They just added three new members.  Who knew it even existed?  

Sounds like a great idea, consistent with what some here have suggested in the past relative to securities-like disclosure for degree programs.  

You have "Lemon Laws" for car dealers to protect the public, you have inch-thick prospectuses for franchises and investments, but you have no disclosure whatsoever for the expensive and ethereal RA gold standard that actually measures nothing.

Interesting that it's the DL schools voluntarily taking this step toward transparency.  Forward thinking in one area, forward thinking in others.

Three More Colleges Join Major Distance Learning Transparency Initiative

Quote:BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- College Choices for Adults, a website dedicated to providing adult learners with unique information to accelerate and better inform their college selection process, announces publication of data for three additional providers.  Ashford University, Nazarene Bible College, and University of the Rockies join the 13 Transparency by Design charter institutions, which already publish information about their program-level learning outcomes, outcome metrics and how students perform against these measures.

"The concept of transparency is very attractive to us and consistent with our university's educational philosophy," said Ashford University President Jane McAuliffe. "This partnership raises the bar and takes us all to new levels of accountability."

David M.  Phillips, Vice President for Online Academic Services of Nazarene Bible College concurred: "Thorough disclosure is a key differentiator in an increasingly competitive marketplace.  This site represents part of a positive trend in higher education."

The website (www.collegechoicesforadults.org) continues to evolve, most recently with expanded search capabilities accompanying publication of new member institution data.  Future updates will provide adult learners with access to student satisfaction ratings, progress rate, and additional school- and program-specific data.

"Our presence on College Choices for Adults enables potential students to make more informed decisions about their higher education experience," said University of the Rockies President Charlita Shelton.

The Transparency by Design initiative, which resulted in the College Choices for Adults website, was born out of the President's Forum, a consortium of both traditional and non-traditional institutions sharing information about successful operation in an online environment.  WCET (formerly the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications), a division of  the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), was chosen to provide quality assurance on the standards of data reporting jointly developed by the charter institutions of the Transparency by Design initiative.

"The name says it all," comments Russ Poulin, Project Director of Transparency by Design and Associate Director of WCET.  "College Choices for Adults is about helping prospective students to understand their options.  We are very excited that our new partners have committed to empowering adult learners with information, and we look forward to growing an even larger transparency-focused coalition."

Transparency by Design is funded by a grant from Lumina Foundation for Education and by annual dues from each of the member institutions.  Members of the initiative are:  American InterContinental University Online, American Public University System, Ashford University, Capella University, Charter Oak State College, Colorado Technical University, Excelsior College, Franklin University, Kaplan University, Nazarene Bible College, Regis University, Rio Salado College, Southwestern College Professional Studies, Union Institute and University, University of the Rockies and Western Governors University.  New data from member institutions is regularly added to the College Choices for Adults website. ...

We know Chip and his toe licker pals at DI must be wondering who this Online Ed guy is and what sort of viagra he took to achieve meteoric growth.

But this is actually an article about online education and how it is increasing in popularity.  Of particular interest was a comment following the story by "Muser of NM," who makes a point that often has been made here.  Real growth in DL will come when the cartel's accreditation monopoly is broken.

Study: Online Education Continues Its Meteoric Growth

Quote:By Jeff Greer
Posted January 26, 2010

Online college education is expanding—rapidly. More than 4.6 million college students were taking at least one online course at the start of the 2008-2009 school year. That's more than 1 in 4 college students, and it's a 17 percent increase from 2007.

Turns out it's the economy, stupid.

Two major factors for the soaring numbers in the 2008-2009 school year are the sour economy and the possibility of an H1N1 flu virus outbreak, according to the seventh annual Sloan Survey of Online Learning report, titled "Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States in 2009." But, the survey's authors say, there is a lot more work to be done, and there's huge potential for online education to expand, especially at larger schools.

"For the past several years, all of the growth—90-plus percent—is coming from existing traditional schools that are growing their current offerings," says Jeff Seaman, one of the study's authors and codirector of the Babson Survey Research Group at Babson College. Seaman's coauthor, Elaine Allen, who is also a codirector of the Babson Survey Research Group, added that community colleges, for-profit schools, and master's programs have seen significant growth in online offerings.

With a higher demand for college-educated workers, colleges are more popular than ever. The higher-education population grew 1.2 percent between 2007 and 2009. And with public institutions dealing with dwindling budgets and laid-off workers trying to expand their skills, online education seems a natural, inexpensive fit. The study found that 50 percent of institutions with online education programs have seen their institutional budgets decrease, compared to 25 percent that have seen their budgets increase.

"What we hear now is that the issues that are related to [online education's challenges] have nothing to do with online itself," Seaman says. "Things like budget constraints—issues that apply to institutions as a whole."

The swine flu prompted many schools to develop contingency plans for pandemics on campus. The survey found that two thirds of schools have formal plans in place to deal with an outbreak. Substituting online courses for face-to-face classes is a component of 67 percent of those plans, the survey says. Allen says that only 2 percent of the schools surveyed had a disruption in classes caused by H1N1. She added, however, that such incidents as a recent outbreak of norovirus at Babson and the impact of Hurricane Katrina on Gulf Coast schools forced the utilization of contingency plans that involved online courses.

"When you have an online plan in place, classes go on as usual," Allen says.

Despite all the data that show significant growth and interest in online education, there are still some faculty members who balk at teaching on the Web. The study found that the acceptance of online ed by faculty has remained constant since the first survey was published in 2002. Fewer than one third of chief academic officers—meaning provosts, deans, and the like—believe their faculty accepts the value and legitimacy of online education, the report says.

However, a study published last year by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities—Sloan Commission on Online Learning indicated that faculty might not be so opposed to online ed. The study found that one third of public university professors had taught online courses and that more than half had recommended that students take such courses. Schools like Stanford University and the College of Charleston have a major presence on websites such as YouTube EDU.

"The biggest challenge for institutions is that, when 1 student in 4 is taking classes online, you must step up and begin to think strategically about this," says Frank Mayadas, a special adviser for the project from the Alfred Sloan Foundation. "The survey shows that the idea hasn't quite sunk in. ... Not enough [institutions] have thought strategically [about online education]. ... Many have, but there's still a gap between the reality of online learning and the strategic thinking across the board."

Quote:Muser of NM
Jan 27, 2010 14:01:17 PM

Other advantages of online

are elimination of fuel used and time spent for working adults to drive to a physical-plant college for classes, and the ability to view the computer on your own schedule.


The BIGGEST advantage, though, will be cost savings to students which will occur if and when society finds a way to break the "accreditation" lock heretofore owned by existing institutions.

Bits and bytes are not very expensive and most kinds of knowledge can be copied and transmitted this way to masses. The key is to get real knowledge on the cheap and have it "recognized" without paying a monopoly's toll for it. Time marches on, and so will this.

Elmer has now taken to lecturing some tech dork about how he should follow journalistic guidelines when posting on his blog, or something like that. I can't help but to notice how vitriolic his comments were. He sounded like he was ready to burst an artery or have the big one and drop dead.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/12/07/

Just when you thought Gus came back with something to say ...

DD thread started by Gus

Things are looking grim for Democrat Congressman Tim Bishop in NY's 1st district:

Quote:January 20, 2010

Representative Tim Bishop (NY-01) holds a very small lead against potential Republican challenger Randy Altschuler,  47% to 45% in a new SurveyUSA poll sponsored by Firedoglake.

...Looking deeper into the numbers, Altshuler’s support might be slightly stronger than the poll numbers indicate.

I was just about ready to write Gus off and, like an android in a bad sci-fi movie, he comes back from the dead. Does this mark the beginning of Gus' return to the DL fora?

DD thread

Using the guise of driving "diploma mills" out of business, socialists are trying to standardize higher education.  Why?  So they can dictate values, drive up prices and indoctrinate students.  Towards those same ends, now Dear Leader wants to grab control of the student loan industry too.  

Obama Prepares to Drive Up the Costs of Education

Quote:Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)
Monday, January 25th at 1:00PM EST

When Obama takes to the podium for the State of the Union, one of the things he is allegedly going to push is a wholesale federal take over of the student loan industry.

Already, his plans are causing a lot of students, particularly of private higher ed colleges and universities, problems with getting financing for education. Obama intends to shut out the usual third party lenders and put everything within the federal government — under a program that has been shown repeatedly to be highly inefficient and burdensome for academic institutions.

More troubling, by putting everything under the Department of Education, universities and colleges will be forced to adhere to federal rules, some of which conflict with the values of sectarian institutions that presently use the third party student loan system for their students.

The feds controlling the student loan industry means the feds get to tell academic institutions what values they can and cannot promote among the selection and disciplining of their students.

Brigham Young, etc. better watch out.

More troubling, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sent out a letter recently to colleges and universities telling them to get on board the federal program right now. There’s just one problem — the Congress has not passed the program. Likewise, the Department of Education is encouraging outside groups to lobby for the legislation, a clear violation of federal law.

In other words, Duncan is trying to get schools that have expressed real apprehension over the program to get into the program now so Congress will believe the expressed concerns have been ameliorated.

The wholesale take over of education funding by the feds will, like a wholesale take over of healthcare, drive up prices through decreases in competition and, more troubling, allow the feds a backdoor into higher education learning and indoctrination.

Or so they say at Accredibase, a new UK-based service:

Quote:At a time when unaccredited educational establishments, diploma mills and unrecognised accrediting agencies are on the rise, Accredibase™ offers you an invaluable new resource.

This searchable global database brings together powerful information on bogus institutions from a variety of sources.

The aim? To help employers, educators and background screening companies secure only the best candidates with bona fide qualifications.

Quote:6. How can you be sure that the information you’re providing is accurate?

We endeavour to ensure that the information held on Accredibase™ is accurate, and we have a team of researchers constantly checking and enriching the facts. However, as each profile is also built from a variety of third-party sources, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information it holds.

Haven't seen this one mentioned anywhere.  A Michigan law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against Belford High School:

Quote:On November 5, 2009, a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court in Detroit alleging that Belford High School is an internet scam that defrauds students of their money. The lawsuit alleges that Belford High School takes students’ money by offering them a “valid” and “accredited” high school diploma, but that Belford High School is not accredited and that the “diplomas” are not valid. The lawsuit alleges that the two accrediting agencies by which Belford High School claims to be accredited – the International Accreditation Agency For Online Universities (IAAOU) and the Universal Council For Online Education Accreditation (UCOEA) – are not legitimate accrediting agencies. The lawsuit alleges that IAAOU and UCOEA are not recognized by the United States Department of Education and that they are sham organizations set up solely to make Belford High School look like a legitimate school when, in fact, the school actually has no authority to issue valid high school diplomas.
. . .
A copy of the lawsuit, which alleges claims for fraud, breach of contract, and violations of a federal lawsuit, the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act (known as RICO), can be found by clicking here. In the lawsuit, students are asking the federal district court to order Belford High School, IAAOU and UCOEA, along with Education Services Provider, Inc. to pay them damages. The filing asks the Court to award treble (three times) damages for the violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and requests that the Court order the websites www.belfordhighschool.com,  and www.belforduniversity.org to be shut down. The lawsuit was filed by The Googasian Firm, P.C.

Apparently this kid's mom was a leading opponent of a proposed school bond, and this is how the little education nazis tried to pay her back.  Somebody really ought to consider suing the school district for civil rights violations.  



Teen Hunter’s Gun-Related Expulsion Overturned

Quote:Friday, January 22, 2010
  
In a case that received national attention, the Glenn County, Calif., Board of Education on January 22 overturned the expulsion of 17-year-old duck hunter Gary Tudesko, who was expelled from his central California high school after police dogs sniffed out unloaded shotguns in his truck.  The California Legal Action Project (a joint effort by NRA-ILA and the California Rifle and Pistol Association Foundation) provided legal assistance.

The truck was legally parked off-campus, on a public street, and the guns were in the truck because Tudesko had gone hunting that morning before school.  All those factors just show the school’s lack of common sense in enforcing its “zero tolerance” policy; according to guidelines from the California Department of Education, administrators don’t have to recommend expulsion unless a violation is committed at school or at a school activity.  Even that agency’s website notes widespread criticism of “zero tolerance” policies.

On the legal side, the school made many errors, such as confusing its authority to expel students under California’s Education Code with the district attorney’s authority to enforce the state’s “Gun Free School Zones” law.  Both the district attorney and the local police have said Tudesko would face no criminal charges.

Leading California civil rights lawyer Chuck Michel—a longtime advocate for Golden State gun owners—represented Tudesko.  For more information on the Tudesko case, go to Michel’s website at www.calgunlaws.com; for information on the NRA/CRPA Legal Action Project, go to http://www.crpa.org/.