As those of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, and maybe even the 1990s, we may recall people making fun of correspondence schools. You will remember someone who wanted to belittle a person’s education asked, “Did you get your degree in the mail?”
The joke was that distance learning courses were run by sending course materials and even the diploma through the mail, and schools that were usually not officially licensed in any way ran them. They were basically the joke of the education industry. But the internet became more and more a way to get a legitimate education at home and eventually caught on. As this method became more mainstream, many accredited universities took notice and started offering their own online distance learning courses. And with the weight of the big name schools behind them, distance learning came to life.
One of the weaknesses of old-school distance learning was that any enterprising college applicant could just hire someone else to do their work for them and then just mail it in under their name. However, with the new technology used for today’s online distance learning courses, it’s simply not possible to cheat your way through a degree. This greatly increased the legitimacy of distance learning.
The other factor that has helped distance learning is the fact that the big universities are putting their names on the line. Each time Oxford opens another degree program, it places the full weight of its reputation on both the degree and distance learning as a method of learning.
And these top universities have made great efforts to transfer the teaching style in the classroom to a virtual system. And they have done so in a way that allows the distance student to meet not only the standards of the university but also of the accreditation boards. Because of this, today’s online classes have evolved to take on the appearance of a real classroom.
what’s in a name
A college degree isn’t just a simulated sheepskin degree; It is a bond of trust between you and the university that you have received a first-class education. If you get that degree and use it in the market to get a job you don’t have the skills to do, then both your reputation and the reputation of the school is tarnished.
Because of this, most top universities have gone to great lengths to develop online distance learning courses that not only reflect the high quality of education the school is known for, but also require you to work independently for the degree where you work
#Distance #Learning #Online #Degree #Shattered #Myth #Degree #Distance #Learning
Thanks to James Pentington III
