New Accreditation To Be Placed into Effect for Distance Learning

According to a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, new regulations are being set in place to affect tighter controls over on-line education. Since 2001, accreditation boards have made determinations based primarily on a given institution's delivery capacity. Since that time there have been a number of revisions as on-line learning has evolved. Currently there are two trends emerging:

1) There is competition in the field of accreditation which seems to be increasing. A number of organizations are emerging to provide accreditation services.

2) The Higher Education Act up for review again in 2013 and numerous suggestions are being thrown around like (for example) cutting the tie between accreditation and federal financial aid, tying accreditation to graduation rates, and bolstering expectations on the faculty facilitating on-line courses.

With accreditation officials confirming that distance learning is no more or less effective as a medium than brick-and-mortar classes, it is safe to say that on-line learning has more than sufficiently combatted the negative perceptions it was met with when it first emerged. Market forces are a key driver in this and, today, over two-thirds of institutions offer distance learning options and over a third of students have taken them up on that offer.


There are certainly some problems with the trends though. First, if the link between financial aid and accreditation is severed, the integrity of Higher Ed in America becomes a free-for-all and (granted - I doubt it would last for long if it got out of hand BUT) the damage could be devastating. Second: While the article mentions the limited resources of accreditors being problematic in the event of greater federal demands via revisions to the HEA - my concern is that increasing the demands for accreditation could raise entry-barriers in the educational marketplace making it more difficult for competing institutions (of which there are many - only the exception of which deserve negative mention) to gain purchase in the market landscape. The influence of for-profits is undeniable. They are forcing non-profit institutions to rethink their strategies of delivery (thereby expanding options for providing access - the two are intrinsically connected) and to re-examine the value they offer to students. For-profits institutions cater to the market base. The needs and interests of students are not simply a positive reflection on the institution - they are the core competence of for-profits. While they do often charge more they are forced - out of survival and sustainability - to continually expand and refine the product they offer. Non-profits have as their primary impetus regulations and federal demands - regulation takes priority over student needs and often sets the lens through which we view student need. This is, of course, my opinion. BUT if true - what are the ramifications?

David