Requirements for licensing and/or authorization for educational
institutions vary from state to state in the United States.
Most states require that a learning institution be certified,
authorized and/or accredited in order to award degrees to students.
There are some schools out there that do not meet these requirements.
In fact, there are several levels of fraud found in some educational
programs and "schools." They range from using the
student's work history as the "learning" period that
earned the degree to simply selling diplomas. These "diploma
mills" have been around for decades. Online programs like
Degrees-R-Us promise a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree
in about 10 days. (There is a higher tuition fee if you want
to graduate with honors!)
Now, however, there are some states (Oregon, Iowa, and South
Dakota) that are cracking down on schools within their borders
that grant degrees without any type of approval and legitimate
accreditation. There are also some states (Wyoming, Montana,
and Hawaii) that allow unaccredited universities to do business
as long as they have a physical presence in the state. The problem
is that when a state does pass legislation that requires accreditation,
those schools simply change addresses (when you don't have a
campus, it's not that difficult to move). The question of jurisdiction
also comes into play. If the institution has an address in one
state but sends out degrees from another state, then which state
is responsible for it?
For this reason, the most important thing to check out
before you begin any kind of online
degree program is the accreditation the school has,
or claims to have. Simply having a statement about being
"licensed by the state" isn't an accreditation
and may not mean anything at all. There have been many violators
that claim accreditation from agencies that either don't
exist, have been created by the school itself, or are legitimate
agencies but have no record of accreditation for the school.
Students who are enrolled or have completed degrees from
schools that are not accredited have wasted a lot of time,
money, and effort on a degree that may be rejected by potential
employers. Credits from schools that are not accredited
cannot be transferred to other universities.
There are several state-based and regional accrediting bodies.
Each is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
To find out whether the school is truly accredited, contact
the appropriate State Department of Higher Education.
Problems with non-accredited schools
Some of these violators have been awarding diplomas and degrees
for decades. Courts that have shut them down have cited problems
like:
- Too few qualified faculty members to maintain the number
of students or level of education
- Too much credit given for previous life and work experience
without properly determining the actual level of knowledge
- Not having course objectives
- Awarding Ph.Ds to students who haven't performed the type
of research and analysis typically required of such a degree
Basically, the problem relates to the schools having substandard
requirements for earned degrees. Some programs even allow
students to earn master's or doctoral degrees without having
first earned a bachelor's degree.
Play it safe
The best bet is to stick with a known, reputable university
or college that is offering online/distance learning. That
school's reputation will be at stake so it is more likely
to have the same quality online as offline. Of course, there
are some good programs from universities that are strictly
online. According to an article by a former student at the
University of Phoenix Online,
many students feel as connected with other students as they
would if they were on a campus attending classes in the traditional
way.
Evaluating the Program
So once you know the school is accredited, is the decision
easy? Not necessarily. There are still a lot of questions
to ask before you make your selection, such as:
- How is the course presented?
Investigate the method by which the instructor gives lectures.
Does the instructor simply put the lecture online as text?
Are there accompanying slides? Is there any interaction?
Is there video or audio? Are exams given? How are assignments
turned in? The format of the course is sometimes as important
as the content. Great content is more easily absorbed if
it's done in a dynamic and innovative manner that involves
interaction between the student and instructor as well interaction
with the content itself. Online learning technology provides
many opportunities for innovation. Find a school that takes
advantage of it.
- How do students interact with each other?
Is there an established method for interaction and congregating?
Online programs can use chat rooms, instant messaging, teleconferencing,
and video conferencing to communicate. The key is to find
a program that has this interaction built into it and even
requires it. How the online community functions should be
very important to both the instructor and the educational
institution.
- Are the instructors qualified?
Check out the credentials and degrees the instructors hold,
as well as their knowledge of online learning and its differences
from classroom learning. What kind of support do the instructors
get for their online courses? If technical problems arise,
is there someone to turn to? A school that is dedicated
to its online programs will have the development staff and
the support staff to make it successful. Instructors (and
students) have to be able to adapt to changing technology.
- What kind of reputation does the school have?
It may seem simple -- a good school will have a good online
program. That may be true, but it is also probable that
its online program is still too new to judge, so you're
left with nothing but the reputation of the school's traditional
programs. This reputation, however, may not be as straightforward
as you think. You can look at the overall quality of the
school and make a judgement, but there may be weaknesses
in the program in which you are interested. It's not uncommon
for a great school to have a weak program or two.
- How are students evaluated?
Earning a degree should mean just that -- earning it. If
students aren't assessed properly and degrees are handed
out with little or no verification that any knowledge has
been transferred from the instructor to the student, then
how can the program be rated? Students, particularly adult
students, learn more by doing than by simply listening.
For this reason, it is important to ensure that part of
the program involves applying what has been learned.
- What kinds of library facilities are available?
Make sure the school has a good system for ensuring that
reference materials and texts are accessible from anywhere.
If a student is taking a course in another state (or another
country), the online program shouldn't limit that student's
ability to do assignments because of lack of electronic
reference materials. Online references are extremely important
and should be up-to-date and accessible at any time.
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