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Challenges
of Distance Education
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Legitimacy
challenge (continued)
Distance educators continually must address the respectability and image of distance programs. During the dot-com boom, many new players jumped onto the distance education bandwagon. Accredited academic institutions supported many of these new online ventures.
However, many were not affiliated with legitimate educations institutions and used unscrupulous methods to recruit students. David Noble coined the term "Digital Diploma Mills" which he defines as the distribution of digitized course material online, without the active participation of the professor. He argues that the automation of education is a regressive trend in higher education.
The term digital diploma mill has been used to describe online distance providers that are actually online businesses who have no background or affiliations with an institution of higher learning. Diploma mills often prey on international students who may not understand how accreditation works or its importance.
Many states
are trying to regulate online colleges and programs that lack accreditation.
Regulators are struggling to crack down on these unaccredited institutions
because they can relocate quickly. As
distance education continues to move into the mainstream of accredited
and prestigious educational institutions, the questions about the legitimacy
of distance education should diminish in importance.
Lesson Five Links:
Readings Summary Slideshow
Self-assessment quiz
Lesson three assignments
Supplemental Online Resources:
Changing Landscape of Distance Education
Teach Act Resources:
© Copyright 2003 by Kathy Keairns