MBAIn 2017 my Website was migrated to the clouds and reduced in size.
Hence some links below are broken.
One thing to try if a “www” link is broken is to substitute “faculty” for “www”
For example a broken link http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm
can be changed to corrected link http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm
However in some cases files had to be removed to reduce the size of my Website
Contact me at rjensen@trinity.edu if you really need to file that is missing

Bob Jensen's Threads on Cross-Border (Transnational) Training and Education
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Before reading this, you should read about asynchronous learning at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asynchronous_learning

Introductory Quotations

First Consider Learning On Your Own

College and University Online Rankings and Comparisons

The Future:  Badges of Competency-Based Learning Performance

Mega Universities Partnering with Private and Public Sectors for Employee Education and Traning
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#Partnerships

How to Sign Up for a Free MOOC Course (credits have added fees)

How to Lower the Costs of College Degrees (often at $0 tuition)

Employer-Subsidized and/or Inexpensive Online MOOC Degrees

Readings and Other Printed References of Possible Interest

2014 Report: 83 Percent of High Schools Offer Online Courses

MOOCs Are Free and Open to Everybody in the World

Cross-Border Training Alternatives (including languages training and learning to code)

Cross-Border Education Alternatives
Includes US News Rankings of Undergraduate Online and Various Online Graduate Programs

Online Cheating

Obama's Ideas on Affordable Education

Assessment --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm

Future of Education Technologies --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm

Test Drive Running a University ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#TestDrive

The Dark Side of Education Technology and Online Learning

Explosive Growth in Online Enrollments in the U.S.
(Including a Project that Enlists Women to Help Women Learn Online)

Concerns About High Attrition Rates in Online Courses

Updates on the Quality and Extent of Distance Education in the United States

Education Fraud and Gray Zone Warnings About Questionable Online Program 
(Including the 50% Rule Controversy)
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudReporting.htm#DiplomaMill 

An Innovative Online International Accounting Course on Six Campuses Around the World

An Internationalization Experiment With 800 Online Courses at East Carolina Univ.

Life Experience College Level Examination Program (CLEP) 

Update on Online K-12 Schools

College Credit by Telephone

Online and Other Non-Traditional Doctoral Degrees

Unaccredited Distance Education Index
 

Online Graduate Business (mostly MBA) Programs
First look for AACSB accreditation

 

Masters of Accounting and Taxation Online Degree Programs
First look for AACSB accreditation

Learning Portals and Vortals  (including the demise of Fathom)

Places to Learn from Krislyn

Babson College's experiments with "Tailor-Made Degrees"

Government and Military Online Training and Education 

International Journals, Resources, and Newsletters for Distance Education

International Teacher Training and Lesson Sharing

Reaching Across Boundaries:  The Bryant College-Belarus Connection

There are thousands of distance education courses in England

OpenCourseWare (OCW)

eLearning Africa --- http://www.elearning-africa.com/

Portal to Asian Internet Resources --- http://webcat.library.wisc.edu:3200/PAIR/index.html 

UNESCO Working Paper Series on Mobile Learning
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/themes/icts/m4ed/mobile-learning-resources/unescomobilelearningseries/ 

U.S. Department of Education  --- http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml

Department of Education: Office of Vocational and Adult Education ---
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/index.html?src=oc

European Centre for Higher Education --- http://www.cepes.ro/

The term "electroThenic portfolio," or "ePortfolio":   What does this mean?
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#ElectronicPortfolio

Search for University Lectures Available as Podcasts
Bob Jensen's threads on podcasting, Apple's iPod U, RSS, RDF are at http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245glosf.htm#ResourceDescriptionFramework

Bob Jensen's threads on science and medicine tutorials are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Science%20and%20Medicine

Bob Jensen's links to math helpers  ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics

Bob Jensen's threads on asynchronous learning ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm

Cross-Cultural Investigations: Technology and Development (Multicultural Online Education and Open Sharing) ---
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-801j-cross-cultural-investigations-technology-and-development-fall-2012/

Bob Jensen's threads to free textbooks and other learning materials --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

Free online tutorials in various disciplines --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm/#Tutorials

Bob Jensen's threads on accreditation controversies ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#AccreditationIssues

Bob Jensen's threads on Online Education Effectiveness and Testing ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#OnlineOffCampus

Online Distance Education is Rapidly Gaining Acceptance in Traditional as Well as For-Profit Colleges ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#DistanceEducation

The Dark Side ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on tools and tricks of the trade ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

Free Online Textbooks, Videos, and Tutorials --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Free Tutorials in Various Disciplines --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials
Edutainment and Learning Games --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
Open Sharing Courses --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
The Master List of Free Online College Courses --- http://universitiesandcolleges.org/

Social Networking for Education:  The Beautiful and the Ugly
(including Google's Wave and Orcut for Social Networking and some education uses of Twitter)
Updates will be at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm

Warning
No higher education program that substitutes “life experience” or “job experience” for academic credit in the real world is respected in academe. This does not mean that experience is not educational. It merely means that it is impossible or impractical to determine knowledge attainment unless more formalized processes of courses and examinations are administered for academic credit. Hence, a degree from any school that replaces some courses with "experience" is not worth much more than the paper it is printed on. Graduates from such a school should be evaluated on the basis of their life experiences. They should not be evaluated on the basis of that school's course credits. Paying for such credits is a waste of money in my viewpoint.

Bob Jensen's threads on phony diploma mills are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudReporting.htm#DiplomaMill 

Phony Education and Training Search Sites

These phony education search programs sponsored by for-profit universities are getting a bit more sophisticated by salting a very few not-for-profit programs to make you think they are legitimate education and training search programs. But in reality they are still phony for-profit university search sites.

For example, I read in my old zip code 78212 into the search site http://lpntobsnonline.org/ 

Sure enough, up pops the University of Phoenix and other for-profit university alternatives. No mention is made of San Antonio's massive University of Texas Health Science Nursing Alternative and other non-for-profit nursing education alternatives in the area.


Boo/poo on this http://lpntobsnonline.org/  site!

e-Education:  The Shocking Future

Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Table of Contents

Introductory Quotations

From Hapless to Helped
"autodidacts disadvantaged by distance" (Don't you love love alliteration as a memory aid?)  In the quotations below, contrast and compare the impact of the interactive Internet and ebullient email on evolving education from 1858 versus 2001.  

The Year 1858

When the University of London instituted correspondence courses in 1858, the first university to do so, its students (typically expatriates in what were then the colonies of Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, and South Africa), discovered the programme by word of mouth and wrote the university to enrol.  the university then despatched, by post-and-boat, what today we would call the course outline, a set of previous examination papers and a list of places around the world where examinations were conducted.  It left any "learning" to the hapless student, who sat the examination whenever he or she felt ready:  a truly "flexible" schedule!  this was the first generation of distance education (Tabsall and Ryan, 1999):  "independent" learning for highly motivated and resourceful autodidacts disadvantaged by distance. (Page 71)
Yoni Ryan who wrote Chapter 5 of
The Changing Faces of Virtual Education --- http://www.col.org/virtualed/ 
Dr. Glen Farrell, Study Team Leader and Editor
The Commonwealth of Learning

Video:  Open Education for an Open World
45-minute Video from the Long-Time President of MIT --- http://18.9.60.136/video/816

Bob Jensen's threads on open source video and course materials from prestigious universities ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Bob Jensen's threads on education technology in general ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

THE COLLEGE OF 2020: STUDENTS  ($75) ---
https://www.chronicle-store.com/Store/ProductDetails.aspx?CO=CQ&ID=76319&PK=N1S1009
Also see "Tomorrow's College" (free)  http://chronicle.com/article/Tomorrows-College/125120/  

Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm

Minnesota State Colleges Plan to Offer One-Fourth of Credits Online by 2015 ---
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3476&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

The Year 2008

The Washington Post Finds Distance Education More Profitable Than the Newspaper Business
The Washington Post Company continues to diversify not in journalism but in for-profit education. Last year, the company reported that it took in more revenue from its Kaplan businesses than the newspaper business. In filings last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Post reported that it had purchased an 8.1 percent stake in Corinthian Colleges Inc.
Inside Higher Ed, February 18, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/02/18/qt

The Year 2001

The combination of asynchronous and synchronous materials in the WebCT environment worked well for my students. I felt closer to my students than I did in a live class. When I loaded AIM and saw my students online, I felt connected to them. Each student had an online persona that blossomed over the semester. The use of emotions in AIM helped us create bantering communication, which contributed to a less stressful learning environment. 

At then end of the six-week course, I was tired, but I was equally tired at the end of the live six-week course last summer. I don’t think the online environment made my life easier, but it made it more fun. The students appreciated the flexibility, and they liked not having to drive to downtown Hartford for classes. Although many of my students would have preferred a live class, they performed well in this online class. I did not attempt to statistically compare their performance with my past live classes, but the exam distributions appear similar to past classes. I was happy with the overall class performance. 

One student concluded, “Just reading the material without having anyone explain it to you makes it more difficult to understand at first (at least for me). I waffled between wanting online and in person teaching … . Ultimately I chose online because this way we can do it at our own pace and we always have the ability to go back to where we might not have understood and do it over.” 

Thus, flexibility appears to outweigh what to the student appears to be an easier way to learn.
From "Genesis of an Online Course" by Amy Dunbar Amy Dunbar, August 1, 2001 
www.sba.uconn.edu/users/adunbar/genesis_of_an_online_course.pdf 

A free audio download of a presentation by Amy Dunbar is available at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/002cpe/02start.htm#2002 

---

Online you get to know your students' minds, not just their faces.
Harasim, L., Hiltz, S.R., Teles, L., and Turoff, M. (1995). Learning Networks: A Field Guide to Teaching and Learning Online. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 
As quoted at http://www.vpaa.uillinois.edu/tid/report/tid_report.html 

---

LARSON: You can't get further from MIT than Singapore. Singapore from here is this way [points straight down]. We use Internet2 for connectivity. There's no statistical difference in performance between distance learners and classroom learners. And when there is a difference, it favors the distance learners
"Lessons e-Learned Q&A with Richard Larson from MIT," Technology Review, July 31, 2001 --- http://www.techreview.com/web/leo/leo073101.asp

---

For those of you who think distance education is going downhill, think again.  The number of students switching from traditional brick-and- mortar classrooms to full-time virtual schools in Colorado has soared over the past five years…

"Online Ed Puts Schools in a Bind:  Districts Lose Students, Funding," by Karen Rouse, Denver Post, December 2, 2004 --- http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E2522702,00.html 

The number of students switching from traditional brick-and- mortar classrooms to full-time virtual schools in Colorado has soared over the past five years.

During the 2000-01 school year, the state spent $1.08 million to educate 166 full-time cyberschool students, according to the Colorado Department of Education. This year, the state projects spending $23.9 million to educate 4,237 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, state figures show.

And those figures - which do not include students who are taking one or two online courses to supplement their classroom education - are making officials in the state's smallest districts jittery.

Students who leave physical public schools for online schools take their share of state funding with them.

"If I lose two kids, that's $20,000 walking out the door," said Dave Grosche, superintendent of the Edison 54JT School District.

Continued in the article

The Chronicle's Goldie Blumenstyk has covered distance education for more than a decade, and during that time she's written stories about the economics of for-profit education, the ways that online institutions market themselves, and the demise of the 50-percent rule. About the only thing she hadn't done, it seemed, was to take a course from an online university. But this spring she finally took the plunge, and now she has completed a class in government and nonprofit accounting through the University of Phoenix. She shares tales from the cy ber-classroom -- and her final grade -- in a podcast with Paul Fain, a Chronicle reporter.
Chronicle of Higher Education, June 11, 2008 (Audio) --- http://chronicle.com/media/audio/v54/i40/cyber_classroom/

• All course materials (including textbooks) online; No additional textbooks to purchase

• $1,600 fee for the course and materials

• Woman instructor with respectable academic credentials and experience in course content

• Instructor had good communications with students and between students

• Total of 14 quite dedicated online students in course, most of whom were mature with full-time day jobs

• 30% of grade from team projects

• Many unassigned online helper tutorials that were not fully utilized by Goldie

• Goldie earned a 92 (A-)

• She gave a positive evaluation to the course and would gladly take other courses if she had the time

• She considered the course to have a heavy workload

Jensen Added Comment
It wasn't mentioned, but I think Goldie took the ACC 460 course --- Click Here

ACC 460 Government and Non-Profit Accounting

Course Description

This course covers fund accounting, budget and control issues, revenue and expense recognition, and issues of reporting for both government and non-profit entities.

Topics and Objectives

Environment of Government/Non-Profit Accounting

• Compare and contrast governmental and proprietary accounting.
• Analyze the relationship between GASB and FASB.
• Analyze the relationship between a budget and a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR).
• Determine when and how to use the modified accrual accounting method.

Fund Accounting Part I

• Distinguish between expenses and expenditures.
• Explain the effect of encumbrances on a budget.
• Apply the principles of fund accounting.
• Determine the closing process for the fund accounting cycle.
• Explain the reconciliation of government-wide financial statements with the fund statements.

Fund Accounting Part II

• Apply accounting procedures for recognizing revenues and other financial resources.
• Record interfund transfers.
• Prepare fund and non-governmental accounting entries.
• Prepare a financial statement for a governmental agency.

Overview of Not-for-Profit Accounting

• Examine the funds for different types of not-for-profit organizations.
• Compare and contrast reporting by governmental, not-for-profit, and proprietary organizations.

Current Issues in Government and Not-for-Profit Accounting

• Analyze current issues in government and not-for-profit accounting.

Bob Jensen's threads on asynchronous learning --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on free online video courses and course materials from leading universities --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Bob Jensen's threads on assessment --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on the dark side --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on education technology --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

So much learning now takes place online, including faculty office hours, study groups, and lectures.
What extra value are you going to need to offer to bring the students of the future to your college?
Read the new report, "The College of 2020: Students," from Chronicle Research Services.

"THE COLLEGE OF 2020: STUDENTS," The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 2009 ---
http://research.chronicle.com/asset/TheCollegeof2020ExecutiveSummary.pdf?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

This is the first Chronicle Research Services report in a three-part series on what higher education will look like in the year 2020. It is based on reviews of research and data on trends in higher education, interviews with experts who are shaping the future of colleges, and the results of a poll of members of a Chronicle Research Services panel of admissions officials.

To buy the full, data-rich 50-page report, see the links at the end of this Executive Summary. Later reports in this series will look at college technology and facilities in 2020, and the faculty of the future.

"The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age," by  Jane Park, Creative Commons, June 26th, 2009 --- http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/15522

HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory) announced a new report called, “The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age,” now available at MIT Press. The report is in response to our changing times, and addresses what traditional educational institutions must know to keep up. From the announcement,

“Cathy N. Davidson and David Theo Goldberg in an abridged version of their book-in-progress, The Future of Thinking: Learning Institutions in a Digital Age, argue that traditional institutions must adapt or risk a growing mismatch between how they teach and how this new generation learns. Forms and models of learning have evolved quickly and in fundamentally new directions. Yet how we teach, where we teach, who teaches, and who administers and serves have changed only around the edges. This report was made possible by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in connection with its grant making initiative on Digital Media and Learning.”

A central finding was that “Universities must recognize this new way of learning and adapt or risk becoming obsolete. The university model of teaching and learning relies on a hierarchy of expertise, disciplinary divides, restricted admission to those considered worthy, and a focused, solitary area of expertise. However, with participatory learning and digital media, these conventional modes of authority break down.”

Not coincidentally, one of the ten principles for redesigning learning institutions was open source education: “Traditional learning environments convey knowledge via overwhelmingly copyright-protected publications. Networked learning, contrastingly, is an “open source” culture that seeks to share openly and freely in both creating and distributing knowledge and products.”

The report is available in PDF via CC BY-NC-ND.
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/Future_of_Learning.pdf

Also see http://www.convergemag.com/workforce/47240132.html

Our Compassless Colleges --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#Berkowitz

The Bright Future of Grand Canyon University online
The Apollo Group is the king of for-profit higher education, parent of the University of Phoenix. By comparison, Grand Canyon University, another for-profit college in Phoenix, is David to Apollo’s Goliath. But that’s obviously not quite how Brian Mueller sees it. Mueller, the president of the Apollo Group and the driving force behind the University of Phoenix’s highly successful online division, is betting that Grand Canyon’s future is brighter — or perhaps more profitable — than Apollo’s. The two companies announced this morning that Mueller is giving up his position at Apollo to help lead Grand Canyon into its recently announced initial public offering, which was initially valued at $230 million. Compared to Apollo, which educates hundreds of thousands of students and is 35 years old, Grand Canyon is comparatively a toddler. Since 2004, when it was purchased by a team of investors, it has been transformed from a struggling nonprofit Christian college with fewer than 1,000 into a thriving institution that has about 20,000 students, most of them online. A full report on these striking developments will be available on our Web site Thursday morning.
Inside Higher Ed, June 25, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/06/25/qt

Fast Growth of Online Programs Relative to "Blended Programs"
Despite the growth of “blended” education — in which instructors mix in-person and online experiences for students — online education appears to be outpacing it in some ways, according to a new study by Eduventures, the Sloan Consortium and Babson College. The report found a faster rate of growth in the percentage of classes offered online than for blended courses. The report found that while 55 percent of colleges offer at least one blended course, 64 percent offer at least one online course.
Inside Higher Ed, March 13, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/13/qt

Explosive Growth in Online Enrollments in the United States

Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States
The Sloan Consortium and the Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board, 2012
http://babson.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_4SjGnHcStH5g9G5

Some key report findings include:

• Over 6.7 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2011 term, an increase of 570,000 students over the previous year.
• Thirty-two percent of higher education students now take at least one course online.
• Seventy-seven percent of academic leaders rate the learning outcomes in online education as the same or superior to those in face-to-face.
• Only 30.2 percent of chief academic officers believe that their faculty accept the value and legitimacy of online education - a rate that is lower than recorded in 2004

Full Report Now Available.
(PDF and several eBook formats)

"Distance Ed Continues Rapid Growth at Community Colleges," by Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, April 7, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/04/07/distance

Community colleges reported an 18 percent increase in distance education enrollments in a 2007 survey released this weekend at the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges, in Philadelphia.

The survey on community colleges and distance education is an annual project of the Instructional Technology Council, an affiliate of the AACC. The survey is based on the responses of 154 community colleges, selected to provide a representational sample of all community colleges. Last year’s survey found community colleges reporting an increase in distance education enrollments of 15 percent.

This year’s survey suggests that distance education has probably not peaked at community colleges. First there is evidence that the colleges aren’t just offering a few courses online, but entire programs. Sixty-four percent of institutions reported offering at least one online degree — defined as one where at least 70 percent of the courses may be completed online. Second, colleges reported that they aren’t yet meeting demand. Seventy percent indicated that student demand exceeds their online offerings.

The top challenge reported by colleges in terms of dealing with students in distance education was that they do not fill out course evaluations. In previous surveys, this has not been higher than the fifth greatest challenge. This year’s survey saw a five percentage point increase — to 45 percent — in the share of colleges reporting that they charge an extra fee for distance education courses.

Training professors has been a top issue for institutions offering distance education. Of those in the survey of community colleges, 71 percent required participation (up from 67 percent a year ago and 57 percent the year before). Of those requiring training, 60 percent require more than eight hours.

Several of the written responses some colleges submitted suggested frustration with professors. One such comment (included anonymously in the report) said: “Vocal conservative faculty members with little computer experience can stymie efforts to change when expressing a conviction that student learning outcomes can only be achieved in a face-to-face classroom — even though they have no idea what can be accomplished in a well-designed distance education course.” Another response said that: “Our biggest challenge is getting faculty to participate in our training sessions. We understand their time is limited, but we need to be able to show them the new tools available....”

In last year’s survey, 84 percent of institutions said that they were customers of either Blackboard or WebCT (now a part of Blackboard), but 31 percent reported that they were considering a shift in course management platforms. This year’s survey suggests that some of them did so. The percentage of colleges reporting that they use Blackboard or WebCT fell to 77 percent. Moodle showed the largest gains in the market — increasing from 4 to 10 percent of the market — while Angel and Desire2Learn also showed gains.

The survey also provides an update on the status of many technology services for students, showing steady increases in the percentage of community colleges with various technologies and programs.

Status of Services for Online Students at Community Colleges

Service	Currently Offer	Offered a Year Ago
Campus testing center for distance students	73%	69%
Distance ed specific faculty training	96%	92%
Online admissions	84%	77%
Online counseling / advising	51%	43%
Online library services	96%	96%
Online plagiarism evaluation	54%	48%
Online registration	89%	87%
Online student orientation for distance classes	75%	66%
Online textbook sales	72%	66%

Rate of Growth in Online Enrollments --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm#OnlineGrowthRates

Online Learning Tips & Online College Reviews  --- http://www.onlinecollege.org/

CHOOSE AN ACCREDITED ONLINE SCHOOL

An important factor to consider is accreditation. Traditional colleges and universities have long been evaluated by educational accreditors who ensure that their programs meet certain levels of quality. Regional and national organizations now accredit online programs too. In the United States, online colleges that are fully accredited have been recognized by one of six regional accreditation boards that also evaluate traditional campuses. These include:

• Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
• Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
• North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
• New England Association of Schools and Colleges
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
• Western Association of Schools & Colleges

In addition, the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) recognize the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) as a reputable accreditor for education programs that offer online degrees. Once an online program becomes accredited, it’s more likely that a traditional school will accept its transfer credits and that employers will recognize its value.

 

HOW TO CHOOSE AN ONLINE SCHOOL

How should someone select an online school? Just as students have different priorities when choosing physical campuses, they will have different criteria for choosing an online institution. For example:

• Prestige. Some students need a degree from a prestigious university in order to advance in their particular field. Others are not concerned with elite reputations; as long as their program is accredited, it will move them forward.
• Expense. Some students wish to find schools that offer the most financial aid or have low tuition, but others - such as people with education benefits from the military - needn’t take cost into account.
• Pace. Some people want to earn their online degree as quickly as possible. They seek accelerated degree programs or those that will accept their previously-earned academic credits or grant credit for life experiences (e.g., military training). Other people prefer to learn at a slower pace.

Clearly, the variation among individual’s means that there will be variation among any rankings that people would assign to online institutions. At the same time, it is helpful to consider as a starting point another’s list of top online schools. The twenty online schools presented below are all accredited by one of the six aforementioned accrediting bodies. Factors such as tuition, reputation, academic awards, and range of degree programs have also been taken into account.

 

TOP TWENTY ONLINE COLLEGE SCHOOLS

1. Western Governors University has an excellent reputation; in 2008 it received the United States Distance Learning Association’s 21^st Century Award for Best Practices in Distance Learning. The school was founded by the governors of nineteen western states and it’s accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

Competency-Based Learning (where teachers don't selectively assign grades) --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competency-based_learning

Western Governors University (with an entire history of competency-based learning) ---- http://www.wgu.edu/
Especially note the Business Administration (including Accounting) degree programs

From a Chronicle of Higher Education Newsletter on November 3, 2016

Over the past 20 years, Western Governors University has grown into a formidable competency-based online education provider. It’s on just its second president, Scott D. Pulsipher, a former Silicon Valley executive, who stopped by our offices yesterday.

WGU has graduated more than 70,000 students, from all 50 states. But a key part of the institution’s growth strategy is local, using its affiliations with participating states (not that all the partnerships start smoothly, mind you). There are six of them, and more growth is on the way; Mr. Pulsipher says WGU is in serious discussions to expand into as many as five more states — he declines to name them — at a pace of one or two per year.

The university's main focus remains students, he says. One example is an effort to minimize student loans. Through better advising, students are borrowing, on average, about 20 percent less than they did three years ago, amounting to savings of about $3,200. “Humans make better decisions,” Mr. Pulsipher says, “when they have more information.” —Dan Berrett

2016 Bibliography on Competency-Based Education and Assessment ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/01/26/rise-competency-based-education?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=0f02e8085b-DNU20160126&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-0f02e8085b-197565045

Bob Jensen's threads on competency-based learning ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#ConceptKnowledge

 

This school is ideal for quick learners who want an accelerated program. With competency-based learning, students are able to progress as quickly as they can demonstrate having mastered the required knowledge.

A variety of online undergraduate and graduate degrees are offered. Some examples include baccalaureates and MBAs in business, 26 programs related to teaching, and several nursing programs.

2. The University of Phoenix is one of the best-publicized online educators. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In addition to being experienced with web-based instruction, the University of Phoenix has physical campuses across the United States. As of 2008 it was the nation’s largest private university and had an enrollment of nearly 350,000 students. The university offers more than 100 degree programs at the associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels.

3. Florida Tech University Online is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It has been ranked as a top national university by U.S. News & World Report, the Fiske Guide to Colleges, and Barron’s Best Buys in College Education. A special feature of instruction is the MP3 downloads that allow students to take lectures away from the computer.

Degrees are offered in business, liberal arts, criminal justice, and healthcare. Special discounts are available to members of the military and their spouses.

4. Capella University awards bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. The majority of students receive financial aid that is unrelated to their income, and many companies have such confidence in Capella University that they pay for their employees’ tuition.

Degrees are awarded in: business; computers and information technology; education and teaching; health and medicine; the social sciences; and criminal justice. Capella University is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

5. Walden University is accredited by the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges. In a 1999 review of fully online schools, the business magazine Fast Company awarded its only A grade to Walden University. US News and World Report has described Walden as well-regarded.

Walden offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees ranging from nursing to information technology and business, including the MBA.

6. California Coast University is accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council. California Coast offers a unique self-paced program; courses are not structured by semesters or other traditional timeframes, so students are able to begin at any time of year. Degrees are awarded in business, education and teaching, health and nursing, the social sciences, and criminal justice.

7. South University has been educating students for more than a century. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and offers online degrees in business, nursing, healthcare, criminal justice, accounting, and information technology. With a flexible scheduling program, students may take just one course at a time or several concurrently for accelerated learning.

8. Drexel University was established as a traditional campus in 1891. This Philadelphia-based institution was named among the “Best National Universities” by U.S. News & World Report. Drexel is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

Drexel University has offered online education since 1996. Degrees granted include the MBA, the Master of Science in Library & Information Science, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and many others.

9. Southern New Hampshire University is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. It offers more than 50 programs leading to undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates. SNHU has been named “Best of Business” by the New Hampshire Business Review and in 2008 its business program was deemed the best online program in its class.

10. Vanderbilt University is a well-respected institution with a physical campus founded in 1873. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

As of 2008, Vanderbilt’s only fully online program is the master’s degree in nursing administration. This single program is worth mentioning because America’s Best Graduate Schools ranks Vanderbilt’s School of Nursing among the top nursing programs offering master’s degrees.

11. New England College was constructed in 1946 for post-war education and is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. It offers online master’s degrees in accounting, criminal justice leadership, nonprofit leadership, and many other subjects.

12. Nova Southeastern University is the largest independent university in Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and has appeared on the Princeton Review’s list of the best distance learning graduate schools. Nova Southeastern offers online degrees in education and teaching.

13. DeVry University’s Keller Graduate School of Management awards a great number of business degrees in many specialty areas such as accounting, human resource management, and financial analysis. Students may choose to take all of their courses online or combine online learning with campus-based instruction.

14. Baker University features relatively low tuition and offers a wide variety of degrees at every level in business, computers and IT, health and medicine, and nursing. Baker is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Online learning takes place using Blackboard, a system that creates an online classroom setting in which instructors and students can interact.

15. Marist College has a physical campus in Poughkeepsie, NY and is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. It offers online degrees in communications, business, public administration, information systems, and technology management.

16. Upper Iowa University is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. It offers degrees through campus-based learning in several states, and its online programs include business, computers and information technology, health, nursing, and the social sciences.

17. Ashford University, founded in 1918, offers accelerated programs so that degrees can be earned in as little as one year. Courses are 5-6 weeks long and are taken one at a time. Examples of degrees include the Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Arts in Organizational Management.

18. Kaplan University was founded in 1937 and is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. It offers campus-based learning and also grants online master’s, bachelor’s, associate’s, and professional law degrees, as well as online certificate programs. Subject areas include business, criminal justice, IT, and paralegal studies.

19. Northwestern University has been among the top schools as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Its School of Continuing Studies offers an online Master of Science in Medical Informatics online. Students may also take distance learning courses in a variety of other subjects.

20. Liberty University is the world’s largest evangelical Baptist university. In 2008 the Online Education Database ranked Liberty third of all online U.S. universities. More than 35 degree programs are offered, including the Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy.

Jensen Comment
Although the above information is helpful, it should be emphasized that some of the very best and largest online programs are really state-supported universities not in the above ranking, including such universities as the University of Wisconsin, the University of Maryland, the University of Illinois (which has a new global online degree program), and virtually every other state university in the United States. In most instances the large universities have specialty degree programs not available in the above universities and sometimes many more courses to choose from in a give specialty.

And there are some outstanding online community college programs not mentioned above.

Western Governors University --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Governors_University

"In Boost to Competency Model, Western Governors U. Gets Top Marks in Teacher Ed," by Dan Barrett, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 17, 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/In-Boost-to-Competency-Model/147179/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en 

Competency-Based Learning (where teachers don't selectively assign grades) --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competency-based_learning

Western Governors University (with an entire history of competency-based learning) ---- http://www.wgu.edu/
Especially note the Business Administration (including Accounting) degree programs

From a Chronicle of Higher Education Newsletter on November 3, 2016

Over the past 20 years, Western Governors University has grown into a formidable competency-based online education provider. It’s on just its second president, Scott D. Pulsipher, a former Silicon Valley executive, who stopped by our offices yesterday.

WGU has graduated more than 70,000 students, from all 50 states. But a key part of the institution’s growth strategy is local, using its affiliations with participating states (not that all the partnerships start smoothly, mind you). There are six of them, and more growth is on the way; Mr. Pulsipher says WGU is in serious discussions to expand into as many as five more states — he declines to name them — at a pace of one or two per year.

The university's main focus remains students, he says. One example is an effort to minimize student loans. Through better advising, students are borrowing, on average, about 20 percent less than they did three years ago, amounting to savings of about $3,200. “Humans make better decisions,” Mr. Pulsipher says, “when they have more information.” —Dan Berrett

2016 Bibliography on Competency-Based Education and Assessment ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/01/26/rise-competency-based-education?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=0f02e8085b-DNU20160126&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-0f02e8085b-197565045

Bob Jensen's threads on competency-based learning ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#ConceptKnowledge

Bob Jensen's threads on competency-based college credit ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#ConceptKnowledge

Good Luck Jack (and Suzi):  You're Going to Need All the Luck You Can Get

"Jack Welch Moves His Online M.B.A. Program to Strayer U.," by Marc Parry, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 11, 2011 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/jack-welch-moves-his-online-m-b-a-program-to-strayer-u/34231?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

Jack Welch’s online M.B.A. program began with a bang two years ago, heralded as an unprecedented venture that could shake up online education.

Now Mr. Welch is shaking up his own program.

The former CEO of General Electric said on Friday that his management institute would move to Strayer University from its current home at a struggling Ohio for-profit institution called Chancellor University. The Wall Street Journal reports that Strayer is paying about $7-million for the program, with Mr. Welch kicking in $2-million of his own.

In an interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Welch sounded like a baseball player who had been traded to a wealthier team with a better chance of making the playoffs.

“We needed a bigger game,” he said. “We’re going from 500 students with limited resources to 55,000 students with 82 campuses and much more reach.” Strayer’s advertising and technology budgets were part of the appeal, he added.

The Jack Welch Management Institute offers executive M.B.A.’s as well as certificates in subjects like “becoming a leader.” For students, part of the attraction is weekly Webcam sessions with Mr. Welch, who weighs in on current events like the situations in Greece and Italy.

Or baseball: One discussion focused on the umpire whose botched call spoiled a perfect game for the Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga. The umpire, Jim Joyce, admitted his error. ”We use that as a wonderful teaching tool about coming forward when you make a mistake,” Mr. Welch said.

Mr. Welch doesn’t call his deal with Chancellor a mistake, saying he is “pleased as hell” with a venture that has attracted 200 students in its first 20 months. He described those students as “high-ambition middle managers” in companies that include Microsoft, Merck, and ESPN. Seventy percent of them either pay full tuition or have the cost covered by their employers, he said.

Robert S. Silberman, chairman and CEO of Strayer Education, said Mr. Welch raised the idea of a purchase to him in a telephone call in April: “He was looking for a new academic home.”

In the course of evaluating the institute, Strayer also looked into acquiring all of Chancellor, which was once a nonprofit university and is now owned by private investors. But Mr. Silberman said his company determined that the only part of the university it wanted was Mr. Welch’s institute.

Strayer was attracted to the curriculum of the executive-M.B.A. program and the short leadership courses. Strayer now offers similar courses on a limited basis but is looking to offer more of them, said Mr. Silberman. Such courses, typically paid for by students’ employers, help Strayer University keep its proportion of revenues from federal student-aid programs well below the 90-percent maximum allowed.

The purchase will very likely be a plus for Strayer. Unlike some of its for-profit competitors, the university has not been tarnished by allegations of wrongdoing. And its recent declines in enrollment—it has just reported that new-student enrollment fell by 21 percent—have been smaller than those of many other providers.

But at a time when many students are becoming increasingly conscious of colleges’ academic reputations and averse to high-cost educational programs, some analysts have questioned whether Strayer’s brand is strong enough to outweigh the competitive challenges it faces from for-profit and nonprofit colleges alike. The Welch institute could add some luster.

"Jack Welch Launches Online MBA:  The legendary former GE CEO says he knows a thing or two about management, and for $20,000 you can, too," by Geoff Gloeckler, Business Week, June 22, 2009 --- http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jun2009/bs20090622_962094.htm?link_position=link1

A corporate icon is diving into the MBA world, and he's bringing his well-documented management and leadership principles with him. Jack Welch, former CEO at General Electric (GE) (and Business Week columnist), has announced plans to start an MBA program based on the business principles he made famous teaching managers and executives in GE's Crotonville classroom.

The Jack Welch Management Institute (JWMI) will officially launch this week, with the first classes starting in the fall. The MBA will be offered almost entirely online. Compared to the $100,000-plus price tag for most brick-and-mortar MBA programs, the $600 per credit hour tuition means students can get an MBA for just over $20,000. "We think it will make the MBA more accessible to those who are hungry to play," Welch says. "And they can keep their job while doing it."

To make the Jack Welch Management Institute a reality, a group led by educational entrepreneur Michael Clifford purchased financially troubled Myers University in Cleveland in 2008, Welch says. Welch got involved with Clifford and his group of investors and made the agreement to launch the Welch Management Institute.

Popularized Six Sigma For Welch, the new educational endeavor is the latest chapter in a long and storied career. As GE's longtime chief, he developed a management philosophy based on relentless efficiency, productivity, and talent development. He popularized Six Sigma, wasn't shy about firing his worst-performing managers, and advocated exiting any business where GE wasn't the No. 1 or No. 2 player. Under Welch, GE became a factory for producing managerial talent, spawning CEOs that included James McNerney at Boeing (BA), Robert Nardelli at Chrysler, and Jeff Immelt, his successor at GE.

Welch's decision to jump into online education shows impeccable timing. Business schools in general are experiencing a rise in applications as mid-level managers look to expand their business acumen while waiting out the current job slump. The new program's flexible schedule—paired with the low tuition cost—could be doubly attractive to those looking to move up the corporate ladder as the market begins to rebound.

Ted Snyder, dean of the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, agrees. "I think it's a good time for someone to launch a high-profile online degree," Snyder says. "If you make the investment in contentthat allows for a lot of interaction between faculty and students and also among students, you can get good quality at a much more reasonable tuition level."

Welch's Secret Weapon That being said, there are challenges that an online MBA program like Welch's will have a difficult time overcoming, even if the technology and faculty are there. "The integrity and quality of engagement between faculty and students is the most precious thing we have," Snyder says. "Assuming it's there, it dominates. These things are hard to replicate online."

But Welch does have one thing that differentiates his MBA from others: himself. "We'll have all of the things the other schools have, only we'll have what Jack Welch believes are things that work in business, in a real-time way," he says. "Every week I will have an online streaming video of business today. For example, if I was teaching this week, I would be putting up the health-care plan. I'd be putting up the financial restructuring plan, talking about it, laying out the literature, what others are saying, and I'd be talking about it. I'll be doing that every week."

Welch and his wife Suzy are also heavily involved in curriculum design, leaning heavily on the principles he used training managers at GE.

Continued in Article

March 6, 2010 reply from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU]

Jack Welch bought a bankrupt college and started his own MBA program:
Below is a link to a very, very unusual accounting curriculum

http://www.chancelloru.edu/downloads/degrees/BSBA_Accounting.pdf

Richard J. Campbell
mailto:campbell@rio.edu

Jensen Comment

Thank you so much for this Jack Welch update Richard. I wrote previously about the startup MBA program of Jack and his wife Suzi, and I wrote about my concerns for how difficult it would be to succeed without accreditation. Startup corporate MBA programs have a very, very difficult time achieving AACSB accreditation. I really thought this startup MBA program might become General Electric's MBA Program and that a high proportion of the students would be GE employees.

It seemed a little less likely that Jack and Suzi would buy an entire university that came with accreditation. Firstly, I did not think Jack and Suzi were interested in running any programs other than MBA programs. Secondly, some bankrupt universities have regional accreditation, but it is rare for them to also have AACSB accreditation.

AACSB Accreditation via Partnering
One of the first for-profit venture to buy up a regionally accredited university was UNext Corporation when it bought up Cardean University ---
Steve Orpurt taught for UNext and made a CPE presentation in one of my technology workshops on August 11, 2001 ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/001cpe/01start.htm
UNext originated in a for-profit venture to bring education programs into corporations in an alliance with several prestigious universities like Stanford, Columbia, and the London School of Economics ---
http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/990715/unext.shtml
Also see http://www.learnshare.com/Press/NewsReleases/UNext.asp
And see http://chronicle.com/article/Closely-Watched-UNext-Rolls/13982/
I think UNext now operates as the Cardean Learning Group --- http://cardeanlearninggroup.com/
It seems to now be a distance education service provider for partnering institutions, many of whom have AACSB accreditation.---
http://www.onlinedegrees.net/schools/cardean-university/
Hence this is an example of achieving AACSB accreditation via a partnering arrangement to deliver online courses, although Cardean also provides instructors and complete courses.

Two of the leading for-profit universities that went the other route by achieving their own regional accreditations rather than buying them includes the University of Phoenix and Capella Univerersity. I don't think either one of these has yet achieved AACSB accredition. They are not likely to achieve AACSB accredition given the strong bias of the AACSB against granting first-time accreditation to for-profit universities.Some prestigious corporations and consulting groups formed MBA programs that tried and failed for years to get AACSB accreditation.

I tried to find Chancellor University in the current AACSB listing of accredited programs ---
https://www.aacsb.net/eweb/DynamicPage.aspx?Site=AACSB&WebKey=ED088FF2-979E-48C6-B104-33768F1DE01D
There is no accredited program on the list under Chancellor or Welch.
However, in addition to having regional accreditation, Chancellor University has added business accreditation from the
Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE) --- http://www.iacbe.org/
It is unlikely that Chancellor University will obtain AACSB accreditation which is more of a unionized Deans Club for reputable non-profit institutions worldwide.

More on the greatest swindles of the world
General Electric, the world's largest industrial company, has quietly become the biggest beneficiary of one of the government's key rescue programs for banks. At the same time, GE has avoided many of the restrictions facing other financial giants getting help from the government. The company did not initially qualify for the program, under which the government sought to unfreeze credit markets by guaranteeing debt sold by banking firms. But regulators soon loosened the eligibility requirements, in part because of behind-the-scenes appeals from GE. As a result, GE has joined major banks collectively saving billions of dollars by raising money for...
Jeff Gerth and Brady Dennis, "How a Loophole Benefits GE in Bank Rescue Industrial Giant Becomes Top Recipient in Debt-Guarantee Program," The Washington Post, June 29, 2009 ---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/28/AR2009062802955.html?hpid=topnews
Jensen Comment
GE thus becomes the biggest winner under both the TARP and the Cap-and-Trade give away legislation. It is a major producer of wind turbines and other machinery for generating electricity under alternative forms of energy. The government will pay GE billions for this equipment. GE Capital is also "Top Recipient in Debt-Guarantee Program." Sort of makes you wonder why GE's NBC network never criticizes liberal spending in Congress.
Jensen's threads on the bank rescue swindle are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm z
Bob Jensen's fraud updates are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

Question
How would you advise Jack and Suzi to modify the program for greater assurance as to success?

Answer
My advice would be to make this a GE Executive MBA Program. The business model would be to gear it to GE professionals, especially newly hired engineers that are strong on technical ability and weak on managerial skills, financial management, marketing, and accounting.

The key to success would be to have GE pay the tuition as a fringe benefit to the winning employees selected to get an MBA from Jack and Suzi. This may not be too difficult since there are shrines throughout the world in GE facilities where Jack Welch is worshipped as a God.

Some of the advantages of this business model are as follows:

• A major advantage of this MBA program is that students do not expect the program to help find them careers in leading corporations. The students would already have promising careers in GE or other corporations who partner with GE in sending employees to the JWMI. The JWMI, therefore, would not have to invest in a heaving marketing program to attract students. Students would be more or less handed to the degree program on a silver platter. The program would also not have to invest heavily in a graduate placement program. Graduates are already employed.
  
   
• The JWMI would be assured of cream-of-the-crop student talent. Firstly, the students obtained their jobs in a highly selective GE or other corporate hiring process that only extends job offers competitively to the best undergraduates in the world. Secondly, the students would have to meet added filters of being worthy of obtaining a "free" MBA degree.
  
   
• The JWMI can hire all its new faculty from the start on the basis of their extensive corporate experience and teaching skills. The program would not be burdened with research faculty that are under severe pressures to conduct research and publish papers in academic journals. Other MBA programs in the world often have non-tenured faculty who have little choice but to give primary time and attention to research. Teaching classes must become a secondary priority until reaching tenure. And then the pressure to continue research and publication does not end.
  
   
• Assuming tht JWMI will not be granting tenure to faculty, every faculty member in the JWMI (full-time or part-time) will have contract renewal based upon teaching performance. Lower performers can be shown the door at any time.

There are successful business models of this nature already in existence, although in most instances the corporation or other organization selected an AACSB-accredited institution to devise a special curriculum for employees seeking degrees in that institution. A few examples are summarized below.

• For many years the Terry School of Business at the University of Georgia has been running a special-curriculum online MBA program for employees of the accounting firm PwC. The PwC employees in this program mostly have degrees in computer science, engineering, or other technical specialties outside business disciplines. Although PwC is generally known as a global accounting firm and auditing firm, employees selected for the Terry School MBA program are mostly on career tracks in the consulting division of PwC. The objective of this program was not to qualify graduates to sit for the CPA examination. The objective is to give these students career advancement skills in management, marketing, finance, and accounting.

  •  

• Ernst & Young partnered with Notre Dame and the University of Virginia to offer a special-curriculum online (will some full time intervals) program leading to a masters degree in assurance services --- Click Here
  http://snipurl.com/eymasters 
   

  • The Facts

    • During the first summer, you will attend classes for 5 to 10 weeks at one of the participating universities. You will be eligible for E&Y benefits and will be paid a $1,000/month starter stipend.
       
    • After the first semester, you will begin full-time client service as an Assurance and Advisory Business Services professional, while taking one class fall semester via distance learning.
       
    • You will return for a second summer of classes at the university to complete your master's degree.
       
    • All costs associated with tuition, books, room and board, and transportation are covered by E&Y. A portion or all costs associated with the program may be taxable to you as the participant.

    
     

• The University of Texas offers a special MBA program for Dallas-based executives of Texas Instruments. Babson College has a masters degree program for Lucent employees.
  
   
• Deere & Company has an exclusive partnership with Indiana University to provide an online MBA program for Deere employees. Deere pays the fees. See "Deere & Company Turns to Indiana University's Kelley School of Business For Online MBA Degrees in Finance," Yahoo Press Release, October 8, 2001 --- http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011008/cgm034_1.html
  
   
• US Military --- Over 4,000 training and education courses from a variety of sources, including US Air University --- http://www.au.af.mil/au/  "All levels of Airmen, enlisted and officers, and civilians are educated through in-residence or distance-learning courses to meet emerging geo-political challenges faced by the United States. Developing adaptive and innovative students who will produce and disseminate new ideas is crucial to the security of our nation."
  
   
• Army Online University attracted 12,000 students during its first year of operation and doubled in ensuing years. Twenty-four colleges are delivering training and education courses online through the U.S. Army's e-learning portal.  There are programs for varying levels of accomplishment, including specialty certificates, associates degrees, bachelor's degrees, and masters degrees.  All courses are free to soldiers.  By 2003, there was a capacity for 80,000 online students.   The PwC Program Director is Jill Kidwell --- http://www.adec.edu/earmyu/kidwell.html 
  
   
• The U.S. IRS offers Internet education opportunities. IRS employees who want to get ahead in the organization are heading back to the classroom - 21st century style. College level courses in accounting, finance, tax law, and other business subjects will be available on the Internet to IRS employees. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/46816/101 
  The IRS pays the fees for all employees. The IRS online accounting classes will be served up from Florida State University and Florida Community College at Jacksonville ---
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60881-2001May7.html 
  
   
• For example, the IRS online accounting classes will be served up from Florida State University and Florida Community College at Jacksonville --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60881-2001May7.html 
   

Bob Jensen's threads on available online training and education programs are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on fee-based education and training alternatives ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/CrossBorder.htm

"New Project Enlists Women to Help Women Learn Online," by Marc Parry, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 29, 2009 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3738&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

Gail Weatherly has gotten phone calls from women near tears over their situations. They’re taking care of kids. They can’t afford child care. They can’t make it to regular classes. And they don’t know about online learning, said Ms. Weatherly, distance-education coordinator at Stephen F. Austin State University, in Nacogdoches, Tex. Ms. Weatherly hopes such women could one day benefit from a project being developed by a scattered group of women involved in distance education. Their work centers on a social-networking Web site that would allow women to share information about online education and serve as mentors to one another. It’s called the Collaborative Online Resource Environment for Women (Core4women), a still-in-the-works effort that Ms. Weatherly and her colleagues described during a workshop here Monday at the national conference of the United States Distance Learning Association. The project, billed in the presentation as “A Better Way: Women Telling Women About Online Learning,” evolved from Ms. Weatherly’s dissertation research at Texas A&M University. Studies like the American Association of University Women’s “The Third Shift” had examined barriers to women pursuing education. Ms. Weatherly sought to push beyond that. She looked at how earning online degrees changed women’s lives, sometimes in major ways, like one woman who left an abusive relationship. In the process, Ms. Weatherly encountered research subjects who wanted to share the expertise they had gained with other women. Long story short: Ms. Weatherly and some colleagues set up a pilot project on the free social-networking site Ning. A scattered group of female mentors from the the world of distance education worked with a small group of Texas college students, victims of abuse or poverty, who signed up to help test the private site. The project’s organizers hope to expand the effort and gain the sponsorship of the USDLA, which has an offshoot called the International Forum for Women in E-Learning. A Chronicle reporter was the only male in the audience Monday, but two women present raised the subject of how the other sex fits into this: Is there going to be a mentor network for men? And why do they have to be separate? Why not Core4people? In an interview after the presentation, Ms. Weatherly responded by returning to her research. Women shared experiences with her that they might not have shared with a man: taking an online class when they were expecting a child and very sick, for example. Men might be participating more in care giving these days. Largely, though, Ms. Weatherly said, “women still feel like they would sacrifice going to school for their family.” “Sometimes I think they need another woman to say, It’s OK for you to work and take care of your children and earn a degree – and you can do that easier by online learning,” Ms. Weatherly said.

Bob Jensen's threads on fee-based education and training alternatives ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/CrossBorder.htm

Corporations and Universities Sign Partnership Pacts --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OnlineDegreePrograms

"New Book by Pollster John Zogby Says Online Education Is Rapidly Gaining Acceptance," Chronicle of Higher Education, August 12, 23008 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3236&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

John Zogby, president & CEO of the polling company Zogby International, says that American students are quickly warming up to the idea of taking classes online, just as consumers have taken to the idea of renting movies via Netflix and buying microbrewed beer.

In a new book by Mr. Zogby released today, he said that polls show a sharp increase in acceptance of online education in the past year. For more on the story, see a free article in today’s Chronicle.

National surveys show that a majority of Americans think online universities offer a lower quality of education than do traditional institutions. But a prominent pollster, John Zogby, says in a book being released today that it won't be long before American society takes to distance education as warmly as it has embraced game-changing innovations like microbrewed beers, Flexcars, and "the simple miracle of Netflix."

The factor that will close that "enthusiasm gap" is the growing use of distance education by well-respected universities, Mr. Zogby predicts in the book, The Way We'll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream (Random House).

The book, which is based on Zogby International polls and other studies, also touches on public attitudes toward politics, consumer habits, spirituality, and international affairs, and on what men and women really do want from each other. Mr. Zogby says polls detect signs of society's emerging resistance to big institutions, and its de-emphasis on things and places. "We're redefining geography and space," he says—and a widening acceptance of online education is part of the trend.

Today there is still a "cultural lag" between the public's desire for flexible ways to take college courses and what the most-established players offer, Mr. Zogby said in an interview with The Chronicle on Monday. "There's a sense that those who define the standard haven't caught on yet," he said.

But Mr. Zogby writes that polling by his organization shows that attitudes about online education are changing fast. His polling also points to other challenges that colleges will face as they race to serve a worldwise generation of 18-to-29-year-olds that Mr. Zogby calls "First Globals."

In one 2007 poll of more 5,000 adults, Zogby International found that 30 percent of respondents were taking or had taken an online course, and another 50 percent said they would consider taking one. He says the numbers might skew a little high because this poll was conducted online and the definition of an online course was broad, including certificate programs or training modules offered by employers.

Only 27 percent of respondents agreed that "online universities and colleges provide the same quality of education" as traditional institutions. Among those 18 to 24 years old, only 23 percent agreed.

An even greater proportion of those polled said it was their perception that employers and academic professionals thought more highly of traditional institutions than online ones.

Rapid Shift in Attitude

Yet in another national poll in December 2007, conducted for Excelsior College, 45 percent of the 1,004 adults surveyed believed "an online class carries the same value as a traditional-classroom class," and 43 percent of 1,545 chief executives and small-business owners agreed that a degree earned by distance learning "is as credible" as one from a traditional campus-based program.

Mr. Zogby said that differing attitudes in two polls within a year show that "the gap was closing"—and he said that wasn't as surprising as it might seem. As with changing perceptions about other cultural phenomena, "these paradigm shifts really are moving at lightning speed."

That, says Mr. Zogby, is why he writes about online universities in a chapter—"Dematerializing the Paradigm"—that discusses the rise of car-sharing companies like Flexcar (now merged with Zipcar), the emergence of Internet blogs as a source of news and information, and the popularity of microbrewed beer.

And while it may be true that microbrews and Zipcars, at least, are still very much niche products, Mr. Zogby says they are signs of transcendent change—just like the distance-education courses that are being offered by more and more institutions across the country. "When you add up all the niche products, it's a market unto itself," he says.

In the book, Mr. Zogby also highlights the emerging influence of the First Globals, whom his book calls "the most outward-looking and accepting generation in American history." First Globals, he says, are more socially tolerant and internationally aware.

It is these First Globals, he writes, who are shaping what he says is nothing short of a "fundamental reorientation of the American character away from wanton consumption and toward a new global citizenry in an age of limited resources."

Higher education, he said in the interview, needs to take notice and adapt. These days, he said, students are much more likely to have experienced other cultures firsthand, either as tourists or because they have immigrated from someplace else. Whether college for them is a traditional complex of buildings or an interactive online message board, said Mr. Zogby, "there is a different student on campus."

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education are at the following sites:

• http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#Motivations
   
• http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm
   
• http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm

"How to Be an Online Student and Survive in the Attempt," by Maria José Viñas, Chronicle of Higher Education, Chronicle of Higher Education, August 11, 2008 --- Click Here

The lives of many online college students are not easy. They have to combine jobs, house chores, family life and, on top of all that, do some actual studying. To help online students cope with this burden, a blog sponsored by Western Governors University offers survival tips.

The Online Student Survival Guide, a program that kicked off in May, is meant to give online students tips on adjusting to online learning and staying motivated throughout the courses, while balancing life and school. Following the famous Latin maxim “mens sana in corpore sano”, the bloggers also write posts on healthy eating—not only for the online students, but for their families, too.

Once again, the link to the Survival Guide is http://onlinestudentsurvival.com/

• http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#Motivations
   
• http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm
   
• http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm

The Dark Side of Education Technology and Online Learning --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm

Updates 2007

Question
What is the rate of growth in online enrollments in the U.S.?

"More Online Enrollments," by Andy Guess, Inside Higher Ed, October 23, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/10/23/sloan

More students than ever are taking courses online, but that doesn’t mean the growth will continue indefinitely. That’s the takeaway from the Sloan Foundation’s latest survey, conducted with the Babson Survey Research Group, of colleges’ online course offerings.

With results from nearly 4,500 institutions of all types, the report, “Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning”, found that in fall 2006, nearly 3.5 million students — or 19.8 percent of total postsecondary enrollments — took at least one course online. That’s a 9.7-percent increase over the previous year, but growth has been slowing significantly: last year, the jump was 36.5 percent.

But compared to the growth rate for enrollment overall (1.3 percent), the report notes, the online sector is still rapidly expanding. Most of that expansion is happening where online classes are already being offered.

“The number of new institutions entering the online learning arena had definitely slowed [by last fall]; most institutions that plan to offer online education are now doing so,” the report’s authors wrote.

The institutions surveyed seem to believe that the most important reason for offering online courses is to improve student access, while the top cited obstacles to more widespread online offerings are student’ discipline or study habits, followed by faculty acceptance.

The survey focuses solely on what it classifies as “online” courses: those offering 80 percent or more of their content over the Internet. As a result, trends in so-called “blended” or “hybrid” courses, in which students occasionally meet in person with their professors while also receiving considerable instruction online, are not covered in the report.

The importance of online courses varies widely depending on the type of institution. Public universities, for example, view online education as much more critical to their long-term strategies than private or even for-profit institutions. And not surprisingly, two-year colleges have shown the most growth, accounting for a full half of online enrollments over the past five years:

Four-Year Growth in Students Taking at Least One Online Course

	Enrollment, Fall 2002	Enrollment, Fall 2006	Increase	Compound Annual Growth Rate
Doctoral/Research	258,489	566,725	308,236	21.7%
Master’s	335,703	686,337	350,634	19.6%
Baccalaureate	130,677	170,754	40,077	6.9%
Community colleges	806,391	1,904,296	1,097,905	24.0%
Specialized	71,710	160,268	88,558	22.3%

The importance to online strategies is broken down in the following chart:

% Saying Online Education Is Critical to Their Institutions’ Long-Term Strategy

	Public	Private Nonprofit	Private For-Profit
Fall 2002	66.1%	34.0%	34.6%
Fall 2003	65.4%	36.6%	62.1%
Fall 2004	74.7%	43.8%	48.6%
Fall 2005	71.7%	46.9%	54.9%
Fall 2006	74.1%	48.6%	49.5%

Even if online growth can’t go on at this pace forever, most institutions still see room for increasing enrollments:

% Saying They Expect Online Enrollments to Increase

	Doctoral/Research	Master’s	Baccalaureate	Associate’s	Specialized
Expecting increase	87.5%	84.0%	75.6%	87.8%	75.3%

Tables From “Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning”

The study also found that most growth was expected at institutions that are the most “engaged” — that is, “currently have online offerings and believe that online is critical to the long-term strategy of their organization. These institutions, however, have not yet included online education in their formal strategic plan.”

In theory, distance education is supposed to open up an era when all students have a range of options not limited by geography. But a new report from Eduventures finds that most distance students enroll at distance programs run by institutions in their own geographic regions, and that more than a third of these students take online courses offered by an institution within a 50-mile radius.
Inside Higher Ed, March 28, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/28/qt

More and more prestigious universities are sharing course material and lecture videos --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

MIT now has most of its entire curriculum of course materials in all disciplines available free to the world as open courseware. This includes the Sloan School of Business Courses --- http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html
Especially note the FAQs --- http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/OCWHelp/help.htm

By the end of the year all MIT's course materials will be available, which is probably the most extensive freely open knowledge initiative (OKI) in the entire world.

MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) has formally partnered with three organizations that are translating MIT OCW course materials into Spanish, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese --- http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/AboutOCW/Translations.htm

Question
What is the most popular download course at MIT?
Answer: According to ABC News last week it's the Introduction to Electrical Engineering Course.

Other major universities now have huge portions of their curriculum materials available --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI 

If you want to try something quite different, you might consider some online business and accounting courses from the University of Toyota --- http://www2.itt-tech.edu/st/onlineprograms/  (These are not free).

Other online training and education programs are listed at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm

Bob Jensen

Education Balance: Even Resident Students Can Benefit for Life With Some Online Courses

"Latest Twist in Distance Ed," by Elia Powers, Inside Higher Ed, August 9, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/09/american

Turns out, the American University online program is somewhat of a hybrid. While the university marketed that first course, about terrorism and the legal system, to all sorts of groups in an effort to gauge outside interest, all but two of the 27 students who took the class were its own. Many of the students were away from Washington for the summer, living abroad or at home

“The most important information we’ve gathered is that our distance learning courses are most attractive to our own students,” Ettle said. “Students know they can use credits toward a degree, whereas some students [outside] might be unsure how they could use the credits.”

As distance education continues to evolve, American’s model will likely become more common, according to Diana Oblinger, vice president for Educause, the nonprofit group that deals with technology issues in higher education.

“It makes absolute sense,” Oblinger said. “Both institutions and students are concerned about the time-to-degree. If you can take a course while you are away and when it’s convenient, that helps you progress toward graduation. From an institution’s perspective, why allow your student to take someone else’s course?”

This summer, American is offering 25 online courses, none of which are longer than seven weeks. The condensed schedule works well for students who are either amidst or have just finished study abroad programs or summer jobs and want to extend their stays away from campus while earning credits, Ettle said. It’s also popular with students who take on internships during the year and want to go to school in the summer without having a full course load.

American provides incentives for those who are part of the distance learning program. Starting several summers ago, the university began giving professors whose online course proposals were accepted a $2,500 course development grant. Summer teaching at American isn’t a substitute for teaching an academic year course, and the additional compensation is only monetary incentive to teach in the summer online. Students receive a discounted rate on summer distance courses, and the price hasn’t changed in four years. A three-credit course costs $2,200, which is about 30 percent cheaper than a graduate course and about 25 percent cheaper than an undergraduate course, Ettle said.

There are other obvious cost savings: Students don’t have to pay for campus housing, and the university frees up space for other uses. The overhead cost of running a distance education course is also significantly less than it is for a normal classroom-based course, Ettle said.

“We’re utilizing our facilities more efficiently,” she said. “We want repeat customers — it’s good for them and it’s good for us.”

Still, American limits students to two distance courses per summer to prevent those who are working or studying elsewhere from overloading their schedules. The university places no limits, though, on the number of summers a student can take an online course.

Oblinger said it’s becoming more common for a university to either require or strongly suggest that its students take an online course as a way to prepare them for how learning often takes place in the workplace.

Continued in article

Updates 2006

Open Sharing Catching on Outside the United States
Britain’s Open University today formally begins its effort to put its course materials and other content online for all the world to use. With its effort, OpenLearn, which is expected to cost $10.6 million and is supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the university joins Massachusetts Institute of Technology and institutions in several other countries in trying to put tools for learning within the reach of otherwise difficult to reach populations.
Inside Higher Ed, October 25, 2006

Open2 Net Learning from Open University (the largest university in the U.K.) --- http://www.open2.net/learning.html

Soaring Popularity of E-Learning Among Students But Not Faculty
How many U.S. students took at least on online course from a legitimate college in Fall 2005?

More students are taking online college courses than ever before, yet the majority of faculty still aren’t warming up to the concept of e-learning, according to a national survey from the country’s largest association of organizations and institutions focused on online education . . . ‘We didn’t become faculty to sit in front of a computer screen,’
Elia Powers, "Growing Popularity of E-Learning, Inside Higher Ed, November 10, 2006 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/11/10/online

More students are taking online college courses than ever before, yet the majority of faculty still aren’t warming up to the concept of e-learning, according to a national survey from the country’s largest association of organizations and institutions focused on online education.

Roughly 3.2 million students took at least one online course from a degree-granting institution during the fall 2005 term, the Sloan Consortium said. That’s double the number who reported doing so in 2002, the first year the group collected data, and more than 800,000 above the 2004 total. While the number of online course participants has increased each year, the rate of growth slowed from 2003 to 2004.

The report, a joint partnership between the group and the College Board, defines online courses as those in which 80 percent of the content is delivered via the Internet.

The Sloan Survey of Online Learning, “Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006,” shows that 62 percent of chief academic officers say that the learning outcomes in online education are now “as good as or superior to face-to-face instruction,” and nearly 6 in 10 agree that e-learning is “critical to the long-term strategy of their institution.” Both numbers are up from a year ago.

Researchers at the Sloan Consortium, which is administered through Babson College and Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, received responses from officials at more than 2,200 colleges and universities across the country. (The report makes few references to for-profit colleges, a force in the online market, in part because of a lack of survey responses from those institutions.)

Much of the report is hardly surprising. The bulk of online students are adult or “nontraditional” learners, and more than 70 percent of those surveyed said online education reaches students not served by face-to-face programs.

What stands out is the number of faculty who still don’t see e-learning as a valuable tool. Only about one in four academic leaders said that their faculty members “accept the value and legitimacy of online education,” the survey shows. That number has remained steady throughout the four surveys. Private nonprofit colleges were the least accepting — about one in five faculty members reported seeing value in the programs.

Elaine Allen, co-author of the report and a Babson associate professor of statistics and entrepreneurship, said those numbers are striking.

“As a faculty member, I read that response as, ‘We didn’t become faculty to sit in front of a computer screen,’ ” Allen said. “It’s a very hard adjustment. We sat in lectures for an hour when we were students, but there’s a paradigm shift in how people learn.”

Barbara Macaulay, chief academic officer at UMass Online, which offers programs through the University of Massachusetts, said nearly all faculty members teaching the online classes there also teach face-to-face courses, enabling them to see where an online class could fill in the gap (for instance, serving a student who is hesitant to speak up in class).

She said she isn’t surprised to see data illustrating the growing popularity of online courses with students, because her program has seen rapid growth in the last year. Roughly 24,000 students are enrolled in online degree and certificate courses through the university this fall — a 23 percent increase from a year ago, she said.

“Undergraduates see it as a way to complete their degrees — it gives them more flexibility,” Macaulay said.

The Sloan report shows that about 80 percent of students taking online courses are at the undergraduate level. About half are taking online courses through community colleges and 13 percent through doctoral and research universities, according to the survey.

Nearly all institutions with total enrollments exceeding 15,000 students have some online offerings, and about two-thirds of them have fully online programs, compared with about one in six at the smallest institutions (those with 1,500 students or fewer), the report notes. Allen said private nonprofit colleges are often set in enrollment totals and not looking to expand into the online market.

The report indicates that two-year colleges are particularly willing to be involved in online learning.

“Our institutions tend to embrace changes a little more readily and try different pedagogical styles,” said Kent Phillippe, a senior research associate at the American Association of Community Colleges. The report cites a few barriers to what it calls the “widespread adoption of online learning,” chief among them the concern among college officials that some of their students lack the discipline to succeed in an online setting. Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents defined that as a barrier.

Allen, the report’s co-author, said she thinks that issue arises mostly in classes in which work can be turned in at any time and lectures can be accessed at all hours. “If you are holding class in real time, there tends to be less attrition,” she said. The report doesn’t differentiate between the live and non-live online courses, but Allen said she plans to include that in next year’s edition.

Few survey respondents said acceptance of online degrees by potential employers was a critical barrier — although liberal arts college officials were more apt to see it as an issue.

Bob Jensen's threads on open sharing and education technology are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on online training and education alternatives are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm

Motivations for Distance Learning --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#Motivations

Bob Jensen's threads on the dark side of online learning and teaching are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm

Update in 2005

Distant distance education
Ms. Salin is part of a new wave of outsourcing to India: the tutoring of American students. Twice a week for a month now, Ms. Salin, who grew up speaking the Indian language Malayalam at home, has been tutoring Daniela in English grammar, comprehension and writing. Using a simulated whiteboard on their computers, connected by the Internet, and a copy of Daniela's textbook in front of her, she guides the teenager through the intricacies of nouns, adjectives and verbs.
Saritha Rai, "A Tutor Half a World Away, but as Close as a Keyboard," The New York Times, September 7, 2005 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/education/07tutor.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1126191549-1Ydu+7CY89CpuVeaJbJ4XA

The Blackboard:  A tribute to a long-standing but fading teaching and learning tool
From the Museum of History and Science at Oxford University: 
Bye Bye Blackboard: From Einstein and others --- http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/blackboard/
Bob Jensen's threads on the tools of education technology are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

Controversies in Regulation of Distance Education

"All Over the Map," by Elia Powers, Inside Higher Ed, December 8, 2006 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/12/08/regulation

As the distance learning market continues to grow, state agencies charged with regulating the industry continue to operate in a “fragmented environment,” according to a report presented Thursday at the 2006 Education Industry Finance & Investment Summit, in Washington.

One of the main questions these agencies must consider is what constitutes an institution having a “physical presence” in their state. In other words, what is an appropriate test to determine whether regulation is needed?

More than 80 percent of agencies that are included in the report said that they use some sort of “physical presence” test. But few agree on how to define the word “presence,” in part because there are so many elements to consider.

That’s clear in “The State of State Regulation of Cross-Border Postsecondary Education,” the report issued by Dow Lohnes, a firm with a sizable higher education practice. (The firm plans to release an updated report early next year after more responses arrive.)

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on the dark side of education technology are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm

Long-Term Future of Education 
and Education Technologies

Motivations for Distance Education 

Models

April 4, 2006 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu]

BEYOND E-LEARNING

"Just when we thought we had e-learning all figured out, it's changing again. After years of experimentation and the irrational exuberance that characterized the late 1990s, we find our views of e-learning more sober and realistic." In "What Lies Beyond E-Learning?" (LEARNING CIRCUITS, March 2006), Marc J. Rosenberg suggests that over the next few years we will see six transformations in the field of e-learning:

1. E-learning will become more than "e-training."

2. E-learning will move to the workplace.

3. Blended learning will be redefined.

4. E-learning will be less course-centric and more knowledge-centric.

5. E-learning will adapt differently to different levels of mastery.

6. Technology will become a secondary issue.

This article, online at

http://www.learningcircuits.org/2006/March/rosenberg.htm, is based on Rosenberg's book, BEYOND E-LEARNING: APPROACHES AND TECHNOLOGIES TO ENHANCE ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE, LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE. (Pfeiffer, 2005; ISBN: 0787977578). For more information about the book and a sample chapter, go to http://www.pfeiffer.com/WileyCDA/PfeifferTitle/productCd-0787977578.html.

From U.K.'s Institute for Learning and Research Technology at the University of Bristol
Social Science Information Gateway http://sosig.esrc.bris.ac.uk/

Browse by Subject	Map of the SOSIG sections
Anthropology Business and Management Economics Education Environmental Science European Studies Geography Government Policy   Law Philosophy Politics Psychology Research Tools and Methods Social Welfare Sociology Statistics Women's Studies

March 3, 2005 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu] 

WHAT LEADS TO ACHIEVING SUCCESS IN DISTANCE EDUCATION?

"Achieving Success in Internet-Supported Learning in Higher Education," released February 1, 2005, reports on the study of distance education conducted by the Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness (A-HEC). A-HEC surveyed 21 colleges and universities to "uncover best practices in achieving success with the use of the Internet in higher education." Some of the questions asked by the study included:

"Why do institutions move online? Are there particular conditions under which e-Learning will be successful?"

"What is the role of leadership and by whom? What level of investment or commitment is necessary for success?"

"How do institutions evaluate and measure success?"

"What are the most important and successful factors for student support and faculty support?"

"Where do institutions get stuck? What are the key challenges?"

The complete report is available online, at no cost, at http://www.a-hec.org/e-learning_study.html.

The "core focus" of the nonprofit Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness (A-HEC) "is on communicating how higher education leaders are creating positive change by crystallizing their mission, offering more effective academic programs, defining their role in society, and putting in place balanced accountability measures." For more information, go to http://www.a-hec.org/ . Individual membership in A-HEC is free.

Bob Jensen's threads on assessment are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm 

April 1, 2005 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu]

COMPUTERS IN THE CLASSROOM AND OPEN BOOK EXAMS

In "PCs in the Classroom & Open Book Exams" (UBIQUITY, vol. 6, issue 9, March 15-22, 2005), Evan Golub asks and supplies some answers to questions regarding open-book/open-note exams. When classroom computer use is allowed and encouraged, how can instructors secure the open-book exam environment? How can cheating be minimized when students are allowed Internet access during open-book exams? Golub's suggested solutions are available online at http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v6i9_golub.html

Ubiquity is a free, Web-based publication of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), "dedicated to fostering critical analysis and in-depth commentary on issues relating to the nature, constitution, structure, science, engineering, technology, practices, and paradigms of the IT profession." For more information, contact: Ubiquity, email: ubiquity@acm.org ; Web: http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/ 

For more information on the ACM, contact: ACM, One Astor Plaza, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036, USA; tel: 800-342-6626 or 212-626-0500; Web: http://www.acm.org/

---

NEW EDUCAUSE E-BOOK ON THE NET GENERATION

EDUCATING THE NET GENERATION, a new EDUCAUSE e-book of essays edited by Diana G. Oblinger and James L. Oblinger, "explores the Net Gen and the implications for institutions in areas such as teaching, service, learning space design, faculty development, and curriculum." Essays include: "Technology and Learning Expectations of the Net Generation;" "Using Technology as a Learning Tool, Not Just the Cool New Thing;" "Curricula Designed to Meet 21st-Century Expectations;" "Faculty Development for the Net Generation;" and "Net Generation Students and Libraries." The entire book is available online at no cost at http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen/ .

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. For more information, contact: Educause, 4772 Walnut Street, Suite 206, Boulder, CO 80301-2538 USA; tel: 303-449-4430; fax: 303-440-0461; email: info@educause.edu;  Web: http://www.educause.edu/

See also:

GROWING UP DIGITAL: THE RISE OF THE NET GENERATION by Don Tapscott McGraw-Hill, 1999; ISBN: 0-07-063361-4 http://www.growingupdigital.com/

---

EFFECTIVE E-LEARNING DESIGN

"The unpredictability of the student context and the mediated relationship with the student require careful attention by the educational designer to details which might otherwise be managed by the teacher at the time of instruction." In "Elements of Effective e-Learning Design" (INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF RESEARCH IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING, March 2005) Andrew R. Brown and Bradley D. Voltz cover six elements of effective design that can help create effective e-learning delivery. Drawing upon examples from The Le@rning Federation, an initiative of state and federal governments of Australia and New Zealand, they discuss lesson planning, instructional design, creative writing, and software specification. The paper is available online at http://www.irrodl.org/content/v6.1/brown_voltz.html 

International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL) [ISSN 1492-3831] is a free, refereed ejournal published by Athabasca University - Canada's Open University. For more information, contact Paula Smith, IRRODL Managing Editor; tel: 780-675-6810; fax: 780-675-672; email: irrodl@athabascau.ca ; Web: http://www.irrodl.org/

The Le@rning Federation (TLF) is an "initiative designed to create online curriculum materials and the necessary infrastructure to ensure that teachers and students in Australia and New Zealand can use these materials to widen and enhance their learning experiences in the classroom." For more information, see http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/

---

RECOMMENDED READING

"Recommended Reading" lists items that have been recommended to me or that Infobits readers have found particularly interesting and/or useful, including books, articles, and websites published by Infobits subscribers. Send your recommendations to carolyn_kotlas@unc.ed u for possible inclusion in this column.

Author Clark Aldrich recommends his new book:

LEARNING BY DOING: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO SIMULATIONS, COMPUTER GAMES, AND PEDAGOGY IN E-LEARNING AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES Wiley, April 2005 ISBN: 0-7879-7735-7 hardcover $60.00 (US)

Description from Wiley website:

"Designed for learning professionals and drawing on both game creators and instructional designers, Learning by Doing explains how to select, research, build, sell, deploy, and measure the right type of educational simulation for the right situation. It covers simple approaches that use basic or no technology through projects on the scale of computer games and flight simulators. The book role models content as well, written accessibly with humor, precision, interactivity, and lots of pictures. Many will also find it a useful tool to improve communication between themselves and their customers, employees, sponsors, and colleagues."

The table of contents and some excerpts are available at http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787977357.html

Aldrich is also author of SIMULATIONS AND THE FUTURE OF LEARNING: AN INNOVATIVE (AND PERHAPS REVOLUTIONARY) APPROACH TO E-LEARNING. See http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787969621.html  for more information or to request an evaluation copy of this title.

Bob Jensen's documents on education technology are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

Ideas for Teaching Online (including Distance Education via Centra Symposium and Webex) --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

Question
What is Hybrid Distance Learning

Answer:
"Putting a Faculty on Distance Education Programs, by William H. Riffee, Syllabus, February 2003, Page 13

 

At a Glance: Hybrid Distance Learning Hybrid Distance Learning: A distance learning program using both electronic delivery and local facilitators or mentors to coach, counsel, and support students Ideal Student/Facilitator Ratio: Approximately 12:1 Facilitator Traits: Teaching skills, clinical experience, time availability, compatible philosophy Facilitator Training: Training at host university, shadowing current faculty member, telephone conferences, annual training updates Compensation: Level based on current salary for such a professional in the region where they are located Quote: "Traditionally, distance education has been developed as stand-alone Web-based programs with little interaction between faculty and students other than through electronic means. The University of Florida has found that the addition of the facilitator/mentor faculty has brought a new dimension to distance-based programs, one that has improved overall quality. The additional academic experiences available to our distance education students have put a now-familiar face on our distance education programs."—Bill Riffee

"The B-School at Company X," by: Sharon Shinn, BizEd from the AACSB, May/June 2004, pp. 32-37 (not free online)

Corporate universities are focused, committed to employee education, and here to stay.  Traditional business schools must learn how to work with them in creative and productive partnerships.

About ten years ago, when corporate universities were exploding onto the scene, sentiment was deeply divided between fear that such institutions would rob business schools of all their students and conviction that corporate universities would be a brief and passing phase.  It turns out that neither expectation was true.  Today's corporate university is an entrenched part of the business landscape, working hard to satisfy both its students and the CEOs of its parent organizations by providing targeted education that can demonstrably improve performance in the workplace.  Today's corporate university also draws heavily on the expertise of traditional four-year universities--and some people believe that broader and stronger partnerships between schools and businesses will shape the future of company-based education.

While the phrase "corporate university" has been used to mean everything from a revamped training department to a degree-granting branch of a major corporation, it's possible to come up with a more exact description.  One good definition comes courtesy of Mark Allen, director of executive education at the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, Culver City, California, and co-author of The Corporate University Handbook.  He believes a corporate  university must be a strategic tool that helps the parent organization achieve its mission through educational activities.  What's key, he stresses, is that whatever training or learning is involved be tied directly to the strategic mission of the company.

In other words, nobody goes to Corporate U just to kill a few hours.  Such a school offers learning with a purpose--improving a specific employee's performance in a specific area of the job in a way that's measurable.

THE CORPORATE GOALS

Corporate universities exist to fulfill four main goals: to teach topics like leadership and communication to executives; to standardize skills and knowledge for certain jobs within the company; to help the company as a whole develop a unified culture; and to develop strong networks among employees.

Developing "soft skills" is something corporate universities do very well, says Mike Morrison, dean of associate education and development at University of Toyota in Torrance, California.  "Part of it is, we have to," he says.  "Once people are in the work environment, they see that the work world is very relational.  Problem-solving skills, creativity and innovation are in much higher demand, and the ability to self-design work is critical."

Also critical is the ability to provide mission-specific education with instant relevance.  Tom Doyle, director of Menlo Worldwide's Menlo University in Dayton, Ohio, says, "Each of our courses is aligned with the strategic products, services, or value propositions that we take to the marketplace.  There are no electives.  You don't have to have a physical education unit to get through."

Just as important to many corporations is that their universities help them create a single image of the company or a standardized protocol.  Sometimes, as with Menlo University, the school is a consolidation of a disparate collection of training programs that used to be centered in different departments or physical locations.

Continued in the article

Bob Jensen's threads on education are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm 

"Principles for Building Success in Online Education, by Jacqueline Moloney and Steven Tello, Syllabus, February 2003, pp. 15-17 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7252 

As higher education adminstrators, we faced numerous challenges beginning in 1996 when we launched our online efforts at UMass-Lowell. Which courses or programs to migrate, what faculty to involve, and which platform to use are just a few of the many complex decisions that institutions must confront in building online programs. To help others, we've created a rubric that covers five strategic areas of decision making:

• Selection of courses and programs
• Faculty development, support, and incentives
• Technology and infrastructure
• Redesign of student services
• Program and course evaluation

A set of four operating principles that evolved with the success of our program exist as important guides:

• Adhere to your campus mission
• Use traditional academic structures and faculty to accelerate the development of online education
• Start small, build incrementally, and think scalability
• Build learning communities that push the limits of new technology

Principles in Action
Consistent with the principles above, UMass-Lowell's online education program started very small, with a handful of pioneering faculty. Like many public universities, we were trying to identify new markets that could bring needed revenues to the campus and expand access to our programs. Therefore, the online program was initiated through the Division of Continuing, Corporate and Distance Education (CCDE) to address those campus needs. As a self-supporting organization, CCDE was to identify strategies that would generate sufficient revenues to cover program development and delivery costs. Working through decisions by employing the principles previously outlined, we were able to overcome the obstacles that often inhibit the growth of online education.

The online program at UMass-Lowell now offers six full degree programs and enrolls approximately 6,000 per year. It is one of the largest online programs in New England and is a major contributor to UMassOnline, the University of Massachusetts system-wide effort to provide online education. The program at Lowell is entirely self-supporting and returns significant revenues to the campus that seed continuous growth. Below, we examine some of our formative decisions in the five strategic areas, and consider the operating principles that guided our choices.

Selection of Courses and Programs
Continued at http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7252  

October 8, 2003 message from Laurie Padgett [padgett8@BELLSOUTH.NET]

Lauretta,

Yes it was live chat (synchronous) using voice (which also had a text chat box). In s particular class we would meet every other week in the evening around 7/8. I think they lasted 1 hr to 1 1/2 hr (I can not recall exactly). I took two classes a semester so I would attend two live chats for every two weeks. The instructors would coordinate to ensure they would not plan the class for the same evening. In addition to the live chat, we also used another program that I just can not remember the name of it (I think it might have been called Placeware). It was really neat because it looked like an auditorium and you were a little character (or may I say a colored dot). You could raise your hand, ask a question, type text, etc. We would use the chat program where he would talk as he conducted the presentation in the other program. If you had a question you would raise your hand & then use the live chat to talk. The program was starting to get more advanced as I graduated.

The Master's of Accounting program that I went through (as I understand it from the professor I had) was one of the first to go online for this particular program. I was in the first graduating class which started April of 2000 and completed September 2001. I attended Nova Southeastern University in Florida. ( http://emacc.huizenga.nova.edu/ )

I know that some feel that live chat (synchronous) might not work due to time zones and some feel that the text works just as well. From my personal experience and opinion I feel that a Master's program in "Accounting" needs more than just text written but interaction between your fellow classmates too. I feel it was more productive because it is like you are sitting in a class listening to the instructor and you have the opportunity to ask a question by typing in the box & then the instructor sees it & answers it with his voice. Additionally, you cover much more subject area than you can with a text chat. It really worked well.

Again, these are my opinions and each person has his own. This is what makes us unique.

Laurie

-----Original Message-----
Subject: Re: peer evaluation of a web-based course

Laurie:

When you say "live" chat, are you referring to the chats in which all students come together at the same time (synchronous)? I tried to initiate this type of chat in my online class and found students's schedules to be an issue.

Has anyone tried putting students into groups to do synchronous chatting about assignments? How did this work for your class?

Lauretta A. Cooper, MBA, CPA
Delaware Technical & Community College Terry Campus

In September 2003, Bonnie B. Mullinix and David McCurry provide a helpful road map for online education—-in the form of an annotated "webliography" of resource centers, professional organizations, and other sites that promote the discussion and development of technology-enhanced teaching and learning environments --- http://64.124.14.173/default.asp?show=article&id=1002 

Bonk, C. J. (2003). CourseShare.com: Welcome. Retrieved August 30, 2003, from http://www.courseshare.com/Welcome.php 

Bonk, C. J., Cummings, J. A., Hara, N., Fischler, R. B., & Lee, S. M. (2000). A ten level web integration continuum for higher education: New resources, activities, partners, courses, and markets. Retrieved August 30, 2003, from http://php.indiana.edu/~cjbonk/paper/edmdia99.html 

Carlén, U. (2002, November). Typology of online learning communities. Paper presented at the NetLearning2002 conference, Ronneby, Sweden. Retrieved August 30, 2003, from http://www.learnloop.org/olc/typologyOLC.pdf 

Carroll, T. G. (2000). If we didn't have the schools we have today, would we create the schools we have today? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 1(1). Retrieved August 30, 2003, from http://www.citejournal.org/vol1/iss1/currentissues/general/article1.htm 

Chickering, A. W., & Ehrmann, S. C. (1996, October). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 3-6. Retrieved August 30, 2003, from http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html 

Lago, M. E. (2000, November). The hybrid experience: How sweet it is! Converge. Retrieved August 30, 2003, from http://www.convergemag.com/Publications/CNVGNov00/hybrid/index.shtm 

McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding media: The extensions of man. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Stammen, R. M. (2001, January). Basic understandings for developing learning media for the classroom and beyond. Learning Technology, 3(1). Retrieved August 30, 2003, from http://lttf.ieee.org/learn_tech/issues/january2001/#18 

Testa, A. M. (2000). Seven principles for good practice in teaching and technology. In R. Cole (Ed.), Issues in web-based pedagogy: A critical primer (pp. 237-245). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Vest, C. M. (2003). MIT OpenCourseWare: A message from the president. Retrieved August 30, 2003, from http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Global/AboutOCW/presidentspage.htm 

"The Changing Landscape of Distance Education: What micro-market segment is right for you?" by Judith Boettcher, Syllabus, July 2002, pp.22-27 --- http://www.syllabus.com/syllabusmagazine/article.asp?id=6474 

What Micro-Market Segment is Right for Your Institution?

What is the state of distance learning and online learning in higher education today? It is in a state of evolution and development. The best strategy for traditional non-profit institutions may be to develop a “micro-market segment” in distance learning that is right for your institution. A possible strategy follows:

• Do what you are now doing, but do it with effective use of the technologies. This means “sticking close” to your areas of expertise, but developing faculty and student experience at using online and distance technologies effectively.
• Select or identify a program of study that expresses and embodies your institution’s mission. Then plan how to invest resources, time, and expertise in making that program and its experiences available in both Web-enhanced online and outreach modes.
• Reach out to students who have similar learning and career needs as your current students, but fewer hours per week to study.
• Expand your geographic reach to those similar students—whether it is by 30, 300, or 3,000 miles.
• Pilot and test your outreach capability by special events and programs for your existing students, to your alumni, and to corporate and professionals as appropriate.
• Determine if you need help in administration of distance/remote students, marketing to and finding these students.

Education, and particularly e-learning, is a huge growth market for the foreseeable future. Depending on where you want to be, you and your institution will be a part of it. Online and distance learning may not be a silver bullet, but it might be one way for your institution to be reach out and provide valuable learning experiences, enriching your on-campus students as well as serving more remote and part-time students. “Focus and Extend”—focus on your expertise and extend out to similar students who can now reach you via the Internet.

 

Distance Education Websites --- http://ejw.i8.com/distweb.htm 

Bob Jensen's threads on alternatives for distance education and training are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm 

Bob Jensen's threads on technology in education are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm 

Types of Institutions, Degrees, and Applications of Distance and Online Learning
Types of Institutions	Degrees, Programs, Certificates, Modules	Distance and eLearning Applications	Target Market: Ages	Target Market: Work Commitments
Traditional Research and Four-Year Comprehensive
	Traditional undergraduate, Master’s, Doctoral degrees	Primarily campus-based w/online components, Web-enhanced courses	18-45	Working part-time
	Professional academic degrees, i.e, Medicine, Law, Engineering, Business, etc.	Primarily campus-based w/online components, Web-enhanced courses	25-55	Working part-time
Community College
	Associate degrees	Primarily campus-based	18-45	Working part- or full-time
	Specialty trade education	Primarily campus-based	24-50	Working part- or full-time
	Ad-hoc skills training	Primarily campus-based	16-70+	Working part- or full-time
Partnerships of Academe and Education Companies, (plus Continuing Ed divisions of traditional campus providers)
	Completion degrees, Bachelors, Master’s, etc.	Primarily online w/some face-to-face meetings	24-60	Working full-time
	Specialty career degrees	Primarily online w/some face-to-face meetings	24-60	Working full-time
	Career updating, refreshing of professional degrees, continuing education modules	Primarily online w/some face-to-face meetings	24-60	Working full-time
	Product and service training	Either online or face-to-face or mix	24-60	Working full-time
For-Profit Education Companies
	Completion degrees, Bachelors, Master’s, etc.	Primarily online w/some face-to-face meetings	24-60	Working full-time
	Specialty career degrees	Primarily online w/some face-to-face meetings	24-60	Working full-time
	Career updating, refreshing of professional degrees, continuing education modules	Either online or face-to-face or mix	24-60	Working full-time

The introductory block of this article is at  http://www.syllabus.com/syllabusmagazine/article.asp?id=6474

Revenue and Accreditation Hurdles Facing Corporate Universities

One thing that just does not seem to work is a university commenced by a major publishing house.  McGraw-Hill World University was virtually stillborn at the date of birth as a degree-granting institution.  It evolved into McGraw-Hill Online Learning ( http://www.mhonlinelearning.com/  ) that does offer some interactive training materials, but the original concept of an online university ( having distance education courses for college credit) is dead and buried.  Powerful companies like Microsoft Corporation started up and then abandoned going it alone in establishing new online universities.

The last venturesome publishing company to start a university and fight to get it accredited is now giving up on the idea of having its own virtual university --- http://www.harcourthighered.com/index.html 
Harcourt Higher Education University was purchased by a huge publishing conglomerate called Thompson Learning See http://www.thomsonlearning.com/harcourt/ .  Thomson had high hopes, but soon faced the reality that it is probably impossible to compete with established universities in training and education markets.

The Thomson Corporation has announced that it will not continue to operate Harcourt Higher Education: An Online College as an independent degree-granting institution. Harcourt Higher Education will close on August 27, 2001. The closing is the result of a change of ownership, which occurred on July 13, 2001, when the Thomson Corporation purchased the online college from Harcourt General, Inc.

From Syllabus e-News on August 7, 2001

Online College to Close Doors

Harcourt Higher Education, which launched an online for-profit college in Massachusetts last year, is closing the school's virtual doors Sept. 28. Remaining students will have their credentials reviewed by the U.S. Open University, the American affiliate of the Open University in England.

We can only speculate as to the complex reasons why publishing companies start up degree-granting virtual universities and subsequently abandon efforts provide credit courses and degrees online.  

Enormous Revenue Shortfall (Forecast of 20,000 students in the first year;  Reality turned up 20 students)

"E-COLLEGES FLUNK OUT," By: Elisabeth Goodridge, Information Week, August 6, 2001, Page 10 

College students appear to prefer classroom instruction over online offerings.

Print and online media company Thomson Corp. said last week it plans to close its recently acquired, for-profit online university, Harcourt Higher Education.  Harcourt opened with much fanfare a year ago, projecting 20,000 enrollees within five years, but only 20 to 30 students have been attending.

Facing problems from accreditation to funding, online universities have been struggling mightily--in stark contrast to the success of the overall E-learning market.  A possible solution?  E-learning expert Elliott Masie predicts "more and more creative partnerships between traditional universities and online ones."

Roosters Guarding the Hen House
Publishing houses failed to gain accreditations.  I suspect that major reason is that the AACSB and other accrediting bodies have made it virtually impossible for corporations to obtain accreditation for startup learning corporations that are not partnered with established colleges and universities.  In the U.S., a handful of corporations have received regional accreditation (e.g., The University of Phoenix and Jones International Corporation), but these were established and had a history of granting degrees prior to seeking accreditation.  In business higher education, business corporations face a nearly impossible hurdle of achieving business school accreditation ( see http://businessmajors.about.com/library/weekly/aa050499.htm ) since respected accrediting bodies are totally controlled by the present educational institutions (usually established business school deans who behave like roosters guarding the hen house).  Special accrediting bodies for online programs have sprung up, but these have not achieved sufficient prestige vis-à-vis established accrediting bodies.  

Note the links to accreditation issues at http://www.degree.net/guides/accreditation.html )
Where GAAP means Generally Accepted Accreditation Principles)

All About Accreditation: A brief overview of what you really need to know about accreditation, including GAAP (Generally Accepted Accrediting Practices). Yes, there really are fake accrediting agencies, and yes some disreputable schools do lie. This simple set of rules tells how to sort out truth from fiction. (The acronym is, of course, borrowed from the field of accounting. GAAP standards are the highest to which accountants can be held, and we feel that accreditation should be viewed as equally serious.)

GAAP-Approved Accrediting Agencies: A listing of all recognized accrediting agencies, national, regional, and professional, with links that will allow you to check out schools.

Agencies Not Recognized Under GAAP: A list of agencies that have been claimed as accreditors by a number of schools, some totally phony, some well-intentioned but not recognized.

FAQs: Some simple questions and answers about accreditation and, especially, unaccredited schools.

For more details on accreditation and assessment, see http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm

Question:
Is lack of accreditation the main reason why corporate universities such as McGraw-Hill World University, Harcourt Higher Education University, Microsoft University, and other corporations have failed in their attempts to compete with established universities? 

Bob Jensen's Answer:
Although the minimum accreditation (necessary for transferring of credits to other colleges)  is a very important cause of failure  in the first few years of attempting to attract online students, it is not the main cause of failure.  Many (most) of the courses available online were training courses for which college credit transfer is not an issue.

1. Why did the University of Wisconsin (U of W) swell with over 100,000 registered online students while Harcourt Higher Education University (HHWU) struggled to get 20 registered?
   
   Let me begin to answer my own question with two questions.  If you want to take an online training or education course from your house in Wisconsin's town of Appleton, would you prefer to pay more much more for the course from HHWU than a low-priced tuition for Wisconsin residents at the U of W.  If you were a resident of Algona, Iowa and the price was the same for the course whether you registered at HHWU or U of W, would you choose U of W?  My guess is that in both cases, students would choose U of W, because the University of Wisconsin has a long-term tradition for quality and is likely to be more easily recognized for quality on the students' transcripts.
   
   
2. Why can the University of Wisconsin offer a much larger curriculum than corporate universities?
   
   The University of Wisconsin had a huge infrastructure for distance education long before the age of the Internet.  Televised distance education across the state has been in place for over 30 years.  Extension courses have been given around the entire State of Wisconsin for many decades.  The University of Wisconsin's information technology system is already in place at a cost of millions upon millions of dollars.  There are tremendous economies of scale for the University of Wisconsin to offer a huge online curriculum for training and education vis-à-vis a startup corporate university starting from virtually scratch.
   
   
3. What target market feels more closely attached to the University of Wisconsin than some startup corporate university?
   
   The answer is obvious.  It's the enormous market comprised of alumni and families of alumni from every college and university in the University of Wisconsin system of state-supported schools.
   
   
4. What if a famous business firm such as Microsoft Corporation or Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) elected to offer a prestigious combination of executive training and education to only upper-level management in major international corporations?  What are the problems in targeting to business executives?
   
   This target market is already carved out by alumni of elite schools such as Stanford, Harvard, Chicago, Carnegie-Mellon, Columbia, London School of Economics, Duke, University of Michigan, University of Texas, and the other universities repeatedly ranked among the top 50 business schools in the nation.  Business executives are more often than not snobs when it comes to universities in the peer set of "their" alma maters.  Logos of top universities are worth billions in the rising executive onsite and online training and education market.  UNext Corporation recognized this, and this is the reason why the its first major step in developing an online executive education program was to partner with five of the leading business schools in the world.
   
   
   
5. Why does one corporate university, The University of Phoenix, prosper when others fail or limp along with costs exceeding revenues?  
   
   The University of Phoenix is the world's largest private university.  The reason for its success is largely due to a tradition of quality since 1976.  This does not mean that quality has always been high for every course over decades of operation, but each year this school seems to grow and offer better and better courses.  Since most of its revenues still come from onsite courses, it is not clear that the school would prosper if it became solely an online university.  The school is probably further along on the learning curve than most other schools in terms of adult learners.  It offers a large number of very dedicated and experienced full-time and part-time faculty.  It understands the importance of small classes and close communications between students and other students and instructors.  It seems to fill a niche that traditional colleges and universities have overlooked.
   
   
   
6. What major corporation signed with a major state university to receive online MBA degrees in finance?
   
   "Deere & Company Turns to Indiana University's Kelley School of Business For Online MBA Degrees in Finance," Yahoo Press Release, October 8, 2001 --- http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011008/cgm034_1.html

You can read more about these happenings at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm 
Especially note the prestigious universities going online at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 

At the University of Wisconsin
"Online Degree Program Lets Students Test Out of What They Already Know," by Angela Chen, June 20, 2012 --- Click Here
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/online-degree-program-lets-students-test-out-of-what-they-already-know/37097?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

The University of Wisconsin plans to start a “flexible degree” program online focused on allowing undergraduates to test out of material they have mastered.

The new program, geared toward working adults with some college education, operates under a “competency based” model, said Raymond Cross, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Colleges and University of Wisconsin-Extension. This model is similar to the Advanced Placement program, in which high-school students take AP tests to pass out of college-level courses.

In the university’s new program, college courses will be broken down into units. For example, a higher-level mathematics class could include units such as linear algebra and trigonometry. Students can then test out of certain units (instead of full courses) and spend time learning only material that is new to them. Eventually, the units will build into courses, and then a degree. The flexible-degree program and traditional-degree program will have identical course requirements, and since each flexible degree will be associated with a specific campus, the student will receive a diploma from the originating campus and not from the system.

“We’re trying to find ways to reduce the cost of education,” Mr. Cross said. “Implicit in the model is the idea that you can take lectures online from free sources—like Khan Academy and MITx—and prepare yourself for the competency test. Then take the remaining courses online at UW.”

The biggest challenge, he says, is determining how to best test competency. Some units will require tests, while others may require written papers or laboratory work. The difficulty of measuring “competency’” for any unit will affect the program’s pricing structure, which has not yet been determined.

The idea of competency-based credentials is common in technical and health fields, Mr. Cross said, but it is rare at traditional universities. The program is part of a push to encourage Wisconsin’s 700,000 college dropouts to go back to a university.

“With higher ed now, people often have a piece or two missing in their education, so we are responding to the changes in our culture and helping them pull all these pieces together,” Mr. Cross said. “Students already interface with a lot of different institutions and different classes and professors, and this will help that process. I don’t think this diminishes traditional higher ed at all. I think it’ll enhance it.”

The first courses in the flexible-degree program will be available starting in fall 2013. The university is still developing exact degree specifications, Mr. Cross said. Likely degrees include business management and information technology.

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education training and education alternatives ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on assessment (including distance education assessment issues and competency-based testing) ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm

From Syllabus e-News on July 24, 2001

Online Degree Program to Address Teacher Shortage

Due to increasing student enrollment, teacher retirements, and class size reduction, California faces a crucial shortage of elementary school teachers, which is expected to intensify over the next ten years. In response to the problem, the Cali-fornia State University is now offering an opportunity for undergraduates to earn their liberal studies degree through Liberal Studies Online, an online degree completion program for individuals working toward a California teaching credential. Administered through CSU Chico, online courses will originate from the Chico campus and CSU Sacramento. The first online courses will be available beginning fall 2001.

For more information, visit http://liberalstudies.calstate.edu. 

Innovative and difficult to classify:

• Governmental Training and Education

US Military --- Over 4,000 training and education courses from a variety of sources, including US Air University.

The U.S. IRS offers Internet education opportunities. IRS employees who want to get ahead in the organization are heading back to the classroom - 21st century style. College level courses in accounting, finance, tax law, and other business subjects will be available on the Internet to IRS employees. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/46816/101 

For example, the IRS online accounting classes will be served up from Florida State University and Florida Community College at Jacksonville --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60881-2001May7.html 

• Dedicated degree programs within universities such as the Ernst&Young masters programs and the PwC masters of accounting or masters of assurance services programs at various universities and the PwC MBA program at the University of Georgia.
  
  
• Certification Examination Review Courses such as CPA review courses

Examples are listed at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm 

• Self-Study Aids 

InstantKnowledge Online Study Guides --- http://www.instantknowledge.com/ 

InstantKnowledge.com integrates the worlds of technology and education to help you study.

Our scholars create high quality, peer-reviewed educational materials, the first of which is the series of literary KnowledgeNotes now available on our site. Along with our technology partners, our team is developing Seek.Find. Seek.Find. will be a searchable database that gives you twenty-four hour access to over a million journal articles and textbooks.

Knowledge Portals
The many knowledge portals that are springing up like wildfire.  These databases contain vast databases of knowledge that can be accessed either for free or for fees ranging from cheap to very expensive.  --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/portals.htm 

Some corporate providers are partnering with colleges and universities and providing their own, possibly competing, programs.  For example, Ernst & Young created Intellinex for delivering its own training and education programs and partnered with Notre Dame University and the University of Virginia to deliver masters of accounting education to newly hired graduates in E&Y.

For its consulting division, PwC built a training campus in Tampa and contracted with the University of Georgia to deliver an online MBA program to PwC employees.

"Will the Internet Transform Higher Education?" by Walter S. Baer, The Emerging Internet, Annual Review of the Institute for Information Studies, Charles M. Firestone, Program Director. Copyright © 1998 Institute for Information Studies --- www.rand.org/publications/RP/RP685.pdf 

Walter S. Baer 
Senior Policy Analyst 
RAND Corporation 

American higher education faces formidable challenges caused by changing student demographics, severe financial constraints, and lingering institutional rigidities. (See Footnote 1) At the same time, increased demands are being placed on higher education to provide greater student access to education, better undergraduate programs, and increased productivity. To address both sets of issues, institutions of higher education are turning to new communications and information technologies that promise to increase access, improve the quality of instruction, and (perhaps) control costs. 

The use of older technologies for distance learning in post-secondary education (See Footnote 2) has already been shown to be cost-effective in such diverse settings as the Open University in the United Kingdom, four-year and community colleges in the United States, satellite-delivered video courses for engineers and other professionals, and corporate and military training. Now the Internet is being proposed as the preferred technology to improve instruction, increase access, and raise productivity in higher education. (See Footnote 3) College and university instructors now routinely post their syllabi and course readings to the World Wide Web. A few use lectures and other instructional materials available on the Web in their own courses. A growing number of schools offer at least some extension or degree- credit courses over the Internet. And more ambitious plans are in various stages of preparation or early implementation --- plans for entire virtual universities that use the Internet to reach geographically dispersed students.

Two distinct models guide current efforts to make use of the Internet in higher education. The first approach seeks to improve existing forms and structures of post-secondary instruction --- to create "better, faster, cheaper" versions of today's courses and curricula by means of the Internet. This model emphasizes building an on-campus information infrastructure that provides (or will provide) high-speed Internet connectivity to all students, faculty, administrators, and staff. Faculty then can use this infrastructure to improve and supplement traditional courses and degree programs. Library holdings can be digitized and made available both on-and off-campus. (See Footnote 4). Administrative processes can be speeded up and simplified. And although the focus remains on on-campus instruction, this new information infrastructure can facilitate distance learning for many categories of nontraditional, off-campus students. While this model of Internet use in higher education requires many changes among faculty, student, and administrative roles and functions, it keeps most existing institutional structures and faculty roles intact.

A different, more radical, model envisions the Internet as instrumental to a fundamental change in the processes and organizational structure of post- secondary teaching and learning. According to this view, the Internet can transform higher education into student-centered learning rather than institution- and faculty-centered instruction. It can allow agile institutions --- old and new --- to leapfrog existing academic structures and establish direct links to post-secondary students. It can encourage new collaborative arrangements between academic institutions and for-profit entrepreneurs and permit these partnerships to extend their reach nationally and internationally. It can accommodate student demand for post-secondary education in new ways that are basically campus-independent. If the markets for post-secondary education evolve in this manner, the Internet may well threaten existing institutions of higher education much more than it will support them. Taking this view, celebrated management consultant and social commentator Peter Drucker recently remarked:  "Thirty years from now the big university campuses will be relics. . . . The college won't survive as a residential institution."

Bob Jensen's threads on technology in education are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm 

"THE HOTTEST CAMPUS ON THE INTERNET Duke's pricey online B-school program is winning raves from students and rivals," Business Week, October 27, 1997 --- http://www.businessweek.com/1997/42/b3549015.htm 

Update:  The Duke MBA --- Global Executive (formerly called GEMBA) --- http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/admin/gemba/index.html 

The Duke MBA - Global Executive is every bit as academically demanding as Duke's other two MBA programs. Global Executive uses the same faculty base, the same rigorous grading standards, and provides the same Duke degree. However, the content has been adjusted to include more global issues and strategies to serve a participant population that has far more global management experience.

• Like most other Executive MBA programs, the Global Executive program is a lock-step curriculum, meaning that all students take all courses. The courses are targeted at general managers who have or will soon assume global responsibilities. The program is designed for those who want to enhance their career path within their existing company. 
• International Residencies: International residencies are an important ingredient in a global MBA program as they add to the value and richness of the classroom component by providing various lenses (social, economic, cultural, etc.) through which to view various economies and systems. Instead of simply studying about an economy, Fuqua provides an experiential component which adds value to the learning experience ... 
• Global Student body: Unlike traditional Executive MBA programs which usually have a regional draw, the flexibility of Global Executive accommodates a student body from around the globe. Not only are the students diverse geographically, but they are also diverse in the types of global management experiences that they bring to the classroom.

For the class entering in May 2001, tuition is $95,000. Tuition includes all educational expenses, a state-of-the-art laptop computer, portable printer, academic books and other class materials, and lodging and meals during the five residential sessions. The tuition does not include travel to and from the residential sites.

You can learn a great deal about the extend of distance education in this program by looking at the academic calendar at http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/admin/gemba/global_cal2001.htm

Cross-Continent MBA --- --- http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/admin/cc/cc_home.html 
Following on the heels of its Global MBA online success, Duke introduced a second online program called the Cross-Continent MBA and located its headquarters in Frankfurt.  While in Germany in the Summer of 2001, I had dinner with Tom Keller, former Dean of Duke's Fuqua School of Business and Dean of Duke's Cross-Continent MBA Program.  Tom spent two years in the Frankfort headquarters of Duke's Cross-Continent MBA Program.  This program is quite different from the online Global Executive MBA Program, although both are asynchronous online programs and used some overlapping course materials.  

The Duke MBA - Cross Continent program allows high-potential managers to earn an internationally-focused MBA degree from Duke University in less than two years, utilizing a format that minimizes the disruption of careers and family life. It is designed for individuals with three to nine years professional work experience.

The Duke MBA - Cross Continent program will contain course work with a global emphasis in the subject areas of Management, Marketing, Operations, Economics, Finance, Accounting, Strategy and Decision Sciences.

Students will complete 11 core courses, four elective courses and one integrative capstone course to earn their MBA degree. Two courses will be completed during each of the eight terms of the program. Depending upon their choice of electives, students may choose to complete the one-week residency requirements for their sixth and seventh terms at either Fuqua School of Business location in North America or Europe.

The two classes - one on each continent - will be brought even closer together through a transfer requirement built into the program. During the third term, half of the class from Europe will attend the North American residential session and vice versa. In the fourth term, the other half of each class trades locations for one week of residential learning. After the transfer residencies, the students resume their coursework using the same Internet mediated learning methods as before, but with global virtual teams that have now met in a face-to-face setting

World-Class Resources 
When you're linked to Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, you're connected to a world of resources residing on a network with robust bandwidth capabilities. Duke MBA students have secure access to the Duke and Fuqua business library databases as well as a network of Duke faculty and outside experts.

World-Wide Content Delivery 
The virtual classroom can take on many different forms. Here, a faculty member prepares a macroeconomics lecture for distribution via CD ROM and/or the Internet. Students will download this lecture in a given week of study and follow up with discussion and team projects.

Bulletin Board Discussion 
Rich threads of conversation occur during this asynchronous mode of communication. Professors and guest lecturers can moderate the discussion to keep learning focused.

Real-Time Chat Session 
Occurs between students and classmates as well as faculty. Here, a student in Europe discusses an assignment with a professor in the United States.

Online Degree Programs

Types of (Mostly Profitable) Prestige Partnerings

Also see Bob Jensen's Threads on Cross-Border (Transnational) Training and Education --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 

A Distance Education Partnership Between the University of Akron and Kent State University
"Schools collaborate to create Online Learning," Syllabus, February 2003, pp. 21-33 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7259 

Two of Ohio's largest universities are teaming to create a collaborative online learning system that will dramatically expand their teaching and research opportunities, while reducing information technology costs. A 20-minute drive apart, these universities have combined enrollments of 60,000, with more than 400 programs and 1,400 faculty members. The University of Akron (UA) and Kent State University (KSU) are using WebCT's academic enterprise system, WebCT Vista, to create a "shared services model" for online learning. This model for online learning will allow the two universities to share technology, course content, research, and faculty, which could ultimately serve other Ohio universities and the K-12 community.

Especially beneficial for large, multi-institution deployments, WebCT Vista is an eLearning platform that includes a broad range of course development and delivery, content management, and learning information management capabilities. These are all supported by an extensible, enterprise-class architecture. WebCT Vista gives institutions of higher education first-time access to aggregate student learning data at the institutional level, extending the capacity for colleges and universities to access and strategically leverage learning information beyond an individual classroom.

Stretching Resources Currently, UA and KSU are in the process of Web-enhancing classroom courses that they have in common with interactive exercises, threaded discussion groups, chats, and virtual-classroom activities. The universities also hope to create pure distance learning courses, in which all activities take place over the Internet. The intent is to improve education and research, and to stretch scarce resources. Dr. Rosemary DuMont, Associate VP of Academic Technology Services for KSU, explains, "UA and KSU began this initiative because of concern about student success. Both universities are extremely student-focused. WebCT Vista provides research data for making decisions in the future regarding student retention." Over the next five years, UA and KSU could predictably save over one million dollars in software and hardware costs. The long-term goal is for UA and KSU to become a national eLearning provider by taking the shared services model to Internet2, a high-performance network that connects 200 universities. This could generate additional revenue and prestige for both universities.

Mike Giannone, Communications Officer at UA, says, "We will be able to develop an eLearning curriculum for any given program by splitting, rather than duplicating the effort. This collaboration will broaden students' exposure to programs they might otherwise miss, while exposing faculty to research and best practices from an expanded group of peers. It offers students at both schools more choices in the classes they take, and where and how they will take them. The two universities will also share grants, content, and the ability to analyze a combined pool of learning data collected by WebCT Vista." Dr. Paul L. Gaston, provost of KSU, exclaims, "We are excited to be able to offer an even broader range of educational opportunities to our students through this collaboration! We already share academic programs, so sharing online resources is a natural next step."

Collaborative Teaching and Research Shared services between UA and KSU are the brain child of Dr. Thomas Gaylord, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at UA. His vision initially created the project and continues to drive it. Dr. Gaylord explains, "The greatest paradigm shift for education is occurring now—it is a wonderful enlightenment. It is time to re-define what our students are; what our faculties are; what constitutes accredibility, and so forth. Partnerships are the ‘right' thing to do. For example, why do numerous individual universities produce Algebra I online … when collaboration makes sense? The University of Akron and Kent State University will have educational advantages over other universities in the region with probably the single, most important educational technology tool for enhancing their long-range instructional vitalities in the coming years." Because of the strategic impact of eLearning on both institutions, UA President, Dr. Luis M. Proenza and KSU President, Dr. Carol A. Cartwright, came together, with Dr. Gaylord, Dr. DuMont, and others, to drive this collaboration. Under the direction of Dr. Gaylord and Dr. DuMont, the two universities have installed a new high-speed fiber optic line, "GigaMAN," to connect their information technology systems and act as a bridge for collaborative teaching and research. Dr. Terry L Hickey, Senior Vice President and Provost at UA, explains, "In addition to partnering with Kent State, we eventually envision offering a shared resource for other northeastern Ohio schools as well as the private sector

Continued at http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7259 

The concept of knowledge trails was really exciting, and I am sorry that the effort had to be abandoned at Fathom.  Due to cash flow losses, Columbia University pulled the plug on Fathom.  But an older Knowledge Trails illustration indicates how exciting this could have been.

Knowledge Trails in Fathom --- http://www.fathom.com/index.jhtml 

Virtual Universities and Online Education/Training