Online education programs are eventually taking over traditional education program. Top rank universities have started offering certificate courses online. Many of them are operating full-fledged online academic degree. An online degree is an academic degree. Although most of the time online degree refers to college degree, high school diploma and non-degree certificate programs are also offered as online degree. The different between traditional degree and online degree is online degree can be earned entirely through internet-connected computer. Unlike regular degrees, physical attendance in the class is not mandatory in online degree. The driving factors which are making online degree more popular day by day are:
- Improvement of Communication Technology
- Availability of Internet Access and
- Need of a flexible school schedule
The improvement of communication technology has made online degree popular. The availability of internet to mass population has made it a feasible idea to offer online degrees. And the need of a flexible school schedule has created the profitable business environment for online degree. Think about professionals who are working 8 hours or more a day. If they want to take further education, how they will manage time to study and work at the same time? Online degrees can solve this problem. And thus online colleges have started offering online associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.
How Online Degrees are Accredited
According to the United States Department of Education the goal of educational accreditation is to ensure the required quality level of higher education programs offered by education institutions. According to the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) educational accreditation by external bodies assure the quality of education programs to public and ensures the accountability of the educational institutions. As a result they try their best to provide quality education. Without accreditation bodies there would be no accountability. As a result the quality of higher education would degrade dramatically. In online education system, accreditation plays more vital role. There are many online universities where most of the students are international students, attending online classes from different part of the world. There is no way for them to inspect the quality of the online college physically. The only way to properly judge the quality of an online college is by looking into the accreditation.
There are six regional accreditation boards in United States. These are non-governmental agencies. These boards oversee and accredit the degree-granting institution in their areas. In United States, fully accredited online colleges have earned reputation throughout the world. And the online colleges are becoming popular faster than ever. As a result, U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) have taken the accreditation of online colleges very seriously. And they have recognized the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) as the accrediting organization for distance learning institutions and education programs that offer online degrees.
Distance learning outside of United States are also growing. However, in this case the universities are accredited by different national bodies. For example Open University of Catalonia has been accredited by Agency of Quality Assurance in Catalan University System. Sometimes reputed universities accredit other online colleges. It has been operating since 1995 and has gained worldwide reputation as sustainable virtual university. In Ireland the online colleges are accredited by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC). There are many other regional accreditation bodies who accredit online colleges.
Quality of and Confusion about Online Degree
Online education system has many exclusive advantages. For example people with physical disabilities can get admitted in online colleges and earn their degree certificate online, full-time employees who cannot manage time to attend further studies can study more through online education system, military personnel, those living abroad, and stay-at-home parents, among others to have access to accredited higher education. Despite numerous positive aspects of online education, the quality of online degree has always been questioned at.
There is no doubt that there are some differences between online colleges and on-campus colleges. As a result the quality of online degree cannot be measured in the same standard of on-campus college. Although the quality of online degree has improved rapidly, still there are some discrimination towards online degrees. Many hiring representative prefer on-campus degree to online degree. A recent study published in The Economist showed that there are many hiring executives who reject applicants with online degree. Most surprising fact is even regionally accredited online colleges’ certificates are not honored by many hiring executives. According to them many online degrees cannot be taught well without physical attendance. In these cases they rejects application with online degrees only. However, applicants with traditional on-campus degree along with additional online degree get preference.
The Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) has conducted a survey to find out how the online degree holders are doing in their respective fields. They have found that 100% of the employers who participated in the survey felt that graduates completed their degree online performs better than graduates earn their degree form on-campus colleges. Moreover, employers appreciate those who attend online classes while still in the attending job regularly. And employers prefer taking online degree so that employees can enhance their knowledge and increase productivity. Another survey conducted in 2007 by The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that 55% of the employers who attended the survey prefer traditional degree to online degree. 41% treat both online degree and traditional degree as equal. However, the recent trends has changed. Employers have started learning that performance defines the quality in modern age, not from where they are developing the skills. And students attending online degree has diverse skill set. As a result online degree in job market is being treated with positive mentality.
In many cases, it is not possible to distinguish between online degree and traditional on-campus degree. Because many accredited online colleges offer same degree in two forms – online degree and on-campus degree. The curriculum, syllabus even the instructors are same for both of the programs. And there are flexibility of switching from one education system to another. In this case online degree and traditional degree work as complement of each other. As a result the graduates are indistinguishable and thus face no discrimination in job market. An example of such online education system is Columbia University. Their online classes are conducted through Columbia Video Network (CVN). And the online class takers receive the same degree as on-campus students get. There is absolutely no difference expect the way to teaching. The professors, lecturers, courses, homework, assignments and exams are same as traditional degree. The New York University Tandon School of Engineering offers indistinguishable online and traditional degree. Students can attend master’s degree online here and earn same certificate as on-campus students do.
Lately, most of the top universities have initiated distance learning extensions. With their regular education program they offer many online certification program. In many cases they offer associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree online. However, top ranked universities the trends of offering online certification courses are more popular than other online degrees.
Progressive Dominance of Online Education
Back there at 2001-2002 the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a study in distance learning. They conducted they study in 2 years and 3 years degree granting institutions of United States. It has been found that 56% of the institutions offer online courses. They have also found that public educational institutions are more likely to offer distance learning courses than private institutions. The Sloan Consortium conducted another data collection to analyze distance learning. They collected data from 2,200 U.S. colleges and universities. They conducted the study in 2005 and the result was surprising. Back there at 2005, nearly 3.2 million students attended at least one online course. In comparison with the same report of 2004, there was a raise of students taking online courses by 28%. And around two third of the educational institute added distance learning extension. The same study conducted in 2011 found that more than 6 million students have attended at least one online course. The number has increases to 6.7 million in 2013.
The statistical data clearly proves that the popularity of online degree is increasing. And educational institutions are opening distance learning department. It is no exaggeration to say that eventually online education system will be mainstream of education system.
