcham: However, some students are concerned
MB Mitcham: about whether or not the courses will be interactive, whether it’ll just be kind of like them expected to learn on their own, do all of their education on the loan of their own never hearing from faculty, and I can assure you that that is not the case in these courses. I have been very heavily involved in the designing of all of the courses that are part of this program, and they’re designed to be very interactive so that it doesn’t feel like you’re just doing this on your own
MB Mitcham: so if you like doing stuff on your own and not having to interact with anyone. Sorry. That’s not kind of how these courses are designed. There are no live session components that are required, so meaning you will not have to show up for a lecture at a specified time.
MB Mitcham: However, even though the work is being able to be done on your own time, and is due, you know, kind of within the the framework of you, being able to submit it within your own timeline, with, of course, hard due dates. There may be some group projects involved in some of the courses.
MB Mitcham: but there’s also very active discussion boards and most of the courses, faculty are very responsive to office hours. Faculty are very responsive to emails. And also faculty do tend to embed videos, video lectures into their courses. So it’s not just you reading information and regurgitating it. It’s able to explore a lot of interactive learning modalities. So that the concepts really comes to life.
MB Mitcham: The other component that I really like about these courses is that they’re helpful in the field. So prior to working at Mason. I’ve worked a lot in
MB Mitcham: the field of nonprofit settings and then nonprofit work. There are some things that work great. There are some things that don’t work great. So whether you end up working for nonprofit settings, whether you end up working for a government office, whatever you end up doing, the material that you’ll cover in these courses will help set you up for being successful in the field. So it’s not just learning information to get your degree. It’s learning information that will help you be successful.
MB Mitcham: Public health practitioner.
MB Mitcham: So there’s a question in the chat box just to clarify that there’s only one concentration available for online students. That is correct right now, that is the public health practice concentration.
MB Mitcham: However.
MB Mitcham: with that being said, all students in the public health practice, concentration. Actually, all students at Mason are able to take courses and whatever modality they choose. So, for example, if you’re taking public health practice courses, and you’re like, Hey, I really want to take one of the core courses in person on campus. You have the option of doing that. The other concentrations are not
MB Mitcham: online yet there are all of the core courses are available to be taken entirely online. But only the public health practice. Concentration has all of the courses, both the core and the practicum. Obviously. And then the concentration courses open online and, like Sarah mentioned right now the only available elective that is a required elective is a rural health course.
MB Mitcham: There may be an environmental health course down the road, but we’re still working on developing that.
MB Mitcham: Alright. I have just gone through a lot of regurgitation of information. The last bit that I will pass it over to Sarah before we will take questions would be to kind of clarify next steps. If you’re interested in applying for the program through surface what you would need to have available, Sarah, can you share a little bit about that. Please.
Sarah Liu: Absolutely so. All. So for our Mph program. Certificate and Mms, programs. All of the masters program at our department. You have to apply through Sophus. If you’ve never heard of sofas, it is the application system that also students are required to apply through so just kind of going through, you know. To see about eligibility. We do a holistic
Sarah Liu: review for each application. And so, although a 3.0 Gpa. Or higher, is preferred. We do not just determine, based on Gpa. If you feel that, you know you have a Gpa a little bit lower than 3.0. But you’re really passionate about public health. I do not want that to stop you. From applying please make sure that you know you send in your transcripts and your 2 letters of recommendations.
Sarah Liu: Surface will require 3 recommendation letters. What I usually tell students during our information sessions is that the 1st 2 should either be one should definitely be a professor or someone that can talk to your academic performance, and then the other could be a colleague or a supervisor, that you may have had. That can talk about your character, your work, ethic, etc. And then your 3rd recommendation email that you can put. You can either put in your own email or you could
Sarah Liu: ask someone else to write a 3rd recommendation letter, but it is not required by any means
Sarah Liu: for your statement of purpose.
Sarah Liu: This will be really important. Please make sure. You specify that you are. You know what program you’re interested in. So you’re interested in the Mph program with the concentration and public health practice. Please make sure you indicate that. Please talk about why, this is the concentration that you would like to pursue, and what you’re hoping to do with it after you graduate as well. And then, if you have struggled in the past
Sarah Liu: academically. Maybe during your undergraduate years, and you know, because you had a personal thing going on. Please make sure you specify that and talk about the challenge, and then how you possibly overcame it. That is really important to us. When we’re reviewing applications to see
Sarah Liu: if you’ve improved right, or if you have the skill sets to improve or overcome challenges. And then also please make sure you submit your resume in cover letter, whatever documentation that is needed through the portal. If you are an international student there will be additional documentation that you will have to submit. So all transcripts translated into English. So if you went to a school abroad.
Sarah Liu: please make sure you get those transcripts, and then you you have that translated you will also need to submit English proficiency test scores. If you have more questions about that, you can always feel free to email me, and I can connect you to the graduated admissions office that can give you a little bit more guidance as to
Sarah Liu: how you can obtain those documentations, or where to submit them. But those are generally the steps. Applications are still open. They will be open until August first, st so it is still not too late to submit your application if you’re interested, although
Sarah Liu: I do recommend submitting your application as soon as possible, so it gives reviewers some time to look at your application, and then so you can get, you know, admitted in time, and then you can register for classes in time, as they do fill up. So. If you have any questions about the application or admission process, please feel free to reach out to me.
MB Mitcham: Thank you, Sarah. So the last little bit of spiel for me will be one of the other things that I value about this program. A lot of online programs are cohort driven meaning, everyone who goes through the online program are all online students. Our Mph program at Mason is very, I would like to say, unique again.
MB Mitcham: because all of our students are all of our students. It doesn’t matter what concentration you’re completing. You’re one of our Mph students. So for faculty, there’s no differentiation between online students versus in person students, you’re our students. So, for example, all of the core courses and all of the practicum courses which makes up the bulk of what you would be completing for your program
MB Mitcham: are available online, which means that it’s not just online students who take them. It’s all of our students who want the additional flexibility of online courses. So you will be going through if you do join the program. I you will be going through your courses with other students in the program, and that really gives it a really nice I I don’t think like, almost like academic family feel where it again, it’ll be with people who are also completing their online degree.
MB Mitcham: But it’s. And again, it’s not an online degree. Necessarily, it’s a degree. But you’re just having an online concentration option.
MB Mitcham: So that, coupled with other benefits like, we have a robust mentor program where mentors who have gone through our program, or some of our alums are willing to share their experience and then work with current students to help them get jobs and placements and things like that. Again. I know I’m horribly biased, but it really is a truly fantastic program.
MB Mitcham: Alright. So thank you for listening to our spiel at this point. If you have any questions, if you want to put them in the chat I will respond to one right now. Graduated with BA in 2,008 completed my Vet tech degree online in 2022. I’m sure if you can get an academic recommendation, am I able to have the doctor that was my mentor during that tech school as an academic recommendation. So I will answer this, and then, Sarah, if you disagree, or have any additional clarification, if you could, please chime in
MB Mitcham: my option would be yes, have them, make a recommendation. So, as Sarah mentioned earlier. So faculty are the the people who review applications. So we’ll we’ll look through all the stuff that Sarah mentioned
MB Mitcham: having people able to speak to your abilities. Really helps. Give us a good picture. Your experiences really help to give us a good picture of why you want to be in this program and any explanation of like. If there was a gap between your education.
MB Mitcham: you know, explaining why that happened. You know what what you’ve learned in those those years also really helps. So just basically share with us whatever you think would be helpful for us to get a good idea of who you are, and why you’d be a really good fit for this program. Alright, Sarah, do you have anything to add to that.
Sarah Liu: Yeah, no, that’s exactly what I would have said. You can absolutely have the doctor. That was your mentor, you know. Write a view a recommendation letter. I think that would be a great letter to have.
Sarah Liu: you know. I it’s always tricky with an online degree, too. You know, it’s not like, oh, because you don’t have a professor. Write your recommendation letter. We’re just not going to read your review. Application at all. But it. It is just preferred. So like, I usually tell students, you know, if it’s been a couple of years since you were in school, you know, it never hurts to reach back out to fac professors or faculty members that you’ve had. And you know sometimes they don’t give you a reply, or sometimes they.
Sarah Liu: You can’t write a recommendation letter, and that’s okay. But at least you’ve tried right. And so I would still encourage you, if possible, to reach out to faculty members that you may have had during your school years. But but absolutely have your doctor write a recommendation letter as well, since you need to anyways.
MB Mitcham: And I will add to that if you are unable to get a faculty letter of recommendation, and I understand what Sarah said this one again not to chime on the whole, like this is one reason why our program is so awesome. Train.
MB Mitcham: But to chime on the whole, reason why our program is so awesome. I also completed my education. My higher education completely online and saw the good, the bad, and the ugly of it. And one thing that bothered me was a lack of responsiveness of some faculty where I’d want letters of recommendation because I was academically excellent, and I I struggled to get them just because I wasn’t their presence in class. Our faculty are not like that. I can’t even begin to tell you how much
MB Mitcham: letters of recommendation I’ve written for our students. So with all of that being said, yes, our programs got fabulous, which you probably have guessed by now. But the other thing is, if you can’t get that, maybe allude to that in your letter. Your narrative essay about why you’re applying to the program. You could even say, it’s been several years since I’ve been
MB Mitcham: in school, you know. I I really want to be part of this program. I’ve you know, done my due diligence, trying to get letters of support from academic references haven’t been able to. However, I reached out to these professionals who can speak to my character. I’m really interested in being in the program faculty who review those applications will read that, and that’ll help again. Show us that it’s not just you not trying. That is, you doing everything that you can to check the boxes?
MB Mitcham: Alright.
MB Mitcham: how many hours a week for studying? Do you recommend for each class. What is the longest amount of time you could take to get through the program and still do well what percentage of public health jobs are remote or have telework options after graduation. Alright! Those are excellent, excellent questions. Sarah, do you want to tackle any part of that one? Or would you like me to start first? st
Sarah Liu: Yeah, sure. Well, what I can tell you is well, the hours.
Sarah Liu: Personally, I think it varies on each student. What I can tell you is the full time is considered 9 credits. While during underc undergrad you might be taking 1518 credit classes. Graduate level classes are a lot more reading, intensive writing, intensive, and it all just depends on how many hours you allocate, or to understand the material and so that is what I can tell you, I’m sure.
Sarah Liu: which I’m gonna tell you more about that, since she actually teaches classes. But in terms of the longest amount of time.
Sarah Liu: I don’t. You have a 6
Sarah Liu: 6 year limit. So every since your since your acceptance, you have 6 years to complete your degree. It’s not that, you know. If you finish your degree in 2 years versus 6 years, it’s not that there is a correlation of you being successful versus not successful. I think it all just
Sarah Liu: absolutely depends on what works with your timeline. Just because you get your degree until years doesn’t mean you’ll
Sarah Liu: do well versus 6 years and then for the percentages, I don’t have an exact number but I do know that a good amount of public health jobs are either remote or hybrid, still due to from the pandemic but there are plenty of telework options for it within the public health field. So that’s what I can say. Dr. Mitchell, would you like to answer these questions?
MB Mitcham: Thank you, Sarah, so I always ask that question of how long is it going to take? And Sarah was absolutely correct. It really depends. There are some students that will take a lot longer just because it takes them longer to methodically process through information. There are some that will take a little bit less time.
MB Mitcham: The the general rule of thumb is about 6 to 9 h per course per week, but honestly, that varies greatly if you read everything that you’re supposed to read. And again, I’m a faculty member, I understand. If I give it to you to read doesn’t necessarily mean that you will. Some people have a much easier time writing papers than others, so it it just it greatly varies. You are the best gauge of your your work.
MB Mitcham: Life steady balance. So
MB Mitcham: sorry I can’t give you a concrete answer with that, but it it it generally varies. I will say also another thing about our courses is, they are 15 weeks in length for the fall and spring semesters. Gch, 500 is the outlier.
MB Mitcham: That course is available in 8 week length, just because again, it has to be taken by everyone in the college and then our summer courses for our program are the online. Summer courses are 8 weeks in length, but most courses are 15 weeks and length. So although yes, there may be
MB Mitcham: work for these courses because there’s going to be because there courses that you’re taking? There’s not an overly huge amount of work each week, just because it’s spread out in that 15 week. So if any of you have ever taken online courses before, typically it’s that 8 week truncated format where everything can seem a little bit more concentrated, the 15 week allows for more digestibility of the information and less work during the week. Also a side note with that
MB Mitcham: at least in the classes that I develop. And again, I’ve developed a decent number of them in this program. I hate busy work. I don’t think that there’s a value and busy work for the sake of busy work. So the assignments and my courses are there. But they’re not intended to be there, just to be assignments. They build on each other, which helps save time later on down the road. So sorry. It’s kind of a vague answer to that and then getting to the last bit about percentage of public health jobs or remote.
MB Mitcham: That varies greatly. So remote jobs are like, Sarah said, are still there, but the percentage and the number are constantly changing, due to needs. One thing, again, that I value about the field of public health. It’s so diverse. It’s not just contract tracing that you can do for work, or it’s not just working in the Department of Health for a government
MB Mitcham: jobs like working in a school as a health educator or working for a cooperative extension or working to help with urban gardening or helping to run a city mission. All of those things that help people and help to direct their health.
MB Mitcham: All can fall under the umbrella of public health. So maybe when you’re thinking about potential jobs after graduation, think about the type of work that you’d like to do. And then within that context, there, some jobs are more aligned to a remote or telework option, and some are more aligned to an in person option.
MB Mitcham: Hopefully, that helps. There’s another question I’ve already. If I’ve already submitted an application through selfish. How long does it take to find out the University’s decision? I’m going to throw Sarah under the bus and have her answer that question.
Sarah Liu: So yes, of course. So honestly depends on when you submitted your application right? But typically we try to get through them as soon as possible. We know that this is a big decision for a lot of students. However, we do try to give faculty members enough time to review the application as well. Typically, I’d like to say
Sarah Liu: we try to get a decision within a 1 month, I think. One month, or if if we can try to accelerate that process a little bit less than that. But E, everything comes and goes, you know, if you’re missing some documents, or, you know, depending on when you fill out the supplemental application after you submit the surface application. You know, there’s multiple components to filling out your application, and so depending on
Sarah Liu: where you are. In what stage of the application? That timeline, certainly, differs. But if you turned in your application and your supplemental application. And you’re just purely waiting for a decision. We try to get back to you within a month or so.
MB Mitcham: Alright. Are there any other questions?
MB Mitcham: Excellent questions? Alright. So what is the average starting salary? So a. As with many of these questions. I wish I could give you like you will. I am guaranteeing that you’re going to start with a certain salary doesn’t really work that way. It it really depends on the type of job that you choose, and I will say that it also depends on the type of job.
MB Mitcham: well, not location necessarily, although the location does come into play, but the type of job hiring. So if you’re working for the government, you’ll earn less than you might in the private sector. But there are excellent benefits that come with government work. Like
MB Mitcham: student loan forgiveness you. If you do government work, you can apply for student loan forgiveness. There are also fabulous retirement packages and healthcare packages that come with that. So, although it might not be a great dollar value as compared to private contract work.
MB Mitcham: You know, government work comes with a host of other things that you might not consider necessarily when thinking about income. Nonprofit work is also fabulous. Doesn’t necessarily pay the best. But again, a lot of nonprofit work have very robust support packages like healthcare, and things like that. So
MB Mitcham: and again, it’s going to vary greatly, depending on where you’re located. If you live near DC, you will have a higher income than if you are living and working somewhere not near DC, so again, there are multiple factors. I will say that because
MB Mitcham: master’s degrees have become more commonplace. And I’m not saying this just because I’m the director of the online Mph program. They’ve become more expected for public health work. So for a lot of jobs that have good job security and that pay well. A master’s degree is typically required. For many of those and through talking with somebody.
MB Mitcham: if you have any questions I would like to, and I’m sorry, Sarah. I’m throwing you under the bus, but if you would like to talk with somebody, the advisor at Mason for the master’s program and talk through different options. Sarah is fabulous. I know students love her, and you can reach out to her. If you’d like to talk with me, my contact information I will leave in the chat. If you want to have that, please feel free to reach out to me. I’m always happy to chat one on one through pretty much anything, including recipes. If you ever wanna talk about food, so, you know, feel free to reach out to us.
MB Mitcham: And when would we register and start courses? So typically whenever you register for a term, you’d start whatever term at which you registered. So there are 2 terms for which you can register for the online Mph program, which again, it’s just, it’s our Mph program. But the public health practice concentration.
MB Mitcham: All of our other programs at Mason in our Mph degree only have a fall admission cycle. So you would apply through surface through that August 1st cut off that Sarah had mentioned, and then you’d be starting that fall unless you wanted to do something called defer. And then you could request a deferral and then possibly start in the spring
MB Mitcham: for the public health practice concentration. There are 2 enrollment periods per year. One is in the fall. One is in the spring. So typically if you apply for spring, you’d be starting in the spring, which would start in January. If you’re applying for fall, you’d be starting in the fall.
MB Mitcham: which would be in August, and again our our semesters run 15 weeks in length.
MB Mitcham: and we do offer courses fall, spring and summer.
MB Mitcham: So if you start in the spring semester, you can either not take courses in the the summer if you want, or you could take courses in the summer as desired.
Sarah Liu: Yes, and just to add on to those things. In terms of just even talking through different career options, the College of public health actually also has a career advisor. And so you could definitely have access to the career advisor as well as a master’s of public health student. Who talks specifically about the different career options. Also, George Mason University has a wonderful university career service
Sarah Liu: as well. And they have people. Different advisors based on different disciplines as well, and they usually help you with you know, locating a job that you might be interested in preparing you with resume resume workshops, interviewer workshops like there’s plethora of resources for students, so they are able to secure the best job possible. And so that those are all resources
Sarah Liu: available. It just depends on if you utilize them or not as well. But there have been a lot of students who have used our university career services, and they’ve been really prepared for that. Another opportunity for students to kind of get a job after graduation is their practicum a lot of I think a lot of students.
Sarah Liu: either. I don’t. I can’t tell your percentage, but a good amount of students have also told me that they might have a career opportunity where they had their practicum with their practicum supervisor. So it just kind of leads them to a job, or at least somewhere to start out, which is great. So just to just wanted to talk about that.
Sarah Liu: And then for registration as of right now, since it’s already the middle of summer. When you at least for the fall term, you would register right away once you get admitted, and accept the offer of admissions. For the
Sarah Liu: public health concentration. There is also, somebody that can you? You get the option to either. Enroll somebody can enroll you in classes, or you can enroll by yourself. But that is also a great benefit where you know.
Sarah Liu: if you’re just like, well, I want someone to enroll me in my classes. Then that is also something that could be arranged for our online students. So just wanted to add that on.
MB Mitcham: Thank you, Sarah. Question and the question chat, how much is the tuition for the full program? Each credit is 725 per credit hour, which is less than the in State tuition for our traditional program. So believe it or not, whether you live in Virginia or outside of Virginia. If you are part of the public health Practice concentration, you’ll be paying less for your degree than students in any other program.
MB Mitcham: And then there is also. I just had it pulled up. Where did that go?
MB Mitcham: There’s also
MB Mitcham: a distance learning fee and a new student fee that are added to that. But there are options for you know, Federal aid. And there are also other options to earn income.
MB Mitcham: So just because you might not be located on campus for your courses. All of our students are eligible to work as graduate student assistance. So that’s another benefit that if you would like to maybe be part of some research and work with a faculty member and you know, be hired as one of those student research assistants or teaching assistants. There aren’t a lot of those positions available every semester.
MB Mitcham: but you would be eligible to apply for those as well. So there are other options to help with funding as well.
MB Mitcham: Excellent questions. Are there any others that anyone has?
MB Mitcham: Alright? Well, thank you. Everyone for joining us tonight? I greatly appreciate you taking the time on a Wednesday evening to listen to us and to hear more about the program. Sarah and I both put our contact information and a chat box. If you would like to reach out to us at any point and ask questions, we’re happy to answer them. Also rise. Point has a fabulous team that are willing and able to answer questions as well. But.
MB Mitcham: if you join us in our program, welcome, if you don’t join us in our program. Wish you the best of luck and thanks for listening, and we’ll see you soon.
Sarah Liu: Thank you, everybody. It’s so nice to meet you. And please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sarah Liu: Good night, everyone.
Master of Social Work Transcript
George Mason Online Admissions: Alright, thank you again to everyone for joining us this evening. We are excited to get started. My name is Denise. I am an admissions representative for the online masters of social work program.
George Mason Online Admissions: I am here as a resource to give you guys information, answer any questions, walk through the admissions application process. If this is something you decide you want to move forward with. I’m gonna go ahead and go over the agenda for today.
George Mason Online Admissions: so I will go ahead and introduce you to the faculty. Why, Mason’s master of social work.
George Mason Online Admissions: they’ll discuss the mission and outlook. What makes this unique
George Mason Online Admissions: curriculum details?
George Mason Online Admissions: Primarily it is a asynchronous learning, the practical education.
George Mason Online Admissions: Learning outcomes the stipend programs, admissions, requirements.
George Mason Online Admissions: and Q&A
George Mason Online Admissions: before then, just want to let you know how you can participate. You have your chat.
George Mason Online Admissions: You can raise your hand. There’s also gonna be a section towards the end for QA.
George Mason Online Admissions: And I’ll go ahead and introduce you to Dr. Daphne King.
George Mason Online Admissions: We have
George Mason Online Admissions: Gn. Booth. She is not with us tonight, but then we have Melissa Hansley. She’ll go ahead and discuss the practicum education portion.
George Mason Online Admissions: Dr. King, if you want to go ahead and introduce yourself.
Dr. Daphne King: Alright. Good evening, everyone. I am excited. To be here with you all tonight. Thank you for joining us for our open house, for fall semester. I am Dr. King. I am the program director
Dr. Daphne King: for our online Msw program. I am also an assistant professor in the Department of social work. I primarily teach courses related to our clinical or clinical practice with children using family specialization. As well as the first course that students take when they enter the program, our foundations of social work and social welfare. So I look forward to sharing this space with you all this evening.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you for that, Dr. Daphne. King Melissa Hensley. If you wanna go ahead and introduce yourself, please.
Melissa Hensley: Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining. I’m Melissa Hensley. I’m one of the assistant directors and a department or practical education
Melissa Hensley: program. Here in the department of social work, and it’s great to be here. I look forward to talking with you a little bit about the practicum process and the requirements, and hope to work with you in the future.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you. I’ll go ahead and transition into social work and the mission and outlook.
Dr. Daphne King: Alright. So
Dr. Daphne King: the Msw program here, George Mason. Our mission, our values encompass the values of the social work profession as outlined for us through our professional organization, the National Association of Social Workers. And so, as you see on the slide here.
Dr. Daphne King: our mission encompasses, you know the ideals of service and social justice, and really working to address the needs of those that have been historically marginalized and oppressed in our country as well as those that are living in poverty and as social workers we don’t we work on behalf of and with these individuals to empower them to impact their communities as well.
Dr. Daphne King: We look at how each individual is interacting within their own social environment. As well as society at large. And you know again, our mission here. In our Msw. Program
Dr. Daphne King: encompasses those ideals of social justice advocating for human rights and service that are encompassed in the values of the social work, profession, and our professional organization in Asw.
Dr. Daphne King: and, as you can see from the statistics included here on this slide. The profession of social work is fastly growing. We are meeting the needs of mental health within our society as well. And so the profession of social work is, you know, really slated to meet those growing needs of a mental health services within our society.
Dr. Daphne King: This next slide just features some information about what makes our program unique. Our online program has been ranked in the top 10 by Forbes as being one of the best online Msw programs of 2,023. Our program also prepares students to apply for
Dr. Daphne King: or sit for licensure within the State of Virginia.
Dr. Daphne King: and for students that may enter in from other States as well. We do prepare you for licensure. One thing that we do have students make sure that they check is the license and requirements for their particular state. But our program does prepare you to apply for
Dr. Daphne King: and set for licensure. We are accredited by the Council on social work education, which means that we meet all of the criteria that they have set forth for a rigorous academic graduate program. We have faculty
Dr. Daphne King: that come from very diverse areas within the profession of social work. We have faculty that are engaging in research and publishing, and students have an opportunity to engage with faculty and work alongside faculty with their research through our swirl lab, which is our social work, integrative research lab. And so these are some things that make our program unique.
Dr. Daphne King: This next slide just talks a little bit about our curriculum. And, as it was stated earlier.
Dr. Daphne King: our program is primarily asynchronous learning. So your classes are not necessarily scheduled for a certain time or certain day, but there are due dates connected with each of your assignments, as the slide says, here our program is 60 credit hours for our traditional program for students coming in under advanced standing. And that means that you have a bachelors of social
Dr. Daphne King: work from an accredited university. That’s 33 credit hours to complete.
Dr. Daphne King: We have 2 specializations. One is children, youth and families. The other specialization is adults and healthy aging within both of those specializations. Students will engage in clinical work as well as some macro or policy work to understand providing services to both of those unique populations across various stages in the life cycle.
Dr. Daphne King: This slide also just features an example of what a course plan could look like. One thing to keep in mind is that for our traditional
Dr. Daphne King: part-time program.
Dr. Daphne King: our semesters are divided into 2 8 week sessions. And so students will take one course in each of those 8 8 week sessions. We do have an accelerated option where some students opt to take 3 classes a semester. So that means in one of those 8 week sessions you will be taking 2 classes together. But what is laid out before you just a sample of some of the courses that are offered within our program.
Dr. Daphne King: As you know, we stated earlier, our program is primarily asynchronous so you will engage in the courses according to your own schedule, on your own time, just making sure that you, submit the assignments according to the due dates as posted in your course. There are some courses, such as our practicum seminars
Dr. Daphne King: that do have a synchronous component to it, so you will have to log into zoom at a certain time to engage in those class sessions. Some instructors will also offer synchronous class sessions that will give you an opportunity to engage with your faculty and classmates. Again, via zoom.
Dr. Daphne King: in a little bit more of a structured setting.
Dr. Daphne King: Your instructors will also offer virtual office hours. This is, that is a time where students can meet with their faculty individually to talk about their assignments, their grade, and of course, or any other items that may come up, or even just to connect
Dr. Daphne King: students also have faculty advisors that will also offer you know certain zoom sessions to connect with your faculty advisor and receive support in that way. So while the program is primarily asynchronous, there are some synchronous components to help build community with our students and to connect and engage with students on a little bit more of a deeper level. That isn’t always possible in an virtual format.
Dr. Daphne King: Now I’m going to turn it over to Melissa.
Melissa Hensley: I guess, taking myself off mute would be helpful.
Melissa Hensley: helpful. So the practicum is a large component of the program. We could talk about this for a very long time, so we’ll try to
Melissa Hensley: and keep it pretty succinct to go through the slides here.
Melissa Hensley: So just wanted to mention this as you’re, you know, thinking about coming into the program.
Melissa Hensley: we have actually just announced the change of our name for the internship program. So you may have heard about field education, and some universities are still using the term field. George Mason has switched over to practicum education. So we’re the pep, department or pep team
Melissa Hensley: And so
Melissa Hensley: so really, that’s to you. I’ll just go through the points here to elevate the experiential learning focus for the internship
Melissa Hensley: as as a practicum. So it is hands on applications theories and concepts, and really is
Melissa Hensley: and combination. It’s not just a matter of going in and learning. You know, one particular skill or one particular job in one particular setting. It is very
Melissa Hensley: It’s a comprehensive experience. And so you also will receive supervision. From a social worker who’s approved by the program and meets the accreditation requirements. There is a deliberate, structured, intentional, interactive learning experience, that is, of your practicum experience. And so
Melissa Hensley: just wanted to. Let you know that we are the practicum education program. So you may see some places where a field is still there. But we are transitioning to the the practicum education program.
Melissa Hensley: So the practicum as Dr. King mentioned. Some of the classes are 8 week sessions, but your practicum is not it is the signature, pedagogy for social work education, and it is a full academic year.
Melissa Hensley: And it’s really the opportunity to transform from you know everything that you’re learning in the classroom and through your coursework and be able to put that into practice and see the social worker role. You know how how it works in the in the agency setting working with clients, client systems and the community
Melissa Hensley: and it’s really to, again, you know, provide that opportunity for you to apply your knowledge skills, values, ethics, and everything that you’re learning into professional practice.
Melissa Hensley: and so there is an evaluation component.
Melissa Hensley: Your your park to come is
Melissa Hensley: comprised of both the practicum hours per week that you do with the agency. There’s an evaluation there. There’s also a seminar component of your practicum, and that is asynchronous for the most part. But, as Dr. King mentioned, we do have a couple of sessions that are synchronous.
Melissa Hensley: The the practicum seminar is
Melissa Hensley: technically, it’s a class, but it is really designed for engagement, discussion, and kind of connecting all the dots. Students are in such a variety of agencies. And so but you’re all working on the same skill set this
Melissa Hensley: same codes, the same standards. And so I’m just wanna make
Melissa Hensley: make sure that have that opportunity to really discuss that bring any kind of ethical dilemmas, that sort of thing to the class, and and be able to connect everything together. The practicum is for
Melissa Hensley: the traditional, the non advanced standing track. There’s 2 practice comes through general this year, and then specialization year, and when we say year, that means August through about the end of April early May. So it’s your traditional academic year.
Melissa Hensley: fall and spring semester
Melissa Hensley: for your general as year from August through May, you’ll stay at the same agency. And you know same
Melissa Hensley: seminar course as well. Your generalist year is a total of 450 h, and so per semester even though you’ll stay at the same agency for fall and spring. It’s 225 h for the fall, and then 225 in the spring, which breaks down to about 16 HA week.
Melissa Hensley: It’s the same structure and setup for specialization. You’re accepted 600 h.
Melissa Hensley: Which is 20 HA week. So just wanted to highlight that first, because it is a very large time commitment. It is a lot of work.
Melissa Hensley: and just wanna point that out, because sometimes, you know, just be thinking about what that means for you.
Melissa Hensley: So your schedule on your family. And so, you know. Just be thinking about that early on
Melissa Hensley: We do work with students individually on identifying the agency. You know, figuring out
Melissa Hensley: like what agency is gonna be best for you location and I can talk about that in a minute. But during your 16 or 20 h per week. If you’re advanced standing, you’ll go straight into your specialization year.
Melissa Hensley: But no matter what. You’ll have an hour of weekly supervision with an approved social worker on site
Melissa Hensley: or externally. But you’ll have social work supervision.
Melissa Hensley: Students will also have to demonstrate competency and
Melissa Hensley: all 8
Melissa Hensley: areas. Macron’s may have
Melissa Hensley: macro only, or micro only but we really wanna make sure that students have a well rounded experience and have an opportunity to really practice at the micro meso and macro levels. It’s really hard to be exclusive in any of those with a social work role.
Melissa Hensley: So just making sure that you’re getting the most out of your practical experience.
Melissa Hensley: And then for the generalist year. We sometimes describe it as like a bird’s eye view. Where you can really kind of see? The social worker role be able to. You know, you’ll still be interacting with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. But maybe not so much of that will be direct service practice.
Melissa Hensley: it’s about half and half, and then your specialization year would be a little more clinically focused. We’re about 75% of your time would be in direct service with
Melissa Hensley: clients and client systems.
Melissa Hensley: Most agencies are you know your Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 and to be able to be available during those times.
Melissa Hensley: We really wanna make sure that students have the full experience that you’re able to participate in meetings. Have access to your supervisors and get the most out of that. However, we do realize that social work is 24, 7, and so occasionally we will have partnerships or opportunities and places like crisis centers, shelters, hospitals, and that may have some alternative hours. But students.
Melissa Hensley: no matter where you’re placed, students are expected to be available
Melissa Hensley: during the the times of operation. That the agency can offer for the practicum.
Melissa Hensley: And
Melissa Hensley: again, we do work with agencies wherever students are we do have some remote opportunities as well. Ever since Covid, there’s been a little bit of a shift for agencies to be able to offer some virtual and remote placements. However, we can’t guarantee that. It just kind of depends on what’s available
Melissa Hensley: and social workers. We’re always kind of changing and adapting to the community needs but we do partner with agencies all across the United States, and we’re always looking to add new partnerships as well. So sometimes if we’re working with a student, who’s in a new
Melissa Hensley: great for us, definitely get out there and explore and see what’s available. And we do our best to match with agencies that are going to be of interest and are gonna help students and their long term goals. But also you know, definitely. Keep it
Melissa Hensley: and open.
Melissa Hensley: Mine is what your opportunities. We have hundreds of agencies.
Melissa Hensley: That we’re currently partnered with and like, I said before, we work with students individually to kind of match you with agencies that are gonna help you be successful in your practicum and make sure that it’s a good fit.
Melissa Hensley: Make sure that they meet the requirements and maintain the integrity for our program.
Melissa Hensley: And so a traditional placement, usually students don’t have any relationship with that agency. So it’ll be something new. And then we do have the employment based practicum for students who may already be employed with a social services agency that may be able to provide the practicum opportunity for you as well. So we do have to go through an application process for that. But if you are currently employed with a social services agency and we’d be glad to talk about some options there.
Melissa Hensley: We need to make sure that they can meet the requirements of the program. Provide the supervision and support that you’ll need and we really
Melissa Hensley: focus on making sure that students have the opportunity to be a student if it’s an employment base, because sometimes it’s very easy to kinda keep doing what you’re doing. But you really need to branch out and grow and make sure that you’re getting the most out of the Msw. Program and setting ourselves up for success post graduation. So
Melissa Hensley: I am going to add our email in the chat
Melissa Hensley: and we are still in the process of updating our email. So it does say, social work field. But that is our
Melissa Hensley: our email for the practicum education program. If you have any questions, I, you know would be glad to answer here. Or if you wanna put them in the chat throughout the open house tonight, or if you wanna send us an email, we’d be glad to answer your questions.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you, Melissa, and I’m gonna
George Mason Online Admissions: back to you, Daphne. Dr. Daphne.
George Mason Online Admissions: didn’t I go.
Dr. Daphne King: Alright. So this next slide just talks a little bit about. You know some of the roles that social workers may engage in in various areas within the field of social work. And this is just a snapshot. This is not an exhaustive list of just the various roles that social workers engage in.
Dr. Daphne King: but some of them listed here. Include family services working in child protection which I started my career as a social worker in working in foster care and adoption, housing, homeless homelessness programs, health and mental health practice.
Dr. Daphne King: And again, you know, our, our public school systems, social workers are working in counseling centers at universities, working for various companies working in entrepreneurial pursuits. So it is. A very vast field and very diverse
Dr. Daphne King: with the roles and areas that social workers fulfill.
Dr. Daphne King: So one other thing that makes our program here at George Mason, unique is that we have 2 stipend programs. And our stipend programs are a way for students to engage in some additional training as well as to receive some additional or funding for their graduate school education. So the first program is the child Welfare stipend program.
Dr. Daphne King: With this particular program, students will receive some specialized training specifically to work in the child public or the public child welfare arena
Dr. Daphne King: students within the Cwsp program will receive a $10,000 stipend per academic year. But there is a work requirement connected to that. So once you graduate, I believe it’s within
Dr. Daphne King: 6 months you would have to secure employment with a Virginia Department of Social Services. We do have a a coordinator for the Child Welfare stipend program that will work with you. On, you know, provide. Finding that employment on securing a practicum students can apply for the Cwsp at any stage in the program. Generalist and specialization.
Dr. Daphne King: Then our second stipend program is our behavioral health program or cap. Bh, this program, specifically, is was created to
Dr. Daphne King: address the behavioral health workforce shortage by providing some more specific training. To Msw students, to be able to address complex issues like untreated trauma and exposure to violence.
Dr. Daphne King: This particular stipend program also comes with a $10,000 stipend. There is not a work requirement. For this stipend program. However, students can only apply to this program. When they are going to start their specialization courses. So these are our 2 stipend programs that are available within the department of social work.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you very much for that, Doctor Daphne King. I will go ahead and discuss now the admissions process before we get into our QA.
George Mason Online Admissions: The steps for the admissions is we do have some prerequisites. You would have to have a bachelor’s degree with a minimum of a 3.0 Gpa.
George Mason Online Admissions: We will also need a transcript.
George Mason Online Admissions: We’ll need a resume and any volunteer work you have you have done. Please include in your resume. We’ll also need 2 letters of recommendation.
George Mason Online Admissions: A personal statement
George Mason Online Admissions: usually would start that by addressing social work justice.
George Mason Online Admissions: and also as far as the classes for prerequisites, you do need to have had taken a statistics class.
George Mason Online Admissions: an English composition course, a government one on one history or government course, and a social science course. If you have not had a statistics. Course, you can’t take one through Gmu to satisfy this. And there’s also another way you can satisfy. That is the supplement through Linkedin, which we would provide you that information. If that’s a route you wanted to go.
George Mason Online Admissions: If you have any questions regarding these steps, as far as like start dates, application materials.
George Mason Online Admissions: anything like that. Please reach out to an admissions representative. If you don’t know who your advisor is, I’ll be sharing the main number on the final slide, your advisor will be able to address anything you are missing. As far as like application fees, start dates any questions you have. Now let’s go ahead and jump into the QA. Go ahead and put any questions you have in the chat, and we’ll be more than happy to address those.
George Mason Online Admissions: I’ll leave this slide here while we go over the Q. And A.
George Mason Online Admissions: You can grab that number.
George Mason Online Admissions: I’ll go back to the other one with the admissions process. So we can go over the questions that you guys have.
George Mason Online Admissions: One of the questions is, what is the committee looking for in regards to application.
Dr. Daphne King: So you know, the committee is really looking for all of these items that are listed on this slide. To be addressed.
Dr. Daphne King: You want to make sure that you have that minimum Gpa, or provide an explanation. If your Gpa is lower
Dr. Daphne King: with the personal statement, you want to make sure that you are addressing each of the prompts. One of the prompt, I think, asked more about your personal aspirations. But then the second one specifically asks you to identify a social justice issue. And you really want to make sure that you are addressing both of those prompts because those prompts. Also let us know what you understand about the profession of social work and advocating for social justice.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, thank you.
George Mason Online Admissions: Another question, what kind of students do you typically see.
George Mason Online Admissions: are coming into this degree like, what are the similar backgrounds? You see.
Dr. Daphne King: In all honesty.
Dr. Daphne King: I see students coming from all walks of life. I really can’t pinpoint
Dr. Daphne King: you know, a typical, a quote unquote typical student. You know, we see students that have come the traditional route where they’ve, you know, finished undergraduate and are moving directly into grad school. We see students that have taken 10 or more, or even 20 or more years away from school. And they’re not coming back. We see students that are career switchers. So it it really varies.
Dr. Daphne King: Okay.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you. And in reference to having a lower than the minimum Gpa, do you recommend, aside from the explanation that you mentioned, that they take a course
George Mason Online Admissions: or more work experience to give them a better chance at being accepted to the program.
Dr. Daphne King: We have had some applicants that may have had a lower Gpa that did take some additional course work, or or take some additional courses to show that they could handle
Dr. Daphne King: The rigors of a graduate school. Have had some applicants to, you know, really demonstrate an understanding of working in the profession of social work through volunteer work. So really, it depends on the
Dr. Daphne King: totality of the application is not just isolated with one factor. But it’s really looking at all of the factors combined.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, thank you.
George Mason Online Admissions: Another question. Are there additional scholarships available.
Dr. Daphne King: So one of the things for graduate school is that it is often not as many scholarships available as you would find for undergraduate.
Dr. Daphne King: If you go to our college, you know the College of Public Health, there is scholarship information available there. Some of the that scholarship information is geared towards students that are already admitted into one of the programs within the College of Public Health.
Dr. Daphne King: I believe George Mason University.
Dr. Daphne King: you know, also, has scholarships available. But again, those would be things that you would be looking at, you know, once you were accepted or admitted. I do know that the National Association of Social Workers
Dr. Daphne King: have, you know, a scholarship program. But honestly, when it comes to graduate school, it really is a little bit more challenging to find scholarships, and that is something that you just may want to research on your own or start thinking about how
Dr. Daphne King: you’re going to fund your, you know, graduate school education. You know. Again, we have the 2 stipend programs available in the department. But it would really be up to you to look at what else is out there and available to fund your graduate school education.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you.
George Mason Online Admissions: Another question that I have is how important is having a research background and undergrad when applying to the program.
Dr. Daphne King: Having a research background is not a requirement. As I said earlier in tonight’s presentation or open house that we do have a research lab. But any student can apply to be a graduate research assistant to work in the swirl lab. And you don’t need to have research experience to do that. You know it definitely, you know, is a benefit. But it’s not a requirement.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you. And is the admissions process different for advanced standing.
Dr. Daphne King: The advanced standing process is a little bit different. The Gpa requirement is a little bit higher. So for advanced standing you need to have a 3.2 Gpa. You have to have a bachelors of social work from an accredited university.
Dr. Daphne King: And you also have to submit your Bswcom evaluation as part of that process. There’s there are 2 steps to the advanced standing application process. One is completing the application materials. But then the second piece is an interview, if you are invited to interview. So the advanced standing is a little bit of a different process.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay? And the next question is, what are the deadlines for application? And are there multiple time? Start options? I can answer that, Doctor King, if you would like. There are.
George Mason Online Admissions: It’s gonna be dependent on the start term. And yes, we do have 3 start terms. We have our
George Mason Online Admissions: spring term which usually starts January. We have our summer term usually starts in May, and then we have our fall term that usually starts in August. Usually the deadlines, for everything is a month beforehand. That gives you enough time to get everything in, and it gives the admissions department enough time to review and make sure you have.
George Mason Online Admissions: or your line or your ducks aligns for that, and if there’s something that you need to submit, you have plenty of time to take care of that
George Mason Online Admissions: as far as like.
George Mason Online Admissions: for example, our next term is the fall term classes start August 20, sixth, and then we have our spring term that we just opened classes start January thirteenth.
George Mason Online Admissions: and as far as like deadlines to have everything into us for the online program for fall, you would have to have everything in by July first, and then for the spring term. We’d like for you to have everything in by December first.
Dr. Daphne King: So the July first deadline for Fall semester is for advanced standing. There is a a different application deadline for anyone applying for the traditional part time program.
Dr. Daphne King: But the July first date is the date for advanced standing.
Dr. Daphne King: I believe, for fall semester. The application deadline is either August first or August fifteenth.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, August first.
George Mason Online Admissions: for the regular one. That is correct. Another question that I have.
George Mason Online Admissions: What skills are being learned in the program.
Dr. Daphne King: So you know, the program, of course, is preparing students to practice as professional social workers. So you are learning those basic skills.
Dr. Daphne King: That you know social workers possess. You are learning about the profession of social work, our core values, our ethical principles and standards.
Dr. Daphne King: Learning about engaging with clients, on all levels or engaging with individuals on all levels. There’s learning
Dr. Daphne King: you know about policy and how policy practice influences or impacts the services that we provide. So the the skills are really being built. So the students can practice professionally as a social worker.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you.
George Mason Online Admissions: There’s no more questions.
George Mason Online Admissions: Sure, if you have any
George Mason Online Admissions: words of wisdom you would like to give the students that joined us tonight.
Dr. Daphne King: I, you know, would definitely say, you know, really make sure that
Dr. Daphne King: you have, you know, given some, you know, serious thought and consideration to the start of grad school. It is a, you know, a rigorous process. And so you want to make sure that you have, you know, considered how your life may be impacted, how your schedule may be impacted, what things you may, you know, need to shift
Dr. Daphne King: in your time, and then your schedule to start graduate school to make sure that you have enough time to engage with all of the course work, and that you have you know time when it’s
Dr. Daphne King: time to start practicing.
Dr. Daphne King: Definitely, you know. Look at things that you do to engage in self care. That’s going to be very important. You know, once you’re in the program. But I really would say, making sure that you’re looking at
Dr. Daphne King: how you may, you know, need to adjust certain things in your life related to to time, because it is a time commitment.
Dr. Daphne King: I don’t know if Melissa has anything she would like to add.
Melissa Hensley: I second everything.
Melissa Hensley: yeah, I know this is, it’s a very
Melissa Hensley: intense program, but it’s all
Melissa Hensley: also very fast. It probably doesn’t feel very fast while you’re in it, but when you get out of it, when you finish and graduate you look back in it. It goes very, very quickly. There’s a lot of great connections to be made, especially
Melissa Hensley: with online students. You know, there’s ways to connect. And so because it’s asynchronous. There’s a lot of ways to really get to know your classmates, and, you know, develop those lifelong connections, friendships, colleagues. You know all of that. So I noticed that for sure in the last few years that
Melissa Hensley: students are very connected. You know, there’s a lot of opportunities. If you’re local and online. There’s opportunities to participate on campus
Melissa Hensley: of those
Melissa Hensley: I don’t know. Yeah, I mean, I I agree with everything Dr. King said. So.
Dr. Daphne King: There is one question related to practicum if you can use the same agency twice.
Melissa Hensley: Yeah. And so sometimes that does come up. Ia lot of that depends on the agency. And you know, when it comes down to it. What we’re looking for is making sure that there’s room to grow. So you know, occasionally we see that more often with larger agencies, where there’s more departments. To kind of spread out. Try something new.
Melissa Hensley: You know. Work with new clients, work with
Melissa Hensley: new supervisors, you know, gaining perspectives, new skill sets. You know, some of the skills
Melissa Hensley: that students are working on, you know, in addition to engagement is assessment interventions, evaluations.
Melissa Hensley: You know. So all of those skills that’s, you know, making sure that you are developing that and not just repeating more of that for a second year. So you know we look at, you know all of the factors. You know. What is the agency? What kind of learning opportunities are they gonna provide? And if that’s
Melissa Hensley: if it seems like a sound arrangement, then we can. We can consider that.
Dr. Daphne King: And yes, you do have to have a Bswe for the advanced standing. Option. There is no other substitute or no, or any other major that can be substitute afraid and standing. It has to be a Bsw. And that requirement is given to us by our accrediting body, the Council on social work, education? So that is not something that you know we would
Dr. Daphne King: change or substitute in order to be considered and apply for advanced standing. You do have to have a Bsw.
Dr. Daphne King: And I think there was one question about the tuition for the program.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, I was going to
George Mason Online Admissions: answer that
George Mason Online Admissions: privately, but I can discuss it here if you would like.
George Mason Online Admissions: Bear with me just one moment
George Mason Online Admissions: as far as the tuition. It will
George Mason Online Admissions: vary if it’s online, or if
George Mason Online Admissions: it’s on campus. So I’ll definitely tell you what the cost is per credit hour for the online
George Mason Online Admissions: masters in social work.
George Mason Online Admissions: The total pro, the total program is gonna be dependent on your personalized course plan. So if you did part time, it. Take you 10 semesters like to always state that full time would be 8 semesters. It is a total of 60 credit hours. The credit hour
George Mason Online Admissions: per hour is $795 per course would be 2385. So looking at currently, the tuition plan for this upcoming year would be $49,860. That does include your fees as well.
George Mason Online Admissions: There’s any other questions that have come in.
George Mason Online Admissions: Don’t think we have any other questions at the moment
George Mason Online Admissions: I did. I do have the number for you to guys to call. You wanted to contact one of us and the admissions department, the email address as well, we’d be more than happy to address any other questions. If you think of anything
George Mason Online Admissions: after this
George Mason Online Admissions: virtual open house.
Dr. Daphne King: I think the total that was provided was for the entire time in the program. I I believe the 49,000 was for the entire program, not just for one year.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, it’s for the entire program. All 60 credit hours for the regular masters and social work.
George Mason Online Admissions: the advanced standing. If you were coming in with that Bsw. That tuition for that one would be $27,450, including your fees.
Dr. Daphne King: And advanced standing is 33 credits
Dr. Daphne King: to complete
Dr. Daphne King: over 6 semesters. The advanced standing
Dr. Daphne King: is, you know, a little bit of a shorter time because you are coming in to the program ready to start your specialization courses. And that’s what really advanced standing means. Advanced standing means that you know you’ve received you know, instruction as a bachelor of social work student, and that you’re ready to start
Dr. Daphne King: your Msw. Program
Dr. Daphne King: with your specialization courses. And so
Dr. Daphne King: some of those generalist courses are advanced. Standing students wouldn’t take. You would be starting ready to start your specialization courses. And so it is 33 credits.
Dr. Daphne King: I do. Wanna make sure that I made that distinction because advanced standing is not necessarily connected to the time to complete the program advanced standing is more so about the fact that you have a bachelors into social work, and you’re ready to begin more advanced coursework as a master student.
George Mason Online Admissions: I don’t see any other questions coming in. Think we can go ahead and wrap up. I wanna thank everyone for joining us tonight. Again the numbers there in the email address. If you guys have any other questions, feel free to reach out to us.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you, Dr. Daphne King, and thank you, Melissa, for joining and helping with the presentation.
Dr. Daphne King: Have a good evening, everyone.
George Mason Online Admissions: Have a great evening. Everyone.
Melissa Hensley: Thank you. Have a good night.
George Mason Online Admissions: Good night.
Master of Education in Special Education and Graduate Certificates Transcript
George Mason Online Admissions: Alright. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to our online virtual open house
George Mason Online Admissions: tonight we will be talking about our master of education in special education, our graduate certificates in autism, spectrum disorders and applied behavior analysis.
George Mason Online Admissions: We’ll just give it about 2 more minutes or so to let others
George Mason Online Admissions: make their way in.
George Mason Online Admissions: I
George Mason Online Admissions: speak
George Mason Online Admissions: 1 s.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, we’re gonna go ahead and get started
George Mason Online Admissions: as soon as this Powerpoint moves.
George Mason Online Admissions: Bear with me.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay.
George Mason Online Admissions: Dr. Bartold.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes. Hi.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: my apologies, you’re gonna hear a little bit of barking. My dog is
Christine Hoffner Barthold: is a covid puppet. So oh, hold on! Just 1 s.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Dick, do you wanna start her.
Jodi Duke: As I say, why don’t I start while you work on the pup? And yes, I’m Jody Duke. I am the academic program Coordinator for the autism graduate program at Mason and am happy to be here with everyone. So thanks for joining tonight. It’ll be great to tell you a little bit about our programs, and to answer any questions that you all have
Jodi Duke: and
Jodi Duke: what else? I’ve been at Mason since 2,008. It’s been a little while and I also coordinate our general education special education program general access and
Jodi Duke: And so this is a wonderful program that
Jodi Duke: that I’m excited to talk with everyone about. And my research area of focus is examining supports and services for autistic students who are leaving the secondary Ed and going into post secondary life. And specifically looking at college supports which works well as someone working at Mason.
Jodi Duke: Chris.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Hi, I think I have her settled.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I’m Dr. Chris Barthold. I am the academic Program Coordinator for the Applied behavior analysis program.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I’ve been at Mason since 2014
Christine Hoffner Barthold: and
Christine Hoffner Barthold: my area of focus. I have 2. Is
Christine Hoffner Barthold: interventions with individuals with disability, but also working in health, wellness, and fitness.
George Mason Online Admissions: Next slide.
George Mason Online Admissions: So again. Thank you all for attending our virtual open house. There’s a couple of different ways that you can choose to participate tonight. The first one would be the chat instruction. So.
George Mason Online Admissions: as you can see in the little bubble in your control panel at the bottom of the window. You’re going to click, chat, for the chat window to appear, and then you’re going to go ahead and insert your message. You can also raise your hand. Once you raise your hand in the webinar control we’ll go ahead and
George Mason Online Admissions: prompt. You will go ahead and give you the opportunity to speak. And of course we will need to unmute you. And the last one is the question. So there’s going to be a. QA. In your webinar control to get access to the QA. Window. Towards the end of our presentation. If we do not, or or if we’re not able to answer your questions. During
George Mason Online Admissions: the middle of the virtual open house, we will definitely get to your questions towards the end.
George Mason Online Admissions: and then meet our wonderful presenters, Dr. Judy, Duke and Dr. Christine Barthold. Thank you so much for joining us tonight.
George Mason Online Admissions: Who would I love to hand this over to Dr. Duke or Dr. Bartholt.
Jodi Duke: Sure. Yeah. I think we already told you a little bit about ourselves. And so as we go tonight, I’ll talk about the autism program, and Dr. Bartel will talk about the Aba program. And and that way you have an opportunity to learn a little bit about each.
George Mason Online Admissions: Next slide.
Jodi Duke: Maybe the next slide. Yeah.
Jodi Duke: so I think I’ll just take a few of these, Dr. Bartel, and then I’ll
Jodi Duke: throw it to you. How’s that? So? You know, our special education program here at Mason is
Jodi Duke: is unique for for many different reasons. But we we like to highlight, just a few as we starts to tell you about the the opportunities here. So the first is that we are designed to be a part time program. The format is part time, and yet we, we really work hard to offer you and what we call like an immersive student experience. So
Jodi Duke: we first of all acknowledge that everyone is coming into these programs with very full adult lives. And so that’s important. We know that you have work and family commitments and and a lot of things happening. So our goal is to really make the programs as accessible to you as possible. And that that looks different for each program, and we’ll talk through that this evening. And as we talk about the delivery
Jodi Duke: but it is, it is still very important to us to have a rigorous program, a high quality program.
Jodi Duke: You can see here, we’re ranked number 7 for online special Ed programs in the us and and we work really hard. To maintain that. That ranking
Jodi Duke: so you will still have full time, professors. You know we are all full time. Mason. Professionals. You will have some adjunct faculty who we hire in our programs as well. They are part time professors, and we hire them
Jodi Duke: in order to keep our field the current field practices available to you all, and make sure that you have a mix of of us who are working in higher Ed and those who are working and engaged in the field. And so
Jodi Duke: I think that’s one of the big pieces about the immersive experience. Each of our programs offers different ways of sort of exploring the practical applications of the theory that you’ll learn. And so we’ll talk about that as we go on also. But I think that also lends that lends itself to that immersive idea of really just making sure that even though we know you’re doing this part time you’re engaged, and you have a lot of opportunities for growth and learning.
Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartol.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Thank you.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes, I think Dr. Du covered most of it here that both of both programs really
Christine Hoffner Barthold: work very hard to make sure that you have a high quality experience in the Aba
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Arena. We’re preparing you to take and hope and pass the
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Behavioral Certification Board exam. We are a verified course sequence with the Association for Behavior Analysis, international
Christine Hoffner Barthold: and
Christine Hoffner Barthold: this is very much a program where we try to give you a variety of activities and learning experiences. To maximize your learning.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: And so, as Dr. Duke said, we’re ranked number 7 for best online special education programs.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: And I will talk about that. It does say, designed to benefit learners with disabilities throughout their entire lives. But the Aba program is really designed to benefit people
Christine Hoffner Barthold: throughout their entire lives. Not just learners with disabilities. And
Christine Hoffner Barthold: we’ll talk a little bit if you’re on the fence between the OP. Excuse me, the autism program and the Aba program. What makes us unique and give you some ideas to help you as you make your decision as to which one is right for you.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I can take this one. I’ll start first.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: This is a flexible curriculum. But is chock full of information. If you decide that. You’re going to go for the masters in special education
Christine Hoffner Barthold: with an emphasis in either Asc or Aba, you’ll be required to take these core courses here.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Introduction to special education.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: computer applications, universal design for learning, that is.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: including people with disabilities into everyday life, using designs that really benefit everybody, not just the individuals with disabilities.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: A research seminar and a capstone.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I’ll jump into the Aba track, and then
Christine Hoffner Barthold: you can jump into the Asd one
Christine Hoffner Barthold: is that okay?
Jodi Duke: Sounds good. Yes, go for it.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes, so Aba does have one extra
Christine Hoffner Barthold: course. There is 7 courses in the Aba track. They are required by the behavior analyst certification board.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So you start off with the basics.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: principles, procedures, and philosophy. So you get a good foundation. There.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: then you’ll go to empirical basis is your course where you’re gonna learn about behavior analysis, research designs. We are a data, heavy field. So you’ll learn about data collection, how to analyze data, all those types of things.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Edsee, 6, 22. We’ll talk about a little bit later. It is my absolute favorite and that is where you’re going to learn about basic research and studies that involve rats and pigeons and humans, assessments and intervention. That’s where you’re gonna learn how to do functional assessment. And plan interventions for your learners.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Applications. I tend to call that the kitchen sink course. Because we cover all kinds of stuff in that course. We cover.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: we we cover applications for individuals with disabilities. We also cover stuff about organizational behavior management.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: which is the application of behavior analysis to organizations and business
Christine Hoffner Barthold: verbal behaviors kind of self-explanatory. And then you’ll have an ethics course as well.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: that’s if you take the Apa track. And Dr. Duke, what happens if you do? The Asd track.
Jodi Duke: Great. So we have 6 courses on our track, and the first one actually in order of of how we roll you through is Edsee 6, 34. So we introduce you to the characteristics of individuals.
Jodi Duke: Autistic individuals. And that class does a lot of examination of
Jodi Duke: the Dsm 5. Diagnostic criteria, the different levels of autism diagnosis, and then going through each of the areas of the characteristic social behavioral communication. You then go into 6 20, which is a class I teach, and love, which is supporting the behavior and sensory needs
Jodi Duke: a and that one is exactly what it sounds like we dig into behavior. We use some of the principles of of Aba for this course. So you do get a little bit but definitely a very different way of looking at behavior in terms of
Jodi Duke: positive behavior change. And then what are some of the sensory needs of autistic individuals. And how can we build in sensory support, star behavior work?
Jodi Duke: And then, 6, 35 is an intervention course that each week you examine a different domain or skill area? And an evidence based practice within that domain. So we look at everything from video modeling for independence to social narratives for social interaction. And each week you get
Jodi Duke: I always tell students we’re filling your toolbox there, you just get all these tools that are are grounded in research and found to be effective.
Jodi Duke: Edsee, 6, 36 is the communication and literacy course.
Jodi Duke: This one’s really important for a number of reasons. But we dig into a lot of the communication needs and interventions, communication devices. It pairs this class pairs nicely with Edsc. 5, 17, where you start to learn a little bit about some of the different assistive technology. And in our course we do some augmentative and alternative communication devices here as well.
Jodi Duke: We also do quite a bit on literacy. A lot of autistic individuals are hyper lexic. So they decode the words really well. They can read, read the words, but they don’t always comprehend very, very well. And so we we spend time on on practices and strategies. To address that
Jodi Duke: 6 37 is one of the courses that makes our program unique, which is that we have a lifespan focus. And so we are going to take you in this course all the way from birth through aging.
Jodi Duke: and there’s a module on each sort of phase of life, and in each module you look at some of the different areas of need, some of the things that in terms of resources, interventions, and in your own region or area. You will then do an examination, looking at supports, resources so that you are equipped to hand to kind of help, advocate and and support in your own communities.
Jodi Duke: And then the final course in our program is our newest course, which is issues and assessment and intersectionality. So in this course we go into much more depth about the assessment and evaluation process. Looking at different areas of assessment. Again, that social behavioral communication, those domains come into play, and then we also examine what we talk about is intersectionality. So we are finding that
Jodi Duke: any other identity that a person has intersects with autism and changes their life experience with autism.
Jodi Duke: We have a very high rate of autistic individuals who identify as Lgpd queue. And so that’s one thing that we look at in terms of how does that impact? Their autistic experiences? And what supports or special considerations can we put into place race, ethnicity? All of these different marginalized identities come into play in that course.
Jodi Duke: of course. And I think my favorite part about that course is that that’s the course where faculty we set we step back a little bit, and we are really working hard to highlight all the autistic voices that are out there in the world. And
Jodi Duke: And so you will just get a lot of experience in that course with videos and blogs and webinars of all different autistic folks who are sharing about their own experiences. Which we think is really valuable and important and important to elevate.
Jodi Duke: So, regardless of your track, you have a really comprehensive program, it can be paired well with those masters, core courses, and regardless of which one you pick, you will move through sort of as a cohort. So we see the groups stay together, which is really nice. Also it it allows you to build a nice sense of community with some of your colleagues and peers.
Jodi Duke: so, yeah, those are the programs
Jodi Duke: we go on to the next slide.
George Mason Online Admissions: Sure.
Jodi Duke: Okay? So the autism spectrum disorders. And if you are choosing a certificate track, which means that you’re not going to do a full master’s degree. This is something like an add on certificate. And essentially, we are working to prepare you as a professional, to work in just about any field with autistic people.
Jodi Duke: It’s funny. When we started this program several years ago, we really expected we would get a lot of educators and service professionals who worked in schools and things like that. But what we have found is that we are
Jodi Duke: working with people from all different occupations. We get a tremendous number of family members who have a loved one with autism, and they want to learn about how to support and be an ally for them. So it’s been really exciting to see. We have graduates in a range of different fields related to autism, which is wonderful.
Jodi Duke: And actually, I’m seeing now. This is one in 44, but we’re up to one in 36 under. Unfortunately, children are being diagnosed with autism, so you can see what a huge need it is in terms of
Jodi Duke: preparing a professional force who can work with autistic individuals and not just children. But these children are growing up. They’re going to college. They’re in the workforce and we need to make sure that we’re creating a world that is
Jodi Duke: autism, friendly and educated about autism. Very important.
Jodi Duke: And
Jodi Duke: yeah, the fields. It’s just been really amazing. As as I’m learning more about
Jodi Duke: all of the changes in our field. I’m constantly learning and finding more information. I think one of the coolest developments in the in the world of autism is that employers are seeking autistic employees. This is something where there are, there are hiring initiatives. There are programs to recruit kids right out of college who are autistic because the characteristics that we see of
Jodi Duke: of being routine, driven perhaps, or being you know, a very detail, oriented thinker. Those are things that are great for jobs. Those are things that are really desirable. And when you’re looking for employees. And so in our program, we do a really big job of a a really big I think we focus on celebrating autism. And looking at this from a strength space perspective, which I think is is really important.
Jodi Duke: Chris, you want to talk about yours.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Sure. Sure. I think this is a good time to kind of talk a little bit about if you’re on the fence and you’re going. I think I wanna do the aba track, or I’m not sure. Maybe I wanna do the autism track. I think
Christine Hoffner Barthold: the best way to talk about the differences between the programs. Dr. Duke did a really nice job of talking about how in depth they get about autism across the lifespan.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: if you’re looking to learn those types of things. If you’re looking to learn about autism interventions with autism.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: yeah, how you can best support people with autism. Dr. Duke’s program is the place for you.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: If you’re more interested in learning about the science of behavior.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: and how behavior analysis can be used with multiple populations. We you might want the Aba program.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: The Apa program. We’ve been very intentional that Dr. Duke’s program is where you learn about autism. And our program is where you learn about behavior analysis. So
Christine Hoffner Barthold: we’re very intentional that we are going to teach you the basics of all
Christine Hoffner Barthold: you need to know about behavior analysis.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: We’re also going to
Christine Hoffner Barthold: start to prepare you for your national boards for the Bac. Exam. I’ll talk a little bit a little bit later about why the time is right. If you’re thinking about, I don’t know if I want to do this, you want to probably do it right now.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: We are a verified core sequence with the Association for Behavior Analysis international. I think I talked about that a little bit earlier.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So we do meet the course work requirements, not the field work requirements, but the course work requirements to sit for your national board. So if that credential is something that’s important to you, that might be something you want to consider.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: We are one of the oldest Aba programs designed to meet the Bac standards.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: There were lots of there. I wouldn’t say lots. There were a few Aba programs before the Bac came around.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: And we’re one of the oldest ones. To meet those Bac standers we’ve we’ve been around since, I believe, 2,002
Christine Hoffner Barthold: and we’ve been online since 2012.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So you can rest assured that we’ve done this a few times, and that there’s always, you know, room for growth. There’s always room to learn.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: you know. And as Dr. Duke said, you know, we’re learning right along with you as as we are teaching you.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: because our clients teach us every single day. But if you’re looking for a high quality program to prepare you to become a behavior analyst, we are welcome to have you
Christine Hoffner Barthold: so that is Aba. And I think we’re ready for the next slide.
Jodi Duke: If it’s okay, Dr. Bertold, I’ll take this one cause. This is one of my former students. So when we’re talking about the career outcomes for our different programs. For the autism program. Again, we’re seeing people from all different areas. This is a quote from an alumni Beth Felson, who’s in Northern Virginia and owns
Jodi Duke: a private company called Spectrum Transition Coaching. She actually works with high school students and their families, autistic high school students and supports them as they decide what they’re going to do after high school and begin to make that transition. And her work is really cool, because it’s not just
Jodi Duke: about finding a college or finding a job, but she is really hands on with engaging with clients and their families and teaching skills and using the interventions that she learn in this program. So everything is is in play. So she said. The faculty were very engaged with the students and clearly interested in our success. They were very knowledgeable in the subject area, clearly passionate about their field. They were incredibly responsive to questions as well.
Jodi Duke: and this is, you know, in the autism program we have 3 full time faculty members. And this is just what we love. And we love to talk about and engage with our students about just about anything. So I was just messaging a former student today who is
Jodi Duke: now a special Ed teacher in Fairfax County, and was sending me some questions about a student and an IP. They were trying to do you know, the connections stay strong. And and so that’s, I think, one of the one of the assets of E of both of our programs.
Jodi Duke: probably next slide. I think. There we go. Oh, see, I just totally transitioned that I didn’t even know this one was next but so there are 3 of us in autism. You’ve met me. Dr. Grace Francis is pictured here. She’s an incredible researcher and scholar. Her focus is family professional partnership. So she teaches for us our community communication and literacy course, and she teaches
Jodi Duke: the the course across the lifespan where you work on resources and services and really how to engage in the community. And then Dr. Lynn Jorgensen is our other faculty member.
Jodi Duke: and she is also currently the director of our Mason life program. That is a post secondary program for students with developmental disabilities. And Dr. Jorgenson teaches our characteristics course. And so you know, you are engaging with all of us. We are full time at Mason and we think it’s really important that you that you know who you’re gonna work with. So each of us has things that we
Jodi Duke: we specialize in within the program that we enjoy enjoy interacting.
Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartol.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yeah. So we have
Christine Hoffner Barthold: 5 faculty in Aba, and all of us in the Aba faculty are in practice.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So we are practicing behavior analysts at the same time. So we do research. We do teach but you can rest assured that we’re doing the things that we’re teaching you to do.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Ted Hoch was the person who actually put this whole program together.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So thank you, Ted, and his area of expertise is clinical and mental health applications, especially marriage and family counseling
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Christy Park.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: It works in school-based supports. So anything school related is Dr. Parks really area of expertise.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Lisa Tullo also works in the schools, but she has experience with organizational behavior management. I talked about that a little bit earlier. Obm is the application to
Christine Hoffner Barthold: to businesses. And also behavioral based safety. So
Christine Hoffner Barthold: keeping people safe on the job as well, and Dr. Kristen Koogle is our novice faculty member, and her area of expertise is early childhood autism.
George Mason Online Admissions: Next slide.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: My favorite
Christine Hoffner Barthold: so
Christine Hoffner Barthold: slide is really talking a lot about
Christine Hoffner Barthold: hands-on learning and how
Christine Hoffner Barthold: we really try to incorporate
Christine Hoffner Barthold: doing within the online program. So sometimes you know, there, we get
Christine Hoffner Barthold: people think of online programs. And they think of watch a video take a test watch, a video take a test. That is not how either of our programs are designed. They’re designed for you to have hands-on experiences. And in our case these are 2 of our simulations. I talked about Edsc.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: where we talk about basic research, and you’ll actually work with a virtual rat in an operant chamber.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: And if you’re like, Ew.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: free.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: The rat grows on you eventually. And the rats are actually kind of cute. But you’ll run a series of experiments and get experience, how? What? It’s like to be a basic researcher, but also get that foundational knowledge that you’ll be able to take with you as a clinician
Christine Hoffner Barthold: and the second one here is a simulation of a functional assessment and a functional analysis where you’ll actually watch these procedures being done. But not only will you watch them?
Christine Hoffner Barthold: You’ll be taking data
Christine Hoffner Barthold: while you’re doing that and actually coming up with a plan for
Christine Hoffner Barthold: our subject here is named Jet.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So you’ll be coming up with a plan for Jen. You’re also going to be working with other people in your cohort. I think that’s really important to note, too. We have a number of assignments that require interaction with your peers. So
Christine Hoffner Barthold: When Dr. Duke was talking about, you know there’s ways to get to know people. Form, study groups, things like that. We’ve been very intentional about building community in our courses. And there’s a number of assignments that do that, Dr. Duke, do you want to talk a little bit about some of your hands on stuff.
Jodi Duke: Yes, I think, do we have. I think the next slide might actually have our case studies. Let’s see.
George Mason Online Admissions: Should I go to the next one.
Jodi Duke: Yes, please, let’s see.
Jodi Duke: it’s not the next one. Well, then, we’ll we’ll do it here. Yes, thank you. So we in the autism program because there is no field experience associated with this. We have learners from all over the world who engage in our program. We’ve built it into the program for you. So you will have 4 real autistic people who we followed around for several days with video cameras and full camera crews and their families and their
Jodi Duke: loved ones, and and they themselves were incredibly in incredibly generous to let us do that. It was a a big project. So you’ll meet these 4 folks and you will work with them and and learn about them through your whole program. You have
Jodi Duke: from the oldest down to the youngest. Allie was a student at George Mason at the time an autistic student who was studying Aba and actually worked part time in our Mason life program.
Jodi Duke: and she takes you to her dorm room. You meet her family. You watch her teaching in the life program. So you really learn a lot about her. Jake was is one of my family friends, and Jake is a wonderful young man who’s now like in his early twenties, but at the time was in his teens, and actually served as the autism ambassador for Montgomery County.
Jodi Duke: In Maryland, and did a lot of work training police officers in how to engage safely with autistic citizens. And he lets you follow him. Everywhere we meet the police who work with him and learn about their program. We learn about his incredible biking. He was like, he’s a cyclist, and he loves speed. And so you get to know him quite well.
Jodi Duke: William was next. He was 8 years old at the time, and was actually one of a a set of triplets, and so you meet his whole family, and his father is also autistic, which gives a nice sort of view of a family dynamic that may come up for you in your professional or personal experiences. And we watched William work with his Aba therapist and play with his sibs and
Jodi Duke: talk with his family, and all of that he’s really into Legos. So you get to see a lot of Legos in that one. And then our youngest was Brooke, and Brooke was
Jodi Duke: our youngest and also our our individual who had the most significant support needs.
Jodi Duke: she was not functionally verbal. Has a lot of aggression and and kind of challenging behaviors, and her family was just incredibly.
Jodi Duke: incredibly open about it all. She was being served at the time in a non public school placement, and we were able to go and
Jodi Duke: film that. So you really get a sense for her supports. The community supports what the family is needing what kind of respite care they have, what some of their safety issues are.
Jodi Duke: And so you engage with these 4 folks across your whole program.
Jodi Duke: That means that when you do an assignment in a communication and literacy course, you’re doing it for one of them in my behavior and sensory course. We focus in and you get to pick one of them and their families, or they themselves chose a target behavior that they wanted to work on changing and sway. And that’s what you actually work on. And so
Jodi Duke: we just like Dr. Bartold said about Aba. We’re giving you this authentic learning experience. Where, no matter what opportunities you have, where you are. We’ll have you really engage, and gaining good experience in the field.
Jodi Duke: Alright next slide
Jodi Duke: admissions. Alright.
Jodi Duke: I will. Do you want me to do this one, or do you? Wanna do you want me to take this one.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Actually, do you mind if I take this one? Is that okay?
Jodi Duke: I would love it. Yes, go for it.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So application wise
Christine Hoffner Barthold: for the certificate or the Master’s degree, which everyone if you already have a Master’s degree, and you want to do the certificate. That’s totally
Christine Hoffner Barthold: something that you can do. You’ll need a bachelor’s degree with a minimum 3.0 Gpa or equivalent.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So if you are if you have an international degree, there are ways to get that equivalency
Christine Hoffner Barthold: to apply. You’ll need to have
Christine Hoffner Barthold: all of your transcripts. You’ll need a resume.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: You’ll need 2 letters of recommendation, professional recommendation.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: and you’ll need a personal essay.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: About
Christine Hoffner Barthold: why you want to be a part of
Christine Hoffner Barthold: George Mason University.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Once you do that, you’ll do all of that online. Obviously there is an application fee that you do have to pay.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: We will get back to you, and then you’ll be talking to our advisors, and you’ll be able to get in and get started. I wanted to take this slide really quickly, because if you were considering the Aba track.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: there are some major changes to how to get certified. Coming down the pike.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: We are on them. We are working to make sure that that’s all taken care of and that our students are taken care of. But
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I really think it’s important if you’re on the fence and you’re like, should I do it now? Should I do it later?
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I would say, apply now.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: this is the time to apply, because these changes are coming up very, very soon
Christine Hoffner Barthold: and
Christine Hoffner Barthold: they require different coursework and all kinds of different things. So if you’re going. I’m not so sure. If I want to do this or not. I would say, apply now.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: give it a shot, and
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Then we can go from there. But
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Duke, did you have anything to add to that?
Jodi Duke: No, that was wonderful. I think we’re good to move on.
George Mason Online Admissions: Think we’re nearing towards the end.
George Mason Online Admissions: so we will take the opportunity. Maybe about 5 min or so for some Q. A’s.
George Mason Online Admissions: And I think we had some questions in the chat.
George Mason Online Admissions: but they were all and.
Jodi Duke: Yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: Have you?
Jodi Duke: I think we’ve been trying to answer as we go. Taylor, for the statement.
Jodi Duke: I don’t know that there’s a word count requirement. I’m not aware of one so
Jodi Duke: you know I would.
George Mason Online Admissions: It is about.
Jodi Duke: I would not write 10 pages. That’s what I would not do.
George Mason Online Admissions: It’s about 750 to a thousand.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: And there’s detailed instructions. This was just kind of an overview there. There are detailed instructions when you go in to do the application.
George Mason Online Admissions: Absolutely.
George Mason Online Admissions: I I do have a question from one of our students, and through a conversation. What advice would you give a student who has never taken an online class like what is the support they should expect from faculty and their peers.
Jodi Duke: Such a good question Dr. Bartolt, I’ll start if that’s okay, and then I’ll throw to you. So I think in, although our programs are really distinct and different. The support you get is very similar because we across our programs are really focused on connecting with students and building relationships with students. So as I said earlier, you will get to know the full time faculty at Mason that we’ve introduced you to in the slides with our photos.
Jodi Duke: And my, what I always tell students is that we have things set up, but it is up to you to initiate
Jodi Duke: any kind of support that you need. And so in every course in the autism program, there is a a like a QA discussion board where you can post questions, and sometimes your classmates will answer, and every time the instructor will also jump on and give you an answer, but it often we’ve put it into a discussion board, because everyone’s learning from your questions.
Jodi Duke: We also have a a thing in there called Cyber Cafe, where students just chat with each other and like. Right now, I’m teaching 6, 38 this summer, and people have been sharing books. They’ve been reading, and I’m taking notes because I haven’t read all of them. And so that’s that’s a nice way to have support.
Jodi Duke: If you have a disability that’s documented, you will want to register through our office of disability services and receive formal accommodations that then you will let each instructor know about, and you will get that as support.
Jodi Duke: And then I would say on an individual basis, anytime that you have a question or something that you need more help with or anything. We want you to ask. So, Taylor, I see, don’t apologize. It’s good. We are here for all the questions, and if if we don’t get questions we can’t really help you. So it’s actually great. And I tell students that all the time.
Jodi Duke: so it might be hopping on Zoom to talk through a concept that you’re confused about, or it might be sending me something. And I look, take a look at what you’ve written, or take a look at. You know a behavior map that you’ve made and and give you feedback.
Jodi Duke: feedback is a really formative part of of
Jodi Duke: the process, too. So getting assignments back with you know we’re we’re marking them up and annotating them. We’re giving you feedback on rubrics. So you’re getting a lot of support in a lot of different ways.
Jodi Duke: And it’s up to you because we’ll support you in any way that is helpful to you.
Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartel mentioned universal design for learn learning, and that is a big part of both of our programs. And that means that we are offering our instruction and all of our support in individual ways to meet whatever needs you have as learners and kind of as human beings. So
Jodi Duke: if if you initiate it, we’re there to support you in just about any way.
Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartold, anything else
Jodi Duke: on that one.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Sure. Yeah, I
Christine Hoffner Barthold: our supports as far as support for disability services support for struggling students supports. For you know, if you have a crisis in your life. Anything like that
Christine Hoffner Barthold: are top notch. I really believe. There, I’ve been at a few universities, and I think we really have the best support, and they are all available to online students. You don’t have to come to campus to
Christine Hoffner Barthold: to get them.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I would say the biggest piece of advice that I probably would give is, you do have to be organized. You do kind of have to be
Christine Hoffner Barthold: a self starter in a lot of ways. You know, we provide a lot of supports. We provide assignment checklists. We provide, you know, QA. Boards and things like that. But as far as
Christine Hoffner Barthold: distributing your work. Our classes go by fast.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: They’re 7 to 8 weeks, depending on, you know, summers or 7, and fall and spring or 8 weeks, and that 8 weeks flies by. So
Christine Hoffner Barthold: being
Christine Hoffner Barthold: being organized and doing a little bit every day
Christine Hoffner Barthold: is really the way that you’ll be the most successful in these courses.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: and it looks like, Dr. Duke has the
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Q. And a board going here, so I’m going to
Christine Hoffner Barthold: defer to her on that.
Jodi Duke: Yeah, I’m trying to answer your guys questions as they come in.
Jodi Duke: someone’s asking about a hybrid program classes on campus and online. Is that possible? In the Aba program? Dr. Bartol.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: typically only in very rare circumstances. Most of the time people either pick on campus or online. So you can’t really mix and match.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Very much.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yep.
Jodi Duke: I see a good question from Taylor about the work you’re currently doing and so
Jodi Duke: the autism program would give you a graduate certificate. But in Virginia there isn’t. Any kind of certification or licensure in autism. If you are interested in being a behavior specialist, you and I can talk a little bit about exactly what you’re looking for. If that’s what you want to do within a school system, then our our program would prepare you well, or even in some other service areas, if you are interested in
Jodi Duke: and an aba
Jodi Duke: behavioral specialist position that would have to be the Aba program due to the certification requirements.
Jodi Duke: And so, if not the options for career paths for autism are
Jodi Duke: school system, adult services. We see early childhood. So the same work you’re talking about with managing behaviors that you enjoy doing, you could do that across any in any setting. Essentially that’s a huge area of need. In terms of other things. You could have.
Jodi Duke: you know, we see a lot of folks who start up their own companies, or who work for other companies who do consult and and and that kind of thing.
Jodi Duke: Family services all kinds of different areas of of service delivery.
Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartold, I think there was one.
Jodi Duke: Nope. None of these are Aba.
Jodi Duke: I’m looking into all of these
Jodi Duke: financial aid. I actually don’t know the answer to the financial aid question. Do either of you 2, if we have that as an opportunity for grad students.
George Mason Online Admissions: Absolutely for the certification.
Jodi Duke: Okay.
George Mason Online Admissions: The masters. Yes.
Jodi Duke: Great.
Jodi Duke: And then there’s a question about where to submit all of this. And so
Jodi Duke: maybe. Yeah, you could take that one
Jodi Duke: And Mike is asking more about the teaching cohorts. And something we can talk about with that. Mike, I think we were talking a little bit about some of the cohorts that we put through our programs. I don’t know if that’s what you mean.
Jodi Duke: you think that’s what what we talk about here Dr. Bartold, or something else.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I think, Mike. If you want to, maybe put in a little bit of a clarification here. Are you looking to get a teaching certification.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Then we might be able to answer that a little bit.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: with a little bit more precision than than right now. So, yeah, if you’re still here and you wanna answer that and say, are you? If you’re looking for a teaching certificate?
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes, teaching certification. I am an Fcps employee.
Jodi Duke: Like.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I’m gonna throw this to Dr. Duke, because.
Jodi Duke: Yeah, I’ll take this one because it’s you’re asking about both of the programs that I coordinate but 2 different ones. So the teaching certification would have to be through our our special education Masters program. And in that we have 2 different programs. And I’ll put my email in the chat here in a minute. And you can email me, and I’ll direct you to the right folks on that.
Jodi Duke: And in that one you would be focusing either on students who access the general curriculum, or students who access the adapted curriculum. And then
Jodi Duke: that absolutely. If you’re being hired as a teacher, a special Ed teacher, probably on a provisional license. We work with you and fairfax County works with you. They cover part of your tuition.
Jodi Duke: and we move you through in a cohort, which means you have a group of about 20 of you that do all your course work together, and we get you through in time to get that provisional license or checked off and done and so that’s a that’s a great program. I’ll put my email in the chat, and I I’m happy to work with you and
Jodi Duke: on on some direction. What we do then very often is, we see people add on the autism, or add on the aba. And so that’s something that you can do either before or after. But if you’ve already been hired as a teacher, then you’re on a timeline for that provisional licensure, and we’ll probably need to get you moving on that, perhaps first and then move into autism or Aba as your secondary program
Jodi Duke: Maggie has a great question here about what school services online students have, access to everything. You get everything. You are considered a full Mason student. And so if you’re in the area, that means that you come to campus, you can get the discount at the bookstore, you can.
Jodi Duke: you know, come on campus and access everything. You you get your Mason card, your Id card. If you’re international or somewhere outside of the area, then you have access to everything online. I’m super jealous. I don’t know about you, Dr. Bartol, but I’m of the age where I used to have to go to the library and like
Jodi Duke: find the little microfiche or Xerox, the journal articles. So you will not ever have to do that. You can find all the research articles through our online access to our full library, which is very comprehensive. We even have educational librarians who help you with research if you need it. And we have advisors built in, and we have you know, all the supports that Mason offers would be open to you.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes, and I’m gonna actually answer Taylor’s question out loud about do you suggest to do in person or online for Aba? Do you have later times available? So I can go after work. And is it the Aba certificate? Only at the Fairfax Campus?
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So I was typing the answer. But I’ll say, I’ll say here,
Christine Hoffner Barthold: the Aba programs on campus and online are comparable.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So you’re going to get the same education whether you go to campus or you take an online course.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: The online course it’s
Christine Hoffner Barthold: this program is a little bit more concentrated in moves a little bit faster.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So you’d be taking 7 week courses instead of 16 week courses.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: But, as far as you know, are they different? Instructionally? I
Christine Hoffner Barthold: that’s up to. You know how you feel about online versus face to face. The courses are on the Fairfax campus. Only
Christine Hoffner Barthold: if you decide to do the face-to-face program and they’re usually 7, 20 to 10.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So if that helps in your decision making.
Jodi Duke: After Bartel. There’s a question here about when the Aba Masters, when those classes would start as well.
Jodi Duke: not certificate.
George Mason Online Admissions: I have the start dates for the masters and the certificate program. So we are currently accepting applications for the full term. The start date is going to be August 20, sixth for the online program. We’re also accepting applications for spring of 2025.
George Mason Online Admissions: And that is a start date of January thirteenth.
Jodi Duke: That sounds so far away, doesn’t it? 20.
George Mason Online Admissions: Ties.
Jodi Duke: Yes! Goodness gracious.
George Mason Online Admissions: Far away. But believe it or not, it’s closer than they think.
Jodi Duke: Oh, my! Gosh! Yes.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: We’re like, I said. We’re still working on a lot of things as far as the master’s program is concerned, and the changes that are required by the Bac. That spring 2,025. Application, I would say, don’t wait for that. Apply now. Yeah.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yeah. Because that
Christine Hoffner Barthold: we’ll be moving things around unless you’re interested in taking the extra courses and things that will probably be within that
Christine Hoffner Barthold: That master’s program. Unfortunately, I can’t give too many details, because that program has not been approved yet.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: But I will put my email address in as well. And as we get more information. If that’s something you’re interested in. I’m happy to answer those questions. But.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: if you’re here tonight and you’re saying I want to do the Aba program apply right away.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: so that we can get you started
Christine Hoffner Barthold: by fall.
George Mason Online Admissions: Absolutely
George Mason Online Admissions: so. If you are interested in applying feel free to reach out to me directly. My name is Brianna Prasad. I was so eager to get started. I probably didn’t even introduce myself in the beginning. You can contact me at 703-48-5006 or online, 2@gmu.edu. And of course, at our website for additional information.
George Mason Online Admissions: As I mentioned before, we are accepting applications for the fall term, so you would reach out to me directly. We’ll go through the application process. Answer any questions that you might have and if we don’t, if I don’t have those answers for you, of course we’ll be able to direct them to our faculty, and they will be able to assist you.
George Mason Online Admissions: Do we have anything else to add. Dr. Duke and Dr. Bartold.
Jodi Duke: Just thank you all. That was an a really engaged, you know. Session that was fun to have all the questions, and
Jodi Duke: great to sort of meet you online virtually. And please really do reach out. Because, you know, we’re here to answer any questions, and we would
Jodi Duke: love the opportunity to work with you.
George Mason Online Admissions: Bye, Dr.
Jodi Duke: Martin.
George Mason Online Admissions: So much.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I do see a few more questions. I don’t know if you I wanna make sure I
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I answer all of them.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: One of them was, I have a master’s in IT. Are there any books or papers we should go through before we start the master’s coursework.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: and for Ava. I wouldn’t necessarily say that there’s any books or papers. Although. You may want to think a little bit about
Christine Hoffner Barthold: having some exposure and experience with Abi. There are a lot of
Christine Hoffner Barthold: jobs and things like that that are around that you could check out and see if this is really right for you. But as far as books and papers. I would definitely say also, look at the behavior analyst certification board website.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: That is a really important research resource.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr. Du. Do you know of any books papers that you would recommend before people start your program.
Jodi Duke: No, I actually, you know, I think what’s great about the programs is we don’t make any assumptions about what you’re coming in with. We have people coming from all different careers and experiences. And so obviously, if if you have a passion for autism or you’re interested in Aba, then you could certainly do any kind of reading that that interests you. But there is no need to feel like you have to study. To begin the program.
Jodi Duke: We will start you at
Jodi Duke: at the very basic level, and then you’ll be doing so much reading once you’re in it. Don’t worry, don’t be plenty. But I love the question.
Jodi Duke: Dr. Bartel, someone asked on here about applying sooner rather than later, what things are moving around? I think that’s related to your
Jodi Duke: yeah. The the changes coming in. Aba.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yes, and I’m sorry that I’m sounding so vague about this but it really is, because not everything is in place yet. So I don’t want to give you information and have a change. And you’re saying, but but you told me this. I would if you’re really interested in the 2027 requirements. I would probably go to the behavior analyst Certification Board website.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: and they will tell you the differences between what you need now versus what you’ll need.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: 2,027. How Mason’s going to do that is, we’re still working on that.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: So
Christine Hoffner Barthold: that’s the part that
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I don’t necessarily feel comfortable sharing just yet. But
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I will definitely as soon as we have that information we will be sharing that with everybody. So
Christine Hoffner Barthold: you’ll be able to get that info. But in the meantime I would go to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board website, and you can take a look at the differences there.
Jodi Duke: Alright, and I think then we’ve gotten to everything in the QA. Box.
Jodi Duke: and
Jodi Duke: I think I think we might have done all these.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay.
Jodi Duke: Any other questions as we wrap up here.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Thank you for your engagement. This is great.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: I apologize for the barking dog.
Jodi Duke: The dog got quiet, so that was great.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Dr.
Jodi Duke: Bartol is showing her behavior, management and behavior skills with her puppy.
George Mason Online Admissions: I think Taylor might be referring to the admissions representative. So, Taylor, if you are if you need to reach out to us, the phone number is
George Mason Online Admissions: 703,
George Mason Online Admissions: 3, 4, 8,
George Mason Online Admissions: 5, 0 0 6.
Jodi Duke: I just put that in the chat as you said it, so that way people can copy that directly.
George Mason Online Admissions: So much. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Duke and Dr. Martha, tonight for joining us. This was a very informative session, and thank you so much for all of our attendees for attending this session as well. Again, my name is Brianna Prasad. Feel free to reach out with any questions and help with the admissions process.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you, everyone.
George Mason Online Admissions: and have a great night.
Jodi Duke: Thanks everyone.
Jodi Duke: Thank you so much.
Jodi Duke: That was a busy group that was so many questions.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, that was awesome.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yeah, I think we still have a few that are still on. I don’t know if they’re gonna
Christine Hoffner Barthold: that’s cool.
George Mason Online Admissions: I stopped sharing. Did you see that? I stopped sharing.
Jodi Duke: Yep, you definitely did.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, perfect. I just wanna make sure.
Jodi Duke: S.
Jodi Duke: All right.
Jodi Duke: I’m gonna sign off. But thanks so much for helping us with everything tonight.
George Mason Online Admissions: So much. It was nice meeting you both.
Jodi Duke: Nice to meet you. Bye, Chris, I’ll talk to you soon.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Alrighty!
George Mason Online Admissions: Take care
George Mason Online Admissions: that wasn’t. That was pretty good. Dr. Braddell.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Oh, thank you. Yeah. I felt like I was tripping over my words a little bit. But hopefully people got the info.
George Mason Online Admissions: You know what I I think it was. It was it was very interactive where the students felt really comfortable with asking all of these questions, because usually during the virtual open house, they don’t ask many questions.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Hey!
George Mason Online Admissions: And I think this is the most questions that I’ve seen in a in a chat.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yeah, no, that’s this is great. I was glad that they did that, so.
George Mason Online Admissions: How many attendees did we have.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Routine.
George Mason Online Admissions: And show there.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: 14 tops.
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, that’s pretty good!
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: That’s wonderful. Okay, perfect. Well, thank you so much. It was really nice meeting you. We didn’t hear your dog that much. So it was okay.
Christine Hoffner Barthold: Good. Alright! Thank you so much. Have a great night.
George Mason Online Admissions: You, too, take care! Bye.
TESOL (MEd Concentration in Curriculum and Instruction) Transcript
George Mason Online Admissions: Just start by saying, Good evening, everyone. Welcome to our virtual open house for online masters of education and curriculum and instruction, with a concentration in Tsall Pk.
George Mason Online Admissions: Pre. K. To 12, and through adult we are very excited to get started. But let’s just wait a few minutes for everyone to log on and get situated
George Mason Online Admissions: while we are waiting. If you would all not mind practicing with the chat question box. That would be greatly appreciated.
George Mason Online Admissions: If you can hear me, please. State your first name, and where you are joining from, and we will get started in about another 3 to 5 min.
Kathleen A. Ramos: I always do love to learn where people are
Kathleen A. Ramos: joining us from.
Marie Champagne: Me, too. That’s the best part.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Are they able to unmute the participants, or they can type in the chat. Possibly.
George Mason Online Admissions: They should be able to
George Mason Online Admissions: they should be able to unmute, and they should be able to put a message in the chat as well.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay.
Kathleen A. Ramos: fantastic.
Kathleen A. Ramos: I see another person has joined.
Kathleen A. Ramos: So, Brianna, I think maybe we can start. And the first couple of slides
Kathleen A. Ramos: or more informational, anyway. If anybody else joins
Kathleen A. Ramos: it’ll be okay.
George Mason Online Admissions: Absolutely
George Mason Online Admissions: this over here.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, so thank you. Everyone for joining us this evening. We are excited to get started. My name is Brianna, and I am the admissions representative for the online program.
George Mason Online Admissions: I am here as a resource to give information, answer questions and walk through the admissions application process. If this is something that you decide to move forward with
George Mason Online Admissions: a quick overview of what we are going over this evening, we will meet our faculty leaders. I have with me today. Dr. Kathleen Ramos, Associate Professor and Marie Champagne, Coordinator services. They will tell us a little bit about themselves and their roles. Give us a general overview of the degree and the certificate, and answer any questions you may have.
George Mason Online Admissions: There is a question box you should see on your screen. So feel free to ask questions during the duration of the open house, and then we will address them towards the end.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay.
George Mason Online Admissions: So here are some chat features feel free to utilize. The first one is the chat. The chat feature allows you to chat with other attendees panelists. Including the host, depending on the permissions that we have allowed you in your control at the bottom window. You can click or tap chat when you click on, chat. The chat window will appear. It will be on the right. If you are not in full screen.
George Mason Online Admissions: If you are in full screen, it will appear in a window that you can move around your screen. You can type your message and press, enter to send it.
George Mason Online Admissions: You can also select who you would like to send the message to by clicking on the dropdown next to
George Mason Online Admissions: the raise hand feature in the webinar allows you to raise your hand to indicate that you need something from the host or from the panelist.
George Mason Online Admissions: So you’ll click. Raise hand in the webinar control
George Mason Online Admissions: once you have raised your hand, then we’ll be notified that you have a question. And this gives you the opportunity to talk and we’ll prompt. We’ll go ahead and unmute to you, and then you’ll be able to ask your question.
George Mason Online Admissions: and the last feature is going to be the question.
George Mason Online Admissions: You can ask you can comment on questions if needed. Then we’ll go ahead and address those questions as well.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Hey? Thank you so much, Brianna. So I’m Dr. Kathy Ramos, Associate Professor in the College of Education and Human Development in the School of education at George Mason University, and we are really delighted to have you joining us this evening.
Kathleen A. Ramos: I’ll just share briefly about my own background. I have been an educator for 32 years. I have 20 years of experience teaching K to adult learners in the public school system, and I have been a teacher, educator, and researcher scholar for the last 12 years.
Kathleen A. Ramos: focusing on equity in learning outcomes and experiences for multilingual learners and their families, and I’m really pleased to have my special colleague, Marie Champagne, join me this evening, and she can introduce herself.
Marie Champagne: Thank you so much. I serve as the professional academic advisor for all students in this program. So I’m the person that’s your number one cheerleader going to help with your development over the course of the program. Ref. Make any referrals you need for support, and just be with you every step of the way. I’ve been working in Esol education for 8 years now.
Marie Champagne: I was a teacher before that. And I really enjoy this program and seeing how you develop and what you do and where you go next.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Thank you, Marie.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay, next slide, please.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay, thank you. So we think we have a very unique T-so program to offer you. And you’ll be hearing more details about that. But some prime benefits of our program is that you will engage with high quality faculty
Kathleen A. Ramos: whether they are full time faculty members. We also have many wonderful adjunct instructors, but our faculty members also teach in this program, and we all have extensive experience in Tsol as practitioners, as researchers and scholars as well as deep expertise and excellence. Really, in online teaching.
Kathleen A. Ramos: As this is an online asynchronous program.
Kathleen A. Ramos: So through this program you will be able to participate in innovative, online teaching and learning experiences that are never boring and that have the full participation of the instructor in the course with you. Okay, the goal is for you to be able to gain or deepen, enhance your expertise. If you already have some expertise
Kathleen A. Ramos: to design and deliver engaging culturally and linguistically responsive and sustaining instruction in English across many different contexts. And
Kathleen A. Ramos: of course it is always a benefit to be part of a renowned university. George Mason University is a research one university which is high recognition that is enjoyed by just a specific number of universities in the United States.
Kathleen A. Ramos: And we are also currently in Virginia, the only program recognized by Tsil International Association.
Kathleen A. Ramos: So you’re in good hands when you choose. Mason.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay. So our online learning, as I said, is innovative, interactive, collaborative. There are many, many different kinds of activities, actually, probably too many to tell you about tonight. But across the course you will have some major performance based assessment assignments that allow you to apply real world. Apply your theoretical learning in real world practice.
Kathleen A. Ramos: and also lots of other smaller activities that are active learning style. So you may have scenarios. You may have some Mini case studies. You may have some videos to respond to. You will have many options for how you can represent your thinking and understanding in all of the courses. They are designed with the support.
Kathleen A. Ramos: instructional design technologists and ourselves as subject matter content experts
Kathleen A. Ramos: so know that you are getting a a high quality learning experience that is enjoyable, but also leads to the kind of deep learning that you can expect from from a reputable master’s program.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay. So this slide is probably probably the most important one. And I’ll just take a little bit of time here. To explain the way that this program works. Okay? It is 10 courses. And it is so. It is a 30 credit Master’s degree. It’s important to know that this is not an initial teacher licensure program. So if you are looking to be
Kathleen A. Ramos: a certified license teacher in a Pk to 12 school, but you are not yet a teacher. We do have program options for that. But this one is not that. Okay? So this program is a master’s, that is non licensure, but allows you to prepare for many pathways
Kathleen A. Ramos: of teaching multilingual learners. In many contexts from really Pre K through adult, as the title suggests. Okay.
Kathleen A. Ramos: so the way it works is the courses. What is kind of beautiful about it is that the courses are 8 weeks in length, and as a busy graduate student, perhaps with a full time job already.
Kathleen A. Ramos: You only have to take one course at a time. Okay, being 8 weeks. They are intensive courses, but they’re very carefully laid out with a an opportunity to build the the major performance based assessment projects across the 8 weeks. So you’re not doing that all at the end along with having a lot of collaboration with your peers
Kathleen A. Ramos: and the instructor in the course. Okay, so it is designed. It is flexible, but it is designed. And now it is our hope that students who or or interested participants who elect to join us in this program will take the 2 courses, each semester including running through the summer. So this means that really in just 5 semesters, you can finish your master’s degree for a fall. 2024 start.
Kathleen A. Ramos: you would take 2 courses, 2 in the spring, 2 in the summer, 2 in the following fall, 2 in the following spring, and you’re done with your master’s degree. Okay?
Kathleen A. Ramos: the the courses do include field work. This is a very important component of any Tsil program to be able to deepen, expertise or gain. Initial expertise is, we have students in this program from all walks of life.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Some who have never been teachers, some who are practicing teachers, and just want to deepen their expertise with multilingual learners. Some who work in higher education, some who aspire to work in higher education, or with PE particular populations of multilingual learners.
Kathleen A. Ramos: however, for all of those, for all of those scenarios, it’s very important to have hands on application and interaction with actual multilingual learners. So field work is an important component of each of the courses, and students are responsible for locating their own field work settings for many of our students. That’s very easy, because they’re already working
Kathleen A. Ramos: some kind of educational setting, whether it’s K to 12 or it is an adult learning context. Okay? But
Kathleen A. Ramos: once in a while we have students who need a little support with gaining those field work settings. And so I’m just going to invite Marie to share a little bit about that.
Marie Champagne: Absolutely. So I can offer support in helping you. Brainstorm. Where to look.
Marie Champagne: I would first ask you where you’re located, and then we do a search to see other literacy organizations, tutoring programs, churches that offer English language classes. And I also have templates that you can use email templates how to introduce yourself to an organization explaining that you’re in a program and why you need to come in and do the field work. So
Marie Champagne: I’ve never had a student not be able to do field work.
Marie Champagne: People are quite happy to have people come in and help them work with multilingual learners. So you are very needed in any arena.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Thank you, Marie. Yes, we are always successful at that. So I think we have been able to share with you. I’m sure you can see the names of the courses, and how they all tie together to lead to the kind of deep knowledge that you need to be a 20 first century. Absolutely excellent instructor or leader of literacy and language learning in tiesel settings of all types.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay? So that leads us to some professional pathways. And one of the things I enjoy most about this program is how we’re how our students really do come from so many walks of life with so many aspirations. In fact, I have one student who graduated about a year ago who was in a in a special program supporting newly arrived young adult
Kathleen A. Ramos: multilingual learners from various countries and various levels of
Kathleen A. Ramos: schooling from their home countries in the K to 12 setting. And she felt that this program really prepared her for being brave enough to venture into a new pathway, and she obtained a full time faculty position at a community college, and she wrote to me and said how pleased she was that the program gave her the confidence to make that kind of career switch.
Kathleen A. Ramos: You may. Really love the K to 12 population. And, as I said, you may be a practicing teacher already who wants to deepen expertise. And these 8 week. Online courses appeal to you getting your masters in just 5 semesters.
Kathleen A. Ramos: or you may be somebody who said, You know that teaching license is not so important to me. I know that I want to work in private schools or international schools, or I want to work in non governmental organizations. I want to be involved with refugee support. I want to be involved with adult literacy learning. I want to be a corporate language trainer. So this program really offers you an opportunity to pursue any of multiple pathways that may be of interest to you.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay, so we do have kind of a large group of faculty that belong to the to our our division in the School of Education, and many of us teach in this program, and the 4 of us Dr. Sujin Kim, Dr. Apromics, Foster, Dr. Joan Tang, Shin, and myself were the original creators of this program, and are all instructors in the program, along with some of our colleagues.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay? And I thought I would just share this special note. So this student graduated in summer of 2022 and she is an educator in Hong Kong. And she sent me this email to just express how much she enjoyed the master’s program, how much she learned and benefited from it and how much she has grown as an educator from participating in this program.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay, so Marie is gonna just talk a little bit about the admissions process. Because our classes start on August 20, sixth, and the admission process can take a bit of time. We do strongly encourage you if you are interested to apply to have your application really ready to submit by August the first, so that there is some turnaround time as it is required.
Kathleen A. Ramos: and you want to be ready. You don’t wanna miss even one day of an 8 week course, and our semester begins on August 20 sixth. So, Marie, do you wanna talk a little bit about this.
Marie Champagne: Absolutely so. The first requirement is a bachelor’s degree, that is all we require. If you have another master’s and associate degree, associate degree, or even a doctorate. That’s wonderful. But we don’t need to know, because then you have to actually get those transcripts pay for them, have them sent, and it slows down the admissions process. So just submit your bachelors, please.
Marie Champagne: We do see a minimum. We do say a minimum 3 point O Gpa, if you have a low 3 point. O, please don’t let that deter you. Sometimes various things can happen and undergraduate students life that can affect their grades. You can still apply. We’ll admit you provisionally, and then we’ll monitor you the first year, and as long as you can achieve a 3, and that first 12 credits of study will take you off. So
Marie Champagne: have a think about that. It’s not a deterrent for us and we’ve had a lot of success with all of our students.
Marie Champagne: You will need to get transcripts. I just covered that. The one transcript from your bachelors. If you have international transcripts, you’re going to have to allow some more time to have them translated by an accredited service. So please keep that in mind.
Marie Champagne: Also, we’ll need your resume your current. Resume 2 letters of recommendation. Ideally, they should be people that you work with.
Marie Champagne: If you’re still an undergrad that can be from your professors, and then your personal statement.
Marie Champagne: What do you want out of this program? And why this program in particular.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Just maybe to add a little bit there. Your personal statement doesn’t have to be long.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Just. We want you to share a little bit about your background. What appeals to you about this program? What are your aspirations?
Kathleen A. Ramos: What is your passion for working with multilingual learners? Why are you interested in the program? So it doesn’t have to be very long, and neither do the letters of recommendation. Okay, they just have to be someone people that can attest to your readiness for graduate studies and your motivation and determination as as a graduate student.
Marie Champagne: So looks like there’s a QR. Code
Marie Champagne: there.
Marie Champagne: and there’s folks
Marie Champagne: scan it. It will go right to the application. Is that how that works? Brianna.
George Mason Online Admissions: That is correct. So this is a great opportunity. If we have any questions. That we would like to ask today that was not covered during our meeting. Please feel free to ask
George Mason Online Admissions: if you would like to reach us for additional information. You could reach out at 703-48-5006. And of course we’ll be more than happy to assist you. You could also email us at online to@gmu.edu. And just in case you’re not able to connect via phone, and we will also address your questions there as well.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Oh, do we have any questions from the participants
Kathleen A. Ramos: that you’d like to ask?
Kathleen A. Ramos: Let’s wait just a few moments to see if
Kathleen A. Ramos: people need a little time to access the chat or the Q&A.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Or to unmute and ask us directly.
George Mason Online Admissions: I do have 2 questions. One of the questions that was asked is that some students have a lot of fares with online education overall? How does the faculty maintain communication with students? And is there an opportunity to network.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay, those are great questions. So yes, the way that we communicate with students is to be actively engaged in the courses ourselves. We’re always available by email, we can arrange, have we have virtual office hours. So we are happy to make individual appointments to meet virtually by zoom also.
Kathleen A. Ramos: But mainly you will feel so well supported within the course. I believe that you, you will feel the instructors, presence. And we have many students who have never taken an asynchronous online class
Kathleen A. Ramos: and have express apprehension about that at the beginning. And I really can’t count how many students have told me. Oh, I was so nervous about this at the beginning, and it was just so well designed and so carefully structured and so well supported that. I don’t know why I was ever nervous about it. And I really liked it. Okay, yes, there’s lots of opportunity to meet network with faculty
Kathleen A. Ramos: one of the students that I was telling you about. She and I presented together at a conference. So one of the benefits of of joining a program that is offered by a university like Mason is that you are joining worldwide community of alumni with whom you can stay connected and network throughout your career.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you.
George Mason Online Admissions: Now, this is always a big one, too. Is there any preferred background knowledge you feel students should have prior to entering this program.
Kathleen A. Ramos: I do not, I think. For me, the most important thing would be to have a passion for teaching multilingual learners. Whatever age group that is, to be a compassionate, empathetic person, with what I like to call a teacher’s mind and a teacher’s heart. I think those are kind of essential for moving into this career. Those are the real foundations
Kathleen A. Ramos: for success in this career. I do see. Now we have some questions in the
Kathleen A. Ramos: chat over here.
Kathleen A. Ramos: so I’m not sure if it’s Selena or Selena. Sorry if I’m not pronouncing correctly. She wants to know if you already have a Master’s degree. Would this be considered an additional Master’s degree? Absolutely. This is a full Master’s degree this pro this program.
Kathleen A. Ramos: And Ishra is asking, would you please kindly provide the application fee, waiver code.
Kathleen A. Ramos: So, Marie, do you wanna say a little bit about that? I know that
Kathleen A. Ramos: the college of education and human development is offering this code
Kathleen A. Ramos: for people who participate in virtual sessions.
Marie Champagne: Yeah. So if
Marie Champagne: if the the the guests, the our attendees, can be provided to gia and our admissions office, she will send out
Marie Champagne: a waiver code and mark everybody as attended.
Marie Champagne: So when people apply, they can be
Marie Champagne: checked off in the system.
Kathleen A. Ramos: So, Brianna, that would be something to follow up on to make sure that
Kathleen A. Ramos: the list of attendees and their emails are provided.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay?
Kathleen A. Ramos: another question. I’m also currently an Ml teacher at an elementary school. But I need to find another field work. Or would my daily work with my students count your daily work with your students counts. That will be your field work site in our licensure program. We have more specific regulations for field work.
Kathleen A. Ramos: however, in this program. People who are practicing teachers with multilingual learners in any type of school setting are welcome to use that setting as their field works. Site.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Yes. Good. Question
Kathleen A. Ramos: any other questions.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay? Well, as Brianna said, you
Kathleen A. Ramos: can reach out to us by phone or email or through the website. So we hope to hear from you if you have any other questions.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Oh, let me see, there might be one in the
Kathleen A. Ramos: oh, this one was about the fee. Waiver again. Yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Okay.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Yep.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Whoops!
George Mason Online Admissions: Well, thank you, Dr. Ramos, and thank you, Miss Champagne, for being present tonight, and thank you everyone for attending our virtual open house as always. If you have any questions or ready to apply, please contact us at the number or the email address, and we’ll be more than happy to assist you.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Thank you, Brianna.
Kathleen A. Ramos: our pleasure to have you all join us. Have a pleasant evening.
George Mason Online Admissions: Have a wonderful evening.
Kathleen A. Ramos: Thank you.
MHA Health Systems Management Transcript
George Mason Online Admissions: So first introduce myself here. My name is Mackenzie Kehoe. I am an enrollment counselor in the online admissions department on behalf of George Mason. So I’m really excited to have everyone here tonight. Thank you to everyone who’s taking the time to join us.
George Mason Online Admissions: It’s such a great opportunity to learn more about the program and ask questions as you’re making really important decisions about the next steps in your education. So thank you, everyone and thank you to our faculty members for helping to provide such great information for our prospective students.
George Mason Online Admissions: so I will start us off by quickly, just going through the agenda for tonight’s presentation. And then I will pass it off to Dr. Shangle, then, Dr. Real? So first we will meet our presenters. Everyone will have some chance to to go over your background. And what brought you, Mason. We’re gonna go through the program details. The learning outcomes, course details, curriculum details.
George Mason Online Admissions: We’ll talk through the capstone project and then the opportunities that everyone has outside of the classroom which is really excited.
George Mason Online Admissions: And then we’ll wrap up by going through the admissions requirements, and you’ll have a chance at the end there to ask any questions that you have about the program. So there’ll be a good QA. Session at the end. Please use this as an opportunity to ask any questions that you have definitely take advantage of us all here today. In any way that we can help.
George Mason Online Admissions: And then I do wanna quickly. Just go through basic zoom functions. If anyone is not familiar with zoom, pretty user friendly. Everyone is using the chat really? Well, so that looks good. So any questions you have you can pop right in the chat.
George Mason Online Admissions: You can use the raise your hand function if you wanted to come off mute and ask your questions, live or you can use the QA. Function
George Mason Online Admissions: which should show up as a button on the the sidebar on your zoom screen. And the questions will come right over to us. If you don’t see it, you can use the little 3 dots which say more, and it should show up so it should show some more applications for you there.
George Mason Online Admissions: So we’ll do questions and answers at the end, if you can save your questions for them.
George Mason Online Admissions: and then we’ll go through everything there.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alrighty, and I’m gonna pass it off
George Mason Online Admissions: to Dr. Shangold and, Dr. Rio, if you guys wanna take a moment to introduce yourself.
Brenda Sheingold: Sure. So I I’m Dr. Brenda Shingold and the program director of the Mh. At George Mason. I’ve been there since 2018 in that role. And my background prior to going into academics was in trauma nursing and
Brenda Sheingold: thrilled to have such a good partner and colleague and Dr. Yurio, we work together with the on campus students and the online students all the time, and as Dr. Yurio mentioned. We also endeavor to offer a lot of extracurricular activities for Mhas. As a team. So welcome tonight.
Brenda Sheingold: Yeah.
Maria Uriyo: Yes. Hi, good evening, everyone. My name is Dr. Maria Urio. I’m the assistant professor in the department as well as the online program coordinator.
Maria Uriyo: I work really closely with Shanghold on this Mh. A program
Maria Uriyo: prior to coming to George Mason. I was at Johns Hopkins, and I did analytical type research for their claims.
Maria Uriyo: department within the Mcco. And then I also was I over. I oversaw the the insecure accreditation as well.
Maria Uriyo: So I really encourage you to take a part in this program. And actually, you know.
Maria Uriyo: apply for the program because it will really be influential in your career.
Maria Uriyo: So yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alrighty!
Maria Uriyo: Oh, okay, so in terms of what makes up Mhf program unique is that we are also coming accredited. And that is a requirement that many employers look for. That you are taking, that you have your Master’s degree in healthcare administration from a accredited program.
Maria Uriyo: Not only that we’re also ranked number 32, nationally in the by the Us. News and World report
Maria Uriyo: a recent
Maria Uriyo: us, I mean ascent up towards Number one that’s our eventual goal is the
Maria Uriyo: the work that we, the award that we got from Canon for how we approach our
Maria Uriyo: our curriculum, our program, and how we make it flexible and sustainable, so that our students are able to manage life as well as learning as well as work.
Maria Uriyo: So our students are very diverse.
Maria Uriyo: and reflecting the community that they come from the the community where the Judge Mason is at
Maria Uriyo: so with that being said, you would feel welcome, and we will acclamatize to the culture of the program and be able to and be able to do very well in in your coursework.
Maria Uriyo: and then, of course, we have opportunities outside the classroom that was mentioned before. Different clubs, different organizations, different events on campus, both in person as as well as virtual. The only thing stopping anyone from you know attending those is yourself in terms of engaging and taking action.
Maria Uriyo: I don’t know if, Dr. Shango you have an additional
Maria Uriyo: points you want to add.
Brenda Sheingold: this is a network, intensive degree. And we try to give you as many opportunities as we can through the program, but encourage you to begin that networking process wherever you are. Wherever you’re working, or wherever you live. We’ll. We’ll establish a model for you through the events that we have. But we we want that to continue outside of our program as well.
Brenda Sheingold: So with the first one that’s gonna be coming up as a big meet and greet with the Anova executives. To have resume reviews, lightning talks. That’s gonna be the one of our biggest kickoff events of the year. I see that the 3 of you are somewhat local, so it’s possible that you could come to campus for that, and we would love to see you. We often have on
Brenda Sheingold: online students that live local attend that event. And we had 300 people there last year. That we provided meals for, and you know that had that this included nursing and social work and bioengineering as well as health informatics. So it wasn’t just 300 Mha. Students. But throughout the College of Public Health
Brenda Sheingold: we have a spring symposium in March
Brenda Sheingold: that’s hosted by our Student Association. There’s a lot of opportunities through the student, the Mha Student Association, that’s all live streamed for the online students. And we have recruit panelists. Last last year we had I wanna say 16 no. No. 12 that were recruited, 3 panels of 4. Then we had a keynote speaker on top of that. So
Brenda Sheingold: it’s a very rich learning experience. We also invite Gw. And Georgetown Mhja students. So you’re networking, not just with executives, but also with your colleagues on other campuses.
Brenda Sheingold: So that’s that’s just 2. I could go on and on. But I’m gonna stop with 2.
Brenda Sheingold: You want me to talk about this Dr. Here.
Maria Uriyo: Yeah.
Brenda Sheingold: We have. We’re competency driven in our curriculum. And that’s because of our cami accreditation. And there’s 5 buckets that are competencies fall under it, and they’re identified in every single class. What? What 5 domains are in your class, and then what competencies are covered in your class.
Brenda Sheingold: and we’re required to report those outcomes to Cami in order to retain our accreditation. We’re gonna come up for reaccreditation in 2026 and
Brenda Sheingold: you know. So that’s something that you’re gonna be seeing on every single syllabus. And you’ll hear us talk about competencies frequently throughout the program.
Maria Uriyo: Okay? So in terms of the curriculum. It’s it consists of 45 credits, and the left side shows you the required core classes that you have to take.
Maria Uriyo: Because we’re in the College of Public Health.
Maria Uriyo: All our incoming new students will take a class in in the foundations of Public Health Gch 500
Maria Uriyo: and and then on the right side you’ll see. Have the ability to have a concentration in healthcare quality, or just have a concentration in executive con, the executive concentration. So this is a recent development and
Maria Uriyo: before our our students would have graduated with what would now look as a executive concentration. You are the Mha Executive, but now we’re giving you the option of saying, Well, I would like to go. The healthcare quality route. So you have that option to determine what it is that you would like, what path you would like to take.
Maria Uriyo: And these are available for online and on campus students. So our program is whether you’re online or traditional, everything is
Maria Uriyo: everybody’s getting the same
Maria Uriyo: learning. Yes.
Brenda Sheingold: Same curriculum. I would just add that the healthcare quality concentration is new for us, as Dr. Yorio mentioned. But it’s market driven. That’s where it came from. We have an advisory board, and we interviewed employ, you know, over 30 employers stakeholders in the Mha. Program in order to come up with. What? What was
Brenda Sheingold: what employers really wanted. And they want skills and knowledge and value based purchasing in healthcare quality. That’s the wave of the future. And so that’s why this particular concentration has been added. It’s because of the employment value. After you graduate.
Maria Uriyo: Yeah. And then, towards the end of the program, the last class that everybody takes is a capstone practicum in healthcare quality and healthcare systems management, the 7 90 class. So whether you’re online or traditional, you take 7, 90.
Maria Uriyo: Yeah.
Maria Uriyo: we’ll talk more about it. I think.
Maria Uriyo: Yeah.
Maria Uriyo: So this is the capstone.
Maria Uriyo: issue I was talking about and what it is is typically our students become part of of a team or
Maria Uriyo: and an entity. And typically, you are working on a project that addresses an issue that the preceptor has or the organization has, and it is something that will be of value to the organization. And when we say you’re going to be doing a project, it is a non-pesis project.
Maria Uriyo: and it’s more of of a more of like an executive type level project that gives you that you’re doing within 8 weeks. If you’re online and more than 8 weeks, maybe 13 weeks. If you’re a traditional student.
Maria Uriyo: at the end of the project, you’re going to be generating a report and a and a poster presentation. And the poster presentation for those who are able. We present it on campus in in the Public Health building
Maria Uriyo: in Pittison. What you become very familiar with it, and many people within the within the college attend, and sometimes preceptors come and attend, and so that you’re able to show what it is that you did their vast number of projects that students have done ranging from telehealth market research
Maria Uriyo: like shadowing, looking, working in the or looking at show times different things like that er looking at working with revenue cycle management. So it all depends what it is that you’re interested in, and if you’re able to find a preceptor, and sometimes we come in, not sometimes we do come in and help guide you in in obtaining that perceptor that you need.
Maria Uriyo: Dr. Shango, you would. Would you like to add anything to that.
Brenda Sheingold: Yeah. That this is where your networking skills will come in really handy. We don’t locate preceptors for you. We you have one foot out the door by the time this last class you know, comes into the curriculum, and we wanna make sure that you’re able to navigate networking on your own. So we give you the skills we give you tools to network with. In the class. And
Brenda Sheingold: we, you know, you live all over the nation, really. And so we we want you to network with people in your area, like I mentioned, mainly so that you can end up with this capstone project and employment. After. I’ll just give one example of of a capstone project that was just recent. We had a student who was working. It’s called the High Reliability
Brenda Sheingold: Center with in Nova Fairfax, where we live in Northern Virginia, they have 5 hospitals, and this was a Central Command center it’s also called a bunker, where they monitor all 5 Icu patients and their rhythms and
Brenda Sheingold: with, you know, a a whole cadre of physicians like like probably I would say, 25 physicians that are monitoring this. They have, you know, multiple monitors in front of them. They also, arrange transfers, if patients need to be transferred to a different facility or a higher level of care, and all of the bed management in every single of those 5 hospitals. They manage that, too.
Brenda Sheingold: So, and there’s eyes on cameras in the icu with the patients
Brenda Sheingold: to help give nurses a second set of assessments with a nurse that’s monitoring a patient live in icu at at all times. So that’s 5 different Icus and 5 different hospitals, where all of the functions of that I just mentioned are are managed remotely in the command center.
Brenda Sheingold: So that’s where she did. Her project, which was really an off the charts opportunity that that almost no hospital system has that kind of infrastructure. So.
Maria Uriyo: Yeah. So in terms of opportunities to get outside of the classroom Dr. Shangold mentioned the rising health care leaders of Mason. That’s the group of students that responsible for for putting together that meet and greet event that is taking place in the fall as well as the symposium that takes place in the spring.
Maria Uriyo: And there are many other thing, other events that they take part in. All these events are opportunities for you to network and get to know the executives in the area, and also not only that getting to know your own peers, because eventually are going to be working with them
Maria Uriyo: in one way or another.
Maria Uriyo: and then another opportunity is getting to interact with the national capital healthcare executives nche, which is part of the Sc. As you join as you become part of the Mh. Program, there are various other associations that you become aware of that would encourage you to
Maria Uriyo: become part of the student membership, and, and, you know, gain the benefits of being part of those. But of that body. One of them is the Academy Health Student Chapter.
Maria Uriyo: And then, of course, there are many other health policies, seminars that the Department Healthcare Administration and Policy Department provides and gives.
Maria Uriyo: and our chair of the department, Luca, Pj. Maddox Maddox also sometimes gives some seminars and brings visitors or guest speakers on campus, so you may.
Maria Uriyo: you should take advantage of those. And then, of course, this this last one is not the least, but it’s actually one of the opportunities that you have that you could become part of the various case competitions that students are able to take part in. Do the Shangberg. Would you like to add
Maria Uriyo: some.
Brenda Sheingold: Yeah, I would love to. We have a case competition coming up for first year students. That would be you. In November. That’ll be positioned at George Washington University. This is a small regional competition, where you have just a day and a half to spend with students from 5 other Universities, Hopkins, Gw. Uniform services.
Brenda Sheingold: Georgetown and Vcu along with George Mason. So this is a competition where you’re given an actual case to analyze, present it to a team of judges
Brenda Sheingold: and the judges decide first, second, and third place, winners and and cash prizes are awarded to students on every team. So the this past one, we just piloted it for the first time. We’re and the first, the first place team $1,000 each second place was 7, 50, and third place was $500 each, and that’s for a day and a half of of work and time learning all 5 program directors.
Brenda Sheingold: From those schools that I mentioned participated in education. During that time Dr. Yurio gathered phenomenal data after that which built a solid case of why we’re doing it again this year.
Brenda Sheingold: So that’s you know, that’s one example. And then we also participate in Nasi, the National Association for Health service executives, which is has been designed and has one of the oldest associations for health services executives. It’s designed to promote black leadership. And to make sure there’s mentorship.
Brenda Sheingold: That competition is a national one. We just we’re so lucky we registered a team. It opened on Monday. The registration opened on Monday. This is gonna be held in October. They only took 30 teams, and we got in. So there’s a lot of schools that did not make the, you know, make it.
Brenda Sheingold: But we were right there, you know, on the phone as soon as they opened and and we got one of the spots. So it’s very coveted. It’s a very prestigious competition, and we feel the team there every year and pay for everything hotel airfare, the fees, the food, everything. So those that’s just a little bit about the competitions.
Maria Uriyo: so I think this is for you.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, I was. Gonna say, I’ll I’ll take over this slide and then, of course, feel free to jump in and add anything else that that you have on your end, that you’re looking for with applications to but the admissions process is is pretty straightforward. Everything is going to be housed right on our application portal.
George Mason Online Admissions: and we’ll provide that information toward the end. So everyone has access to the application. But what we’ll need is copies of your transcripts from your bachelor’s degree. You have to have your bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution. So we’ll grab those transcripts.
George Mason Online Admissions: We’ll need your professional resume. You’ll also provide a brief statement of purpose. Essay about why you’re pursuing your Mha. Degree what you’re hoping to achieve with your degree what you’re hoping to contribute to the classroom as well, and why? You’re a good candidate for the program. You will need 2 professional references. And then you will wrap up with a video interview. The nice thing about the interview is that you’ll be interviewing with
George Mason Online Admissions: an enrollment counselor like myself.
George Mason Online Admissions: and you should at that point in time you would have had contact with your counselor through the whole application process.
George Mason Online Admissions: So you should know them. It’s it’s a really nice way. To go through just some basic questions about what it is, about your background that makes you a good fit for the program and why you’re pursuing it. And we’re usually able to get candidates. Their interview scheduled within the week. So it’s a nice quick process for everyone to get all taken care of.
George Mason Online Admissions: and then Dr. Shingold drio, if you’re able to provide some information about the work experience that you like to see in the backgrounds of applicants. Specifically. And and what you look for there.
Maria Uriyo: Okay, I guess I’ll start end of the Shango. You can add, yeah, so I would say, the Mh,
Maria Uriyo: program is open to individuals of diverse backgrounds. The only I mean the only thing that we you should have is the desire to learn, the willingness to learn, and being open-minded. And
Maria Uriyo: the other thing is the ability to network and desire to network in order to, you know, be able to get the work opportunities that you’re applying for this in this program for
Maria Uriyo: so we’re looking for. Well, your transcript, of course, will show us you know, your the caliber of student you are
Maria Uriyo: the Gpo 3 is good. That’s what we’re looking for. If your Gpa. Is lower than that, the other routes of how you can eventually get into the program by
Maria Uriyo: finding ways of getting your Gpa up.
Maria Uriyo: so I would. There’s so many.
Maria Uriyo: I guess so many examples of the type of students we’ve brought into the program those who have have some
Maria Uriyo: experience working in healthcare, those who have who don’t have that experience, those who are coming straight from undergrad into the program. So it’s vast. Those who are actually have worked so many years in healthcare, and and some who are also transitioning from you know, working X number of years, and they want to change career path.
Maria Uriyo: So it’s vast.
Maria Uriyo: So, Dr. Shanko, do you want to add anything.
Brenda Sheingold: I do. You said it so? Well? I I think the only thing I could possibly add is some a examples of degrees. You know, sports. We have. People have actually had an undergrad degree in team sports, and they’ve been some of the best students we’ve had because of their ability to quickly navigate problems and solve them. And they’re competitive and their leaders and you know, physicians.
Brenda Sheingold: We’ve had attorneys. We’ve had dentists. We’ve had nurses.
Brenda Sheingold: We’ve had, Dr. Yurio said. No experience. We’ve had an accelerated program where people aren’t even finished their bachelor’s degree in health administration, and we take them. And we’re actually expanding that program to other bachelor’s degrees, external to the Bachelors and Health Administration. So it, we have. We have a big 10,
Brenda Sheingold: and there’s room for everybody in it, and we we look forward to reviewing. I hope, what’s going to be your application after after tonight?
Maria Uriyo: Yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: Great alrighty
George Mason Online Admissions: think
George Mason Online Admissions: alright. This last slide is for everybody to jot down the contact information for the Admissions department. And so there’s our phone number, email, the link to our website, and then the link to the application here, too. So you can always feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions beyond tonight, too. Or if you wanted to talk one in one
George Mason Online Admissions: with an enrollment counselor to review your background, specifically talk through the program details again, and we can make sure that this is the right fit for you and help you with the next steps of the application process.
George Mason Online Admissions: So please please feel free to contact us. We’re happy to help you with those next steps.
George Mason Online Admissions: And now I’ll open up to question and answer. So any any questions you have, please feel free to utilize the chat, the QA. Session, or the QA. Function again? And we will pass those over.
Maria Uriyo: Oh, of
Maria Uriyo: on yeah. June.
Brenda Sheingold: Do you wanna talk to that like when you get in an an application? In? What? How long does it take before you would forward that to us, to review that you.
George Mason Online Admissions: Doesn’t really.
George Mason Online Admissions: yeah, absolutely. And so you will be working alongside enrollment counselor, basically from your initial start of an application. Or if you call in to get some basic information. You’ll be linked up with an enrollment counselor to help you throughout the process. Once you’re able to get everything completed for your application, meaning your online application is submitted.
George Mason Online Admissions: Your interview is done. That’s when we wrap up every everything and send it over to faculty Admissions committee for review.
George Mason Online Admissions: And typically from that time where your application is submitted, and until you have your decision, it’s 3 to 4 weeks. Total. So you’ll have your decision. It everything’s reviewed on a rolling basis. So once we get it, we send it through. So we can get decisions as soon as possible, and you can get your spot secured for the upcoming term absolutely.
Brenda Sheingold: That the rolling basis is very important. A lot of programs don’t have that. They only admit one time a year with a cohort, and we admit you know, all year, except for during the summer. So so for summer, you know, to start in the summer. But you know, spring and fall we admit. Throughout the academic year for that.
Maria Uriyo: Yeah.
Maria Uriyo: So there’s another question about choosing a concentration.
Maria Uriyo: So you can.
Maria Uriyo: If you already know, you can choose a concentration like right at the beginning. When you apply.
Maria Uriyo: If you don’t, you can wait until maybe your second semester
Maria Uriyo: or your second session, and then select your concentration.
Maria Uriyo: so you have time to determine what concentration you want.
Maria Uriyo: However, there’s some people who already know, and they decide.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alrighty. It looks like Sandra has her hand raised. So I’m gonna see if we can get unmuted.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alright, Sandra, you should be able to unmute yourself if you wanna come and ask your question.
Sandra Arcoraci: Hi, can you hear me? Okay.
Brenda Sheingold: Deaths.
Sandra Arcoraci: Great. Ha!
Sandra Arcoraci: Thank you so much for
Sandra Arcoraci: putting this this seminar on. It’s so interesting.
Sandra Arcoraci: and it and very exciting. Because I was not aware of all of the
Sandra Arcoraci: extra
Sandra Arcoraci: wonderful things. That come with a program like, for example, when you were talking to me about talking to us about the networking and about
Sandra Arcoraci: the
Sandra Arcoraci: seminars, and that that the fall and spring seminars and stuff, I mean. That’s that’s really exciting. But I would be an I would be an online student. So I don’t know how I would be able to
Sandra Arcoraci: participate with that. But actually the the main. The main reason why I raised my hand. Sorry I’m kind of jumping around here is how long is the program?
Sandra Arcoraci: The Mha program? How long does it take from beginning to end.
Brenda Sheingold: It’s 2 years and one semester. 6 credits are taken every every semester, including the summer. Do you take 6? The summer one class at a time for 8 weeks. It’s accelerated in that way, because, as Dr. Yorio mentioned it, mirrors the on campus program. But they have a longer semester, and they don’t take one at a time.
Brenda Sheingold: So that’s one difference. I can circle back and answer your question about how do you participate as an online student because we we put everything possible on zoom that we can. We just did a value based purchasing boot camp that was zoomed.
Brenda Sheingold: We did a
Brenda Sheingold: black African American heritage month panel. That was very well received. It’s the second year in a row. We’ve done that that was zoomed, and and we also allow for questions and interaction with the Zoom participants
Brenda Sheingold: for the spring symposium. That’s an all day event. So you can drop in. Drop out. We post signs. So you know, when the next panel is gonna start and we monitor the questions. You know, in real time at the symposium. So you can get your answers immediately from the executives that are fielding them on the stage.
Brenda Sheingold: So we we go out of our way to be inclusive like that.
Sandra Arcoraci: That’s good.
Brenda Sheingold: We also do something called the Dome experience at a Nova very unusual. One of the few places on the east coast that has an operating room theater to watch open heart surgery. We’ve had a number of online students. Attend that experience.
Brenda Sheingold: And we’ve we had one that flew in for it. So so we we don’t. We’re constantly seeking new ways, Sandra, to be inclusive of the online program. I think we’ve made pretty good headway but we’re always looking to improve. So so if you come, we’ll be looking for your suggestions
Brenda Sheingold: how to make sure that that you are a part of our community.
Maria Uriyo: Yeah. And I was just like.
Maria Uriyo: yeah, I would just like to add that even though you’re online, any of the university services are also available to you. So like a Korea office like, the what? What’s the other one? The yeah.
Brenda Sheingold: Mental health caps, the counseling, counseling, and professional services.
Maria Uriyo: Yes.
Brenda Sheingold: Yeah, you’re right. That’s that’s really good to mention.
Sandra Arcoraci: That’s wonderful. So.
Brenda Sheingold: We preferred students there. On campus. And and you know, online with with all the post pandemic fall out. It’s really nice to have that resource. We have an app for your phone that you can download. You’re a George Mason student. You have access 24, 7, literally to mental health services at no charge. So you know, we we take student wellbeing very seriously for for online students.
Brenda Sheingold: Nevis.
Sandra Arcoraci: That’s wonderful. And what is really exciting is that it’s not just okay. I’m going through these.
Sandra Arcoraci: or we’re we’re going through these classes. It seems like
Sandra Arcoraci: there’s a plan, B, you know, like, like, or or there’s a plan after you graduate. Because, you know, a lot of times people are like, okay, I’ve graduated. I’ve put through all the all this effort and everything. Now, what? But it seems like you have so many resources. And there’s so much support. It sounds like there’s a lot of support, you know, with the with the program to where you’re like, Hey, you’re graduated. So you know.
Sandra Arcoraci: you know. Look, look, look into this avenue, or you know that kind of thing. So and I think that that’s
Sandra Arcoraci: that’s so important. So it’s not like, just.
Sandra Arcoraci: you know, rubber stamping that you know you got your your master’s degree because you wanna do something with it. You know, you, wanna.
Sandra Arcoraci: you know, be
Sandra Arcoraci: a productive
Sandra Arcoraci: yeah member of
Sandra Arcoraci: healthcare, you know, and and help.
Sandra Arcoraci: and you know, help others. And
Sandra Arcoraci: you know, work with, you know your colleagues. And you know? So I think it’s wonderful, actually.
Brenda Sheingold: Oh, glad you brought this up, Sandra again. You’re bringing up some really good points. We have a 93% placement in the field of choice, which is healthcare. Within 3 months of graduation we track very carefully, and we are required to report those outcomes
Brenda Sheingold: to our accrediters, which is why we attract why we keep such careful track of it. Because we. This is not a a decorative degree. This, this is a meaningful degree. We expect you to
Brenda Sheingold: to become employed when you’re finished with this degree. And we, you know, everything we do is designed to make that happen. This is a lot of your time. It’s a lot of your money and we don’t waste any of it. So
Brenda Sheingold: you know, we we take that piece of it that you mentioned very seriously. I also wanna circle back about what you said about resources. George Mason is the largest public university in Virginia and we do have a lot of resources, and we spend the money that we have on students.
Brenda Sheingold: And we’re we’re accountable for that. So I’m very proud to say that that we put students first in every way.
Sandra Arcoraci: Wonderful.
Sandra Arcoraci: So, Bob, do. Do you have, like like a
Sandra Arcoraci: a career center or
Brenda Sheingold: Huge. Yeah.
Maria Uriyo: Yes, there is a career center. And also when you’re talking about careers one of the things that we we we as a department have is we make, we have we make available to our students
Maria Uriyo: the individual development plan, like at the beginning, where students work with like a designated faculty to determine where it is that they want to go, what it what it is that they’ll kind of like weaknesses in that they need to augment. And then what do they need to do now
Maria Uriyo: to get to Point Z where they wanna go? So
Maria Uriyo: we so you don’t want to arrive like you’ve gotten the degree. And then you’re asking yourself now what.
Sandra Arcoraci: Yeah.
Maria Uriyo: We don’t want that. We want you to know where you’re going. Yeah.
Sandra Arcoraci: That sounds my gosh! That sounds so wonderful!
Brenda Sheingold: One of the few programs in the country, if not the only program in the country that has an executive in residence.
Brenda Sheingold: and he meets one on one with students for career counseling and a. Among many other things he leads that dome experience for students as a graduation gift. I spoke about earlier. So having an executive and residence as part of our program and on our faculty is very unusual and unique and and just adds to employment after after you graduate.
Sandra Arcoraci: Yes, what? That sounds wonderful. So
Sandra Arcoraci: I used to live in Northern Virginia. So and now now I’m in Charlottesville. So
Sandra Arcoraci: I work at uva right now.
Sandra Arcoraci: So it’s not directly related to
Sandra Arcoraci: healthcare. I do have 4 4 years of
Sandra Arcoraci: healthcare related experience. But then my husband got very sick
Sandra Arcoraci: and so I had to change gears a little bit. But I’m trying to get
Sandra Arcoraci: I’m trying to recenter and get back to
Sandra Arcoraci: this big goal that I’ve had for a long time, and I’m just I’m ready to go for it. So.
Brenda Sheingold: That’s great. So.
Sandra Arcoraci: Yeah.
Brenda Sheingold: I don’t know if anybody else that Sandra, look forward to your application. Wanna make sure we cover all the.
Sandra Arcoraci: Of course. Yeah, I didn’t mean to take all the all the.
Brenda Sheingold: Oh, you didn’t tell. I think you brought up really good points.
Sandra Arcoraci: Thank you so much.
Maria Uriyo: But look up.
Maria Uriyo: There’s a question here about if you’re working part time, can you move through the program more than one class at a time
Maria Uriyo: the answer is, you take one class at a time, we don’t we? We don’t allow
Maria Uriyo: like doubling, you know, 8 weeks, for one class is a lot.
Maria Uriyo: and 2 classes in 8 weeks is is is a huge lift.
Maria Uriyo: and it’s likely drinking from a water hose. So no, we don’t allow that. And it’s also Cami based on our cami application. We have stated that we’re doing one class at a time. So for online students. So that’s why we don’t do that
Maria Uriyo: very part time online.
Maria Uriyo: And I think Vanessa had a hand up.
Maria Uriyo: She still does. Yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: Let me go ahead and allow
George Mason Online Admissions: Vanessa you should be able to come off mute. Now.
Vanessa Wright: My name is Vanessa Wright. I’m already admitted into the program.
Vanessa Wright: Yes, I had a delay because I am a veteran, so navigating the va from my tuition was a little challenging. But with that, so I’m a 30 year veteran. I have 0 experience in healthcare. However, I’m very interested in the program because my masters is an organizational management.
Vanessa Wright: and you spoke about networking, and I I must give myself a pat on the back. I’m very. I do a really good job at that. Just because of wearing a uniform and having to coordinate and communicate with different people. With various backgrounds. But one of my major concerns is, what will I do with this degree? The first thing that comes to mind for me personally is
Vanessa Wright: because of my interactions with the Va. I would love to take this degree, and the experiences that I have and just utilize that to make the Va. System better than what it is right now. Can you please give me your thoughts on that idea?
Brenda Sheingold: But yeah, that’s a great point that you brought up. And we have a course in leadership and organizational development. Actually, one of the very first that you’ll take Vanessa and in that class.
Brenda Sheingold: One of the case studies. But and it’s a case study based. Course, because that’s the best way to learn ethics and to, you know, to learn leadership oftentimes is from some of the worst examples. The Va scandal that you know, occurred several years ago. I guess it’s I think it’s been about 10 years ago now.
Brenda Sheingold: Is one of the cases that is analyzed in detail by students and presented to the class. So I, the Va is still struggling to rebound from that scandal.
Brenda Sheingold: So you know, you would have the skills that are that they need. And they’re recruiting. And and you, you know, you would be in a good position to make a difference, especially with your military service, so
Brenda Sheingold: I don’t know if that answers your question, Vanessa. But
Brenda Sheingold: really triggered, triggered some kind of baby.
Vanessa Wright: Well, it does, just because partly some of my concerns is because my masters is in organizational management with the concentration and leadership. And I 30 years of service. So I retired in a leadership role.
Vanessa Wright: So that part of the program doesn’t concern me at all. It’s the healthcare which I feel that will be a little challenging for me. But at the completion my real concerns were, how do I take this degree and merge it with the experiences and the education that I already have
Vanessa Wright: to ensure, that I’m doing something that I love and that’s beneficial and personally rewarding to me.
Maria Uriyo: Yeah. So I I think. I think one of you
Maria Uriyo: potential peers. Renee Tatum says she works at the Va, so right now you can see there’s already opportunities for you to network within your own peers.
Maria Uriyo: So for each class that you take in this program, I would encourage you to look at the whatever materials being covered, and and kind of like. Look at what? Where is your interest? And how does it?
Maria Uriyo: fit the Va. And then, if you’re able to, I don’t know if you’re working now, but if you’re not, maybe find some part time opportunities at the Va.
Maria Uriyo: So we can start
Maria Uriyo: fine tuning where it is that you want to eventually land.
Maria Uriyo: Yeah. And then you always tweak.
Vanessa Wright: I. You know what I’ve noticed. So I I spent 2 years. Because I retired
Vanessa Wright: December 2019, right before Covid and I spent some time being a governmental contractor not rewarding at all. I did make a lot of money, but personally not rewarding or fulfilling, and I’ve had a lot of negative experiences with the Va, so I feel like, that’s my focus area. And a lot of it is just
Vanessa Wright: the structure and a lot of the red tape when you’re a veteran seeking services.
Maria Uriyo: Okay. So then I would encourage you. Since you’re already enrolling the program is I’ll look for you in the. I don’t know if you have the the Edu the Gmu email, you do so, then I’ll find a way of introducing you to the executive in residence, so that you do your
Maria Uriyo: your idp.
Maria Uriyo: and then
Maria Uriyo: find opportunities within the va
Maria Uriyo: whether it’s an internship or kind of like determine what areas you need to
Maria Uriyo: you know, improve on or focus on.
Vanessa Wright: Yes.
Maria Uriyo: Delete.
Vanessa Wright: Oh, that’d be great! Thank you.
Maria Uriyo: Okay.
Maria Uriyo: you are muted. Dr. Shango.
Brenda Sheingold: The best thing to do is just send an email so that we have yours.
Brenda Sheingold: And then Dr. Yurio, like, she said, can steer you towards the executive and residence.
Brenda Sheingold: So, so, please, you know. Please feel free to do that.
Brenda Sheingold: ma’am.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alrighty. Any other questions. Feel free to keep using the chat, or we can always take you off mute.
George Mason Online Admissions: Good question so far.
Vanessa Wright: And I bet you were the beyonce.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alrighty. I think that might.
George Mason Online Admissions: Oh, I think, Josh.
George Mason Online Admissions: I’m gonna go ahead, Josh, I’m gonna take you off mute. Here, Joshua, go ahead.
Joshua Walton: Hi! Can you hear me?
George Mason Online Admissions: Yep.
Maria Uriyo: Yes.
Joshua Walton: I don’t know if you had a chance to see my QA. Just yet.
Joshua Walton: but I am a recent registered nurse, graduate from Old Dominion University.
Joshua Walton: and I was potentially looking at this program for spring of 2025.
Joshua Walton: But I just wanted to kind of get your opinion like, do you think this program is a good program for a nurse who’s looking to go into leadership compared to like? Let’s say a master is assigned to nursing.
Brenda Sheingold: Absolutely. I I I can answer that unequivocally. Joshua. We actually have masters of nursing students and doctor of nursing students in our 7 90 capstone class that you heard Dr. Yurio talk about, and they they both. This. The nurses are the ones the students vote to give awards to they. It’s happened twice
Brenda Sheingold: where nurses have been voted by their peers as as Nh. Students
Brenda Sheingold: to receive awards for their capstone projects. This is an excellent fit for a nurse. I highly recommend it
Brenda Sheingold: in terms of leadership, and advancing in the field. And I I can honestly say I don’t think you’d regret it, and I’m speaking to that as a you know, as a nurse myself.
Joshua Walton: Okay?
Joshua Walton: And then I’m another question. So cause I’m looking to apply in the springtime. Do you know when the deadline is for that
Joshua Walton: for a springtime application.
Brenda Sheingold: Not.
Brenda Sheingold: Not really sure. I think
Brenda Sheingold: you. Yeah.
George Mason Online Admissions: It’s the spring deadline isn’t locked in yet. It’s typically the first week of December. So we’ll and we, if you can always connect with your enrollment counselor, and they can give you some reminders. And then we always send reminders as we’re approaching deadlines, too. Just in case you don’t have your application submitted.
George Mason Online Admissions: But the spring applications are open now, so you can always get it submitted. And remember, it is that rolling basis review. So if if you think you are interested and and you might want to start in spring, we always recommend to apply sooner versus later. So absolutely.
Joshua Walton: Okay? And I’m I have a question about that, too, because I basically have, like my whole application completed already.
Joshua Walton: But I have kind of limited work experience, because I actually just graduated last year. And then I just got my nursing license in March.
Joshua Walton: So do you think that I would, I guess, still be a competitive applicant, or like, would you wait until closer to the spring, when I have, like more work, experience.
Maria Uriyo: As, as I said before, we have admitted students who have just graduated from their bachelor’s degree
Maria Uriyo: to those who have X number of years of experience. So the issue is, if you’ve completed the packet, then apply you shouldn’t let that hinder you. Yeah.
Brenda Sheingold: Yeah, we have rolling admissions, Joshua. It’s rolling admissions. So as soon as you apply, the application would be reviewed. The other advantages that, if you know, apply and you’re accepted. Then you can start taking advantage of the activities that we’ve already talked about tonight
Brenda Sheingold: as a applicant. We’ve had several a admitted students from the online program. I shouldn’t say several because it it. It’s also rolling where they where they keep coming to activities. And that’s how, you know, if they live in the area, we we meet them for the first time in person.
Brenda Sheingold: because they’re at that meet and greed. And they’re they’re at the capstone presentations. And so even before you start.
Brenda Sheingold: you can be included. Cause we want you to hit the ground running. We’re very serious about that.
Brenda Sheingold: So new applicants come to our functions all the time.
Joshua Walton: Okay, well, thank you. That answers my questions.
Maria Uriyo: There’s a question from me. I hope I’m pronouncing your name correctly
Maria Uriyo: about application being declined. Can we apply again, and how.
Maria Uriyo: if it is declined, because maybe
Maria Uriyo: Gpa. Is an issue. There is a way of rectifying that, and you can either take some additional classes to bring the Gpa. Up, and then you can reapply.
Maria Uriyo: I think that that is probably many of the reasons why some are declined.
Maria Uriyo: Yeah.
Brenda Sheingold: So those are courses that you would take as a non degree student, not admitted to the program, but they would be courses that would are required in our program. So we would tell you, steer you to the right ones.
Brenda Sheingold: get your Gpa. Up
Brenda Sheingold: and then reapply, and those are some of our highest performing students.
Brenda Sheingold: So don’t let that stop. You. Just get that Gpa up so we can review the application.
Maria Uriyo: Okay, the required Gpa. The one that would would get you admission immediately. I mean, not immediately will get you admitted with everything else is the Gpo of 3?
Maria Uriyo: so that’s the answer to that one. How many classes do? Would I need to take?
Maria Uriyo: Well, they are 40. The whole thing is 45 credits. So that is
Maria Uriyo: is it 15 classes altogether? Yeah.
Maria Uriyo: yeah.
Maria Uriyo: there is no minimum or maximum. It’s 45 credits. You can go maximum for sure you can go over.
Maria Uriyo: But the what you need to finish is 45 credits.
Maria Uriyo: Yeah.
Maria Uriyo: you’re welcome.
George Mason Online Admissions: Give it a moment to see if any other questions pop up.
George Mason Online Admissions: So Renee asked if she wanted to take an extra class. Could she.
Brenda Sheingold: You you could, Rene. That’s that’s unusual question, I must say, because usually people wanna get their degree and you know, and graduate, so you wouldn’t be able to take an extra class in tandem with your required class, because you can’t take more than one at a time.
Brenda Sheingold: But if you wanted to take something extra before you graduated, you could for sure.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alrighty. I’m gonna throw this out for a last minute questions as we’re approaching the hour, Mark. And then, of course, if if any follow up questions. Come up after tonight’s meeting. Please reach out to us, and we’re we’re happy to to help you with the next steps of everything.
George Mason Online Admissions: but yes, use the chat or the QA. Or
George Mason Online Admissions: any last minute questions throughout.
George Mason Online Admissions: Alrighty. I think that is everything.
George Mason Online Admissions: Well, I wanna thank everyone again tonight for taking the time to join us and and thank you to Dr. Shine gold and Dr. Oyo for your time tonight. This is just always such a valuable resource for students. So we we really really appreciate it.
George Mason Online Admissions: So yes, make sure to save the information that’s on the screen here. There’s the application. There’s our contact information reach out to us. If there is anything else we can do to help
George Mason Online Admissions: and thank you. Everyone. Thank you for your time tonight. Have a great evening.
Maria Uriyo: Thank you.
Maria Uriyo: Bye, everyone.
MS Computer Science Transcript
George Mason Online Admissions: And so thank you again for joining us today for the virtual open house for the Master of Science in Computer Science offered online. By George Mason, I’m Stephanie Racine. I work in admissions. I may have had the pleasure of speaking with some of you in the past, but today we’re in store for a real treat because I’m joined by Dr. Rob Pettit.
George Mason Online Admissions: He is our online program director and associate chair of graduate studies studies for the master of science and computer science. He’s taken time out of his busy schedule to join us and go over some of the things that he thinks are are great about our program and tell us about himself. And so let’s take a quick look at the agenda here today
George Mason Online Admissions: we’ll meet Dr. Pettit, the program director go over some of the curriculum details and career outlooks.
George Mason Online Admissions: We are accepting applications for the fall term that starts here on August 20 sixth. So we’ll go over those admissions requirements. And during the presentation you can use those controls that some of you have found down at the bottom of your screen to type in questions during the presentation, and we will read those and answer all of those for you at the end of the program. So again, if we look at this screen, we’ll use that question and answer button down at the bottom.
George Mason Online Admissions: There.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay, so, Dr. Pettit, thank you again for joining us. I’ll turn this presentation over to you, so you can tell us some highlights about the program and a little bit about yourself. Thank you again for joining us, Dr. Pettit.
Rob Pettit: Thank you for the introduction and thank you for for joining us. So
Rob Pettit: a little bit about our program the online master of computer science at George Mason
Rob Pettit: is
Rob Pettit: one of the few, I think that is is not just a separate program. All of our courses are developed by our own faculty. They are taught by our own faculty. They are the same courses that are offered in person in Fairfax, just a smaller subset of them. So we have 13 courses online that let you complete your your entire master’s fully online
Rob Pettit: and and you will. You will actually see. If you notice students that are across list as we let, we let our our regular students take these courses as well because they are the the same exact courses that we teach in our regular masters program.
Rob Pettit: we are. By Cs rankings.org a top top, 30 top 40 depending on the the day you look at the rankings. Program for computer science. We are the top ranked computer science program in the State of Virginia. One of the top ranked in the country and the largest computer science program in the State of the of Virginia. We
Rob Pettit: have roughly
Rob Pettit: 80 faculty. Right now, I’ve lost count. We’ve hired so many in the last few years.
Rob Pettit: so so yes, it’s it’s it’s a vibrant well respected program that that that you can be a part of here. Alright go ahead to the next one.
Rob Pettit: So I I am Rob Pettit. I I can give you many perspectives on, on George Mason. I am an alumni.
Rob Pettit: I am a parent of a Mason student. And I. I spent 30 years in the software engineering industry. Prior to going full time at Mason. I I was an adjunct professor during those years, but now I’m full time, and I am the associate chair for graduate studies. I’m also the program director for the the online program. So so I’ve kind of seen seen it all as far as as the the George Mason perspective and and the link to the jobs
Rob Pettit: and and the benefit to the education. My my masters, at George Mason was in software engineering my Phd, and what would now be computer science prior to, we had a computer science. Phd,
Rob Pettit: so yeah, I think that’s that’s
Rob Pettit: it for me. So let’s go ahead.
Rob Pettit: Alright. So the online masters of computer science master of science in computer science at George Basin
Rob Pettit: is a subset of what you would see in the full master of science that we have in Fairfax. So if you, if you
Rob Pettit: go to our catalog, you’ll see that there are.
Rob Pettit: I don’t know. We’re probably pushing 100 classes that we can offer.
Rob Pettit: don’t quote me on that. I haven’t counted actually. But there, there are a lot of classes that we offer in Fairfax. In in person. The online curriculum is a subset of those. So, as I said, there are 13 classes that we have online that are, specifically chosen to get you through the masters in a completely online pathway.
Rob Pettit: So
Rob Pettit: the way that it works is that you have a set of core classes that that you need to take, and those are shown
Rob Pettit: on the left hand upper left hand side there, the the 500 level ones under the theoretical computers, computer science.
Rob Pettit: And I apologize for my voice. I if you’re in Virginia, which I think all of you are. You know how the poll it is right now, my yard this afternoon. So
Rob Pettit: please please bear with my voice. Alright. So. So the the core. 4 classes that you would take.
Rob Pettit: Let me back up a minute.
Rob Pettit: The the masters itself is 30 credits
Rob Pettit: every class in the master’s program is 3 credits each. So you’re talking about 10 classes that you will need for for your Mscs
Rob Pettit: full time enrollment is considered to be 9 credits or 3 classes. But of course you can do this part time as as well, and and we have a mix of students in in the program doing that.
Rob Pettit: So
Rob Pettit: your, your, your core basic classes are going to be Cs 535, 83, 5, 31 and 5, 80 which gives you the mathematical foundations, gives you the graduate level algorithms class
Rob Pettit: gives you systems programming and then an introduction to artificial intelligence.
Rob Pettit: The the intro to AI is not one of our required courses in the Fairfax program.
Rob Pettit: but it is for this one, because you need it for satisfying the prerequisite to the advanced class over on the right hand side, which is, is computer vision.
Rob Pettit: The other advanced classes that you, you need to take, which total 12 credits, or 4 classes of of advanced coursework
Rob Pettit: are the software engineering. 6, 42, 6, 32, and 6, 37.
Rob Pettit: And then
Rob Pettit: so so so those those are. Those are the the.
Rob Pettit: the mandatory classes for the online program, the the ones that you need to take to get you through the the degree regardless of which other path you take
Rob Pettit: for the remaining 2 classes or 6 credits
Rob Pettit: you need to choose those from the the below offerings.
Rob Pettit: and and they, they really should be in 2 different areas.
Rob Pettit: So you can, you can choose the system as a networking option with computer networks. You can go with a database class that that’s grouped together with with the AI category.
Rob Pettit: You can go with visual computing which is our Cs 551 computer graphics class or, there are 2 software engineering options, suite, 619 and and 621. The object oriented software construction class and our software design class respectively.
Rob Pettit: I I will add, and I don’t think we have a slide on this because I just didn’t think to to put it in here.
Rob Pettit: But in addition to the online Msc. S.
Rob Pettit: What you can also do with the way that we have these courses structured
Rob Pettit: is.
Rob Pettit: hey?
Rob Pettit: If if you well, you, you have to take the advanced courses that include these software engineering courses. But if you take
Rob Pettit: I think it’s either the database systems or one of the 2 suite courses in in your electives. Then you also satisfy the software engineering graduate certificate at George Basin. So you just need to apply for that before your last semester. It’s nothing you have to do on on entry to the program. Just if you want that extra certificate, you can apply for it anytime
Rob Pettit: before your final semester.
Rob Pettit: So
Rob Pettit: all right, let’s move on.
Rob Pettit: So
Rob Pettit: you know, lots of people come into the masters for different reasons, to advance their career. Some are are looking for a change of careers, some want the the financial growth. Because let’s be honest, it’s it’s a well paying job. And and
Rob Pettit: these numbers that that we have on the slides here are national averages. The the Virginia averages are actually much higher the the average for a a master’s degree.
Rob Pettit: computer scientist or software engineer in
Rob Pettit: in Northern Virginia. Right now, I forget where they benchmark the city. But it’s it’s Northern Virginia is is right around $170,000 on average. So it, it does give you the the big you know, career advantage over simply having the bachelors. And certainly, if you would like to get into some of the higher
Rob Pettit: roles, such as a software architect,
Rob Pettit: manager, project, manager, and such. Then then the Master’s degree is a must.
Rob Pettit: And and also, if you want to get into some of the more advanced areas of computer science these days. Such as the the computer vision and and artificial intelligence, and such the the masters is is nearly essential for those.
Rob Pettit: Alright.
Rob Pettit: Let’s move on
Rob Pettit: so for admissions.
Rob Pettit: you need a bachelor’s degree, preferably in computer science.
Rob Pettit: You at least need to satisfy the prerequisite courses that we list down here. So you need a data structures and and algorithms course, if you’re looking at Gmus undergraduate curriculum. That would be our Cs 3, 10
Rob Pettit: the. You would need an automata theory and formal languages. Course. That would be our Cs 330
Rob Pettit: calculus up through calculus 2
Rob Pettit: which should be fine for all of the courses that we have in the online masters. If you were to to
Rob Pettit: switch campuses and and and take some some of our advanced machine learning or AI courses in Fairfax. I I would recommend calculus 3 for some of those. But calculus one and 2 are fine for for everything that you would take in the online program as we have it today.
Rob Pettit: you also need a computer architecture class which does or should include Assembly language programming. That would be something equivalent to Gmus, Cs 367,
Rob Pettit: and you would need a discrete mathematics. Course math. 125 is what that would be at at George Mason.
Rob Pettit: Kind of assumed in here, but not not listed is is, you would also need an object oriented programming course. So something equivalent to our Cs 2, 11.
Rob Pettit: So that that’s that’s what you need out of the bachelors. Again, if you have a bachelors in computer science
Rob Pettit: from any
Rob Pettit: real, any Us. University, I was, gonna say, any accredited U university. But really, any Us. University would do this. You would have that in your bachelor’s degree for computer science.
Rob Pettit: So you need to provide us with your transcripts. Give us a personal statement and a resume. There are no no requirements for letters of recommendation. There’s no requirement for a gre.
Rob Pettit: If you.
Rob Pettit: if you are
Rob Pettit: borderline on your Gpa. And you take the gre, and you got good scores, and you want to give us the gre you can we? We would. We would look at it as
Rob Pettit: yeah, an added component. But there, there’s certainly there’s certainly no requirement to do it. And and and most people just simply don’t anymore.
Rob Pettit: All right.
Rob Pettit: So moving on.
Rob Pettit: Okay.
Rob Pettit: so there’s a QR code for your application link. And I’m happy to answer any questions. I know. It went through that fairly quickly.
Rob Pettit: But the the information is pretty straightforward, I think, but happy to answer whatever questions you may have at this point.
George Mason Online Admissions: Well, thank you for that. Overview, Dr. Pettit. And yes, this is the best point of the presentation. So for those of you that just joined. I know we had a few join after we started talking here, down at the bottom of your screen, you should see the question and answer area.
George Mason Online Admissions: Please feel free to type those questions for us. We know that’s the main reason why most people join if not, you could have found the information online. But you have us here to help. And while we wait for those questions to trickle in, I wanted to point out that we are accepting applications for the August 26 start date. You do still have time to apply right here on the screen. You can see our phone number. If you want to give us a call tomorrow and follow up and have us send you the
George Mason Online Admissions: checklist.
George Mason Online Admissions: We’ll work with you. I will work with you and my team throughout the application process. And you can also email online, too@gmu.edu.
George Mason Online Admissions: if you have questions. And yeah, you’re right on time for the fall term.
George Mason Online Admissions: So I’m going to start looking for these questions here. And while we wait for those to trickle in, I have a few commonly asked questions that typically come in from the students, is it okay? If we kick things off with those.
Rob Pettit: Certainly.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay? So the first common question that we get from the students would be with the growing field of AI
George Mason Online Admissions: this is a very common question from people. Is this the best program? If they’re looking to learn more about AI or work in the field? Or is there another program that you would recommend.
Rob Pettit: So this program will at least get you an introduction to artificial intelligence. If you
Rob Pettit: if you start off in this program, you take the intro to AI class. And you really really want to get into more of the AI what you can do is that there’s a form called a change of campus form. And you can just simply change to the Fairfax campus.
Rob Pettit: If you’re able to take courses online or in person. And we have we have our more detailed advanced machine learning classes and natural language, processing classes and robotics, classes and and all that. In person. In Fairfax.
George Mason Online Admissions: Are you saying, can students actually start off online and do a one-time switch to campus? Or if.
Rob Pettit: Yes, it it. It is a one time switch. So they need. They have to be sure that they
Rob Pettit: want to make that switch.
Rob Pettit: But but they they can do a a one time change of campus form and just simply switch to being in person.
Rob Pettit: We’ve actually had. We’ve actually had a few students do that specifically for the AI classes.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, and I think that’s a huge benefit of our university. You know these. These are the George Mason instructors. It’s the same quality. So you know you can. You have that ability to contact your instructors or switch to campus if you need to? And we did have a question trickle in here. What is the best way to cross reference classes taken for the bachelors with the prerequisites? Now, are you meaning
George Mason Online Admissions: to find out which classes would match up.
George Mason Online Admissions: Am I understanding that correctly.
Rob Pettit: Going to see if I can switch windows and put a link here in the chat to answer that.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yeah, that’s a great question. I do oftentimes have people say, Well, you know, where should I take them?
Rob Pettit: Give me just a second.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay. So we’re getting those resources for you. Shannon.
Rob Pettit: Alright. I’m gonna put it.
Rob Pettit: Okay. Let me
Rob Pettit: answer here on the Q. And A. Oops.
Rob Pettit: I did not mean to answer. Live type. Answer, there we go
Rob Pettit: alright. So I answered it in the QA.
Rob Pettit: I’m assuming everybody can see that basically on our catalog page for the masters of computer science. If you if you look at the admissions text and scroll down, there’s a list of our
Rob Pettit: required foundations, and they have George Mason course numbers next to them, so you could try to match those against your transcript. The the title should be roughly the same for most bachelors of computer science programs.
George Mason Online Admissions: Wonderful. And we have another question. Here.
George Mason Online Admissions: I am a math major looking to get into the computer science field.
George Mason Online Admissions: As long as I take the required prerequisites. Do you believe I would be prepared for a master’s in computer science?
Rob Pettit: I am. Gonna pop another link in here. Just give me 1 s cause. I can’t type and talk.
George Mason Online Admissions: I am the same way.
Rob Pettit: The the short answer is, yes, and I just posted a link in the chat of where you can easily get those those foundations. If you don’t have them in in your program as a math major, you may have taken a number of computer science classes, and if you did, we would certainly consider those
Rob Pettit: and and and see if they match up. But if if you have the math background and don’t have the the computer science background. Then one of our newest programs that we offer, which is currently only in person, we’re hoping to put it online. In in in the near future
Rob Pettit: it. It’s called the the Computing Foundation’s graduate certificate, and it is explicitly meant to help people bridge into
Rob Pettit: the masters of computer science who may not have had a bachelor’s in computer science.
George Mason Online Admissions: So then those classes would transfer in.
Rob Pettit: So it’s it’s an 18 credit certificate. And and the way that it works is, if you get a beer better in those classes. Then you’re guaranteed admission into the masters. Actually, you you can have an automated transition into the master’s program.
Rob Pettit: They. They don’t count for the masters.
Rob Pettit: But but we guarantee that those satisfy all of the foundations that you would need to get into the to the Mscs.
George Mason Online Admissions: And that’s a great way to pick up a credential. Also a formal certificate, you know.
Rob Pettit: Yes.
George Mason Online Admissions: To doing it. Yes.
George Mason Online Admissions: And what if a student just needed one class, for example, is that something that they could take through just individually through George Mason, or even Nova, or another community college.
Rob Pettit: So so you could certainly look at the community colleges. And if if you if you Google, you can, you can find a transfer equivalency map between the Northern Virginia Community college system and George Mason. So some of our computer science classes are mapped to to the Nova classes.
Rob Pettit: You can. You can certainly do that. To to satisfy some of the prerequisites. I don’t believe they have the
Rob Pettit: the systems programming class, and they may not have the
Rob Pettit: formal autonomy class.
Rob Pettit: I’m pretty sure they don’t have those 2, but but you could do everything else at Nova. You could piece it together by applying for non degree status and and taking those those remaining ones with us, or you could apply for
Rob Pettit: for this this computing foundation certificate and fill in the the gaps there. The the only caveat I would say with that is that if you, if you use the certificate to just fill in the gaps.
Rob Pettit: Then then you you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t do the full 18 credit certificate, which means you. You wouldn’t get the piece of paper
Rob Pettit: and and and we wouldn’t have an automated transition into the Mscs. You would still meet the entry requirements.
Rob Pettit: But then you would have to apply separately. Once you. Once you completed those.
George Mason Online Admissions: One thing that I’ve noticed about this program is that even though some people need prerequisites to get in, it’s actually a pretty quick masters program. Can you tell us a little bit about the normal? I know you mentioned you could do 2 or 3 classes at a time. What would you say, is the normal timeframe for completion? Who’s someone for someone who’s working in a full time job taking 2 classes, a semester.
Rob Pettit: So so so I I worked full time through my degrees and took 2 classes. So if you do the the summer. We we don’t offer
Rob Pettit: as many classes, although the online ones are are often offered. So if you did
Rob Pettit: you, you could do 2 2 classes in the fall and spring maybe pick up one in the summer to to accelerate yourself. I wouldn’t do 2 in the summer and and so
Rob Pettit: accounts 2, 4, 6, 8
Rob Pettit: so so if you did, if you did, 2,
Rob Pettit: 2 per fall and spring and one each summer.
Rob Pettit: then that’s that’s still only 2 years to finish your masters.
George Mason Online Admissions: Yes, and we have student success coaches who can help you map out your courses so that you can finish as soon as possible while not having to navigate all of that, you know by yourself, and we also work with you throughout the admissions process. So if you ever have any questions about prerequisites. You can funnel those to the admissions team. You can see here our email address. You know, we’ll get you the answers that you need so that you have a good admissions experience.
George Mason Online Admissions: and I have not seen any additional questions trickle in in a while. But did I miss any? Dr. Pettit? Are you seeing any that maybe I’m not seeing.
Rob Pettit: I don’t see any, but I did think of one. One line of questioning that we do get frequently asked, which is whether we accept certificates? You know, like coursera courses or work experience. And and the answer is, is, no, we do not, and and
Rob Pettit: most not for profit universities W would be the same. We. We just don’t accept those those online certificates from, you know, vendors and such
Rob Pettit: or or account work experience, because it can be so varied.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay.
George Mason Online Admissions: Well, do you have anything else that you’d like to add? Dr. Petted anything we haven’t covered so far.
Rob Pettit: No, I I
Rob Pettit: I think we’re good on my end. If nobody else has any questions.
George Mason Online Admissions: Okay? Well, just as a reminder, you’re right on time for the August 20, sixth start date. And if you just reach out to us using the contact information on the screen. We are happy to assist you. We’ll send you the admissions, checklist the personal statement, instructions, or anything else that you would need.
George Mason Online Admissions: and we just like to thank you all again for joining us tonight, and thank you again, Dr. Pettit, for joining us.
George Mason Online Admissions: and we hope that we’ll hear from you all soon.
George Mason Online Admissions: Thank you so much. Have a great night.
Rob Pettit: Take care!
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