Conformity or Subversiveness: Alternative Approaches to Professional Master's Education in Regional Colleges and Universities

Abstract

In response to major changes in the nation's workplace, consumer demand for master's education in the professions has grown rapidly over the last two decades. Today, regional institutions grant two of every five master's degrees awarded in the United States. Drawing on data from a national study of master's programs, the authors discuss three approaches to master's education that they identified in regional colleges and universities: conventional, interactive, and collaborative. Readers are invited to assess critically their own involvement in master's education in light of these three approaches.