DISTANCE LEARNING AND ONLINE GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN MUSIC TEACHER EDUCATION

This study examined current designs, issues surrounding the growth of online graduate degree programs, and potential for positive development of online graduate music teacher education programs. Attention was given to coordination between distance education and music departments, online program structure, pressure to maximize profits at the expense of educational quality, management of faculty, and management of student professional development and provision of instructional and student services, and technological hardware/software, equipment, and educational resource materials used to support online learning. This presentation will give a summary of current distant learning practices in various graduate music education programs in the United States. There have been new developments in Masters in Music Education degree programs across the United States that include the implementation of summer instruction, online instruction, hybrid online instruction, and the traditional residential graduate course offerings. These opportunities of instruction provide convenience for the fast-paced, expansive, and inundated lives of the common woman and man as s/he fulfills the responsibilities of daily life. Such advances have transformed education to meet the needs of today's music educator.