Evaluating the Online Option?

Posted on July 1, 2007 by Jennifer Brady

Evaluate Here’s a fairly good overview of why more and more people are looking into, and taking advantage of, the online college education option. I would, however, draw your attention to some of the important meaning in here that’s perhaps ‘between the lines.’ Note for example, the consistent use of the modifier “accredited.” The writer, Chris Chew, is right to always include that qualifier. An online education that isn’t accredited isn’t likely to provide the job, career and salary benefits which are among the chief objectives of most people looking at online, or traditional, college courses.

Secondly, the item references only one online organization which happens to be the largest as measured by enrollment numbers. What the article doesn’t mention, however, is that the would-be online student should decide if biggest is necessarily best, and what qualities you might look for in various online institutions by which to make this judgment. Here’s one: Examine the faculty offering very closely. After all, great teachers make for a great education. At UMassOnline the professors that teach our traditional courses campus- and system-wide are the same professors that provide the online instruction. Our online students, in other words, have access to and are taught by the same world-class faculty that lead our on campus offerings.