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I chose Liberty University Online for my Master's degree in education. At the time, I was looking for an online program due to the pandemic and my own work needs. Liberty advertised a Master's degree that was ideal for working adults and for people who were new to the teaching/education profession. While I had great professors and advisors, the fact remained that the program is obviously geared towards individuals who are already in the profession. In particular, the courses on tests/measurements... Read More and behavior management were lacking and did not prepare me for what I would eventually see in the classroom. However, these courses were not the largest issue. Practicums and field experiences at Liberty were by far the worst part of the degree program. There were two major issues, Christian school placement and practicum feedback. Liberty encourages student teachers to experience a broad array of school environments with both a public school and Christian school experience being mandatory. However, Liberty has no direct contact with any Christian schools outside of the Lynchburg area. I was expected to find a Christian school in my area to host me with minimal help from the university. The problem occurred when I was turned down by every Christian school I contacted in my area (we don't have many). None of them wanted to host a student teacher. Liberty's solution for this problem was to shorten the Christian school requirement to just one day and allow me to do a second long-term public school placement instead. Again, I was refused by the local Christian schools even for the one day experience. Liberty did not know how to resolve this and the Christian school experience never happened, which would have delayed graduation had I not taken swift action later. The public school placements were easier to secure and while I was welcomed at both schools, the fact remained that Liberty did not provide much guidance for these practicums. The requirements were only for me to observe the host's class and then design and teach one lesson in the class. I went beyond this and taught more lessons while earning extra hours, but I feel that Liberty was largely relying on the host schools to provide me with guidance and feedback. My host teachers had a lot on their plates with their own classes, so feedback from the professors in addition to my host teachers would have been better. In the end, I worked with the second public school I was placed at and secured a full-time teaching job under an alternative license. I opted out of Liberty's remaining student teaching requirements and was able to complete my degree via an alternative path. This elminated the need to pester the local Christian schools for a placement and prevented a delay of graduation. Hence why I say this degree is for people who are already employed as a teacher. If you already have a license, you don't need to do student teaching and you can focus on your coursework. Summary/TLDR: Great degree if you're already working as a licensed teacher. If you're new to teaching or don't have a license, I recommend going elsewhere.

DO NOT GO TO THIS SCHOOL. The admissions process is very easy and their admissions team will sell you on it, but once you are actually enrolled it becomes a nightmare. Advisors are not much help in navigating your degree requirements. It is so disheartening as a teacher to have my professors do everything they teach us not to do. Assignments are mostly busy work, and professors do not care about taking time to get to know students (even though they preach this). For a Christian institution they are... Read More severely lacking in compassion and mercy. The university clearly only cares about taking your money, and they will actively make it more difficult for you to advance in your program in order to make you spend more on extra semesters. To say I am disappointed in the program is an understatement.

I really enjoyed taking my Masters Degree through Liberty's Online department. I felt that the classes were honestly not nearly as hard as my Undergraduate classes had been, but that may all be due to subject matter. The online portion of the course was easy to follow, easy to submit assignments, and easy to contact teachers when needed. The on campus intensives that I took were exactly that; intense. The one issue I have with them is that when I filled out all the information for my last semester... Read More and getting my student teaching position etc., my advisor did not fully check out the logistics of whether or not the school I did my student teaching at was accredited in the correct manner to receive my teachers license. In the end I did not receive my license, but did still receive my degree. Overall, this program is very well put together, but my one place of caution is to tell you to make absolutely sure that the school you do your student teaching at absolutely fulfills all the requirements for licensure.