Master’s Degree
Explore blog posts highlighting Kent State University’s online master’s degree programs, covering fields such as Music Education, Public Administration, Geographic Information Science, and User Experience. Learn about program rankings, faculty insights, and specialized courses designed to help professionals advance their careers. Discover opportunities for growth and expertise in a variety of disciplines.
Related Blog Posts
There’s an old adage nearly everyone’s heard: “Work a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” As true as this sentiment may be, the facts about employment suggest that a majority of people are not working jobs they love. In fact, far from it.
Today’s interactive designers are tasked with consistently achieving something more than aesthetically striking creative. In today’s marketplace, digital media is king—and the evolving need for digital marketing is far more complex than that of more traditional marketing channels. Designers must consider the different journeys being undertaken by those for whom they are designing. They must design with the knowledge that 30 percent of all commerce is conducted on a mobile phone and let the platform a person may be using inform their work.1
On Saturday, January 13, 2018, a terrifying message populated the screens of over a million smartphones in Honolulu, Hawaii. It read: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” As the world now knows, this turned out to be a false alarm. An investigation into the incident found that the message was sent by mistake when a state employee hit the wrong button during an internal drill.1
No matter the industry in which you plan to pursue employment, investing in a master’s degree can help you rise to the top of your organization. But not all master’s degrees are created equal.
The experience one has when interacting with technology is fundamentally human. Our digital lives—from navigating a tablet to paying at a bank kiosk—have become so ubiquitous, interwoven and essential to the way we interact with the world and others, that it’s almost hard to remember what life was like before these technologies existed. Simply put, we depend on technology to move our lives forward. It plays a critical role in our individual storylines as well as our collective narrative.
In the modern world, media is saturated with images of natural disasters and their impacts on human health and infrastructure. And while the most memorable images for many are of the damages done by hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes, in the U.S., the deadliest atmospheric hazard over the last few decades has been excessive heat. While everyone generally knows the advice to take it easy during hot weather, it tends to get much less attention than other hazards because its impacts are not nearly as visibly dramatic. This said, several hundred people a year in the U.S. on average still die from excess heat.
Imagine a town that wants to improve access to its public buildings. Theoretically, the citizens of the town could appeal to their elected officials for the change and maybe vote on a ballot measure. Once that measure has passed, officials could craft a policy addressing the need for improved access, and then allocate the funds...and then things get a little tricky.
Throughout the mid-19th century, clinicians noted the impact of socio-environmental factors on healthcare. From unusually high incidences of breast cancer in Italian nuns to cancers that only seemed to affect chimney sweeps in Great Britain, medical literature of the period carefully traced the connections between cultural background and wellness. This led some physicians to theorize that disease was strongly related to societal dysfunction and inequality, and that improving schools and working conditions could help to alleviate disparities in mortality across social classes.
It can be easy to take for granted the comforts that most of us have in our homes. Indoor plumbing, running water, heat, a safe place to sleep, food—even the people fortunate enough to enjoy these amenities will periodically fall ill. Yet they can maintain their cleanliness, get adequate rest and most likely have access to reputable health care. Now, take all of that away. Suddenly, an alarming range of bodily and psychological impediments can arise.
We’re all familiar with oceanic tides, which cycle roughly every 12 1/2 hours based on the relative positions of the earth and the moon. Some places have greater ranges than others, based on the local configuration of the coastline. Every couple of weeks, when the sun, earth and moon all line up, we have “spring tides,” in which the tidal fluctuations are stronger than normal.
Click on the image below to explore all of the aspects of a GIS career with our new infographic. Read up on the job market, education requirements and salary expectations for a GIScience professional.
Severe punishments for drug-related offenses—particularly possession of marijuana—have historically triggered global public outcry, causing many nations to rethink their approach to the applicable drug laws.
A pair of Kent State University geographers have teamed up to secure two research grants totaling more than $550,000 for separate projects to study climate change and weather patterns.
When studying user experience (UX) online, there’s almost no greater source of knowledge than Andrew Shipka.
Most of us think about user experience (UX) design as a tech-oriented field, where expert coders build flashy apps and web experiences that dazzle. But as Ben Woods, assistant professor in Kent State University’s online Master of Science in UX Design program, points out, UX is “really all about people. It’s not about the technology.”
Today, when a person explains that they work as a user experience (UX) designer, chances are that more people understand what that means than they would have a decade earlier.1 As technology and innovation become more and more interwoven into the fabric of business, UX design is becoming an increasingly ubiquitous function.
We typically view language as evolving at a glacial pace. Yet, consider the fact that the Merriam-Webster Dictionary added more than 1,000 new words in February 2017—and more than 2,000 in April 2016.1
A definition. For all practical purposes, it’s the concise explanation of an element or experience. However, the true value of a definition extends far beyond this. What it also provides is the foundation for further knowledge—and this is critically important.
If you’ve looked into a career in criminology and criminal justice, you’ve likely noticed how different types of crime can feed into hiring trends across the industry. In our infographic below, you can view 10 fast facts that help fuel the growing career opportunities in the field.
Geography professors at Kent State University see Hurricane Harvey’s unusual rainfall and the flooding in its aftermath as an opportunity to teach their students about meteorology, the health hazards left behind and the people whose lives have been changed forever.
Every profession has a lexicon, turns of phrase that are unique to its processes and techniques. The world of geographic information science (GISc) is no exception.
Websites, eCommerce sites, email campaigns, eReaders, mobile apps and more—if you’ve used a screen or a keyboard lately, you’ve touched the work of someone with a job in user experience design (UXD).
For students who have prior experience in UX, come to the program with a willingness to challenge what you already know. While you may have developed a specific technique or process, use the program’s curriculum as an opportunity to supplement or improve your skillset.
Q&A with user experience design student, Jessica K (Kent State Online, ’17)
As history marches forward, certain technologies are inevitably left behind in favor of what’s most beneficial to society in the moment or in the future. While leaving behind what’s no longer beneficial is important to technology and innovation, it also renders certain industries and careers as outdated—no matter how important they may have been at one time.
The geographic information science (GISc) field is a diverse and rapidly growing industry in which some roles are projected to grow by 14% by 2026,1 which makes the role of a GISc technician all the more vital. As we watch natural disasters unfold and the effects of human interference take shape on our planet, the need for GISc expertise and spatial technology prowess is featured daily, worldwide. Additional GISc experience can help environmental protection professionals make significant impacts in solving major global crises like water resources or climate change.
The world of geographic information science (GISc) is filled with unique acronyms, phrases and definitions. Because of this wide range of terminology for tools, technologies and techniques used in the field, a glossary of important terms is as vital as it is extensive.
Q&A with user experience design student, Jessica K (Kent State Online, ’17)
Q&A with user experience design student, Jessica K (Kent State Online, ’17)