Online College Course Forum

Following on from yesterday's item about diploma mills for online degrees, there are also some bodies that are known as accreditation mills. These are bodies that give accreditation to degrees and diplomas, but that are not recognised by the Secretary of State for Education. They will appear to be giving credence to qualifications from several different educational establishments, but because they are not recognised, there is no way to be sure that they will insist on the high standards that are required of government recognised accreditation bodies.

Online qualifications are particularly vunerable to accreditation mills and diploma mills, as there is no need to have a campus to be able to offer these qualifications, and therefore the awarding bodies do not need to make as big an investment. If you are looking to study an online degree or an online diploma, make sure your online school is accredited by an agency that is recognised by the Secretary of State for Education.

I've been researching an article about diploma mills, and have been horrified to find out how many there are. These are colleges and educational institutions who fail to bother to get acreditation for their activities and qualifications from any accreditation agency recognised by the Secretary of State for Education.

Many of these institutions are outside the US, and have no accreditation from their own government, and therefore are not recognised by the US. However, there are many in this country too.

The problem with diploma mills is that not only will you be studying for a qualification that will not be recognised, you also are likely to get very poor quality instruction and assessment, and therefore you will be paying for real substandard education. Make sure your online degree is from an institution which has accreditation from an agency recognized by the Department of Education.

Last day of the conference, and there is empirical evidence coming forward that online programs are going to be a major part of the professional development of most people in the future. It seems that people will study online rather than not study at all if they know that it will help them advance their career.

The big factor is making this kind of learning as easy and as supported as possible. Although many people enrol on online programs, a larger proportion than on other kinds of learning fail to finish the online courses that they are studying. Encouragement, support and contact with other students are factors in making sure that students finish their studies successfully - all factors we are discussing today.