The web schools that never take a break

By NEIL PORTEN

Another academic year is over in the real world. But in the virtual world school's never out. And if you're feeling the urge to get ahead of the class there's more choice of courses in cyberspace than there are students looking for holiday jobs.

A recent your net article (October 23) looked at online courses available through New Zealand universities and polytechnics, but those are only a handful of the thousands at all levels around the world. That article highlighted the need for prompt support and feedback for students learning at a distance, and suggested online courses should make full use of the web's interactivity.

If the desire to broaden your mind via the web is not dampened by the prospect of dealing with cowboys and bureaucrats in a different time zone, there are still some things you need to know to protect your investment of time and money.

The questions you need to ask yourself are: Will the qualifications be recognised in New Zealand? How easy is it to enrol? What are the costs and are they value for money? Will I get the quality of tuition and support I expected?

Learning at a distance also requires students to work steadily by themselves. Many students are juggling study with work and family and, while distance courses offer flexibility, you need to ask yourself if online delivery is the best for you. For instance, do you have access to the web at work and at home? Do you have a laptop? Is your hardware - modem especially - up to the job? Are you prepared to print off stuff to read when you can't get to a PC?

Still keen? Okay.

We all know Massey University and the University of Auckland are real. But what about the International University of Technology at Fountain Springs? And will its Bachelor of Computer Science (Mouse Rollerball Maintenance) get you the dream job at Microsoft?

The Commonwealth Heads of Government set up the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) to foster distance learning. This year it published a report on virtual education and highlighted the issues of quality assurance.

It said: "Recognition of qualifications gained, by governments, employers or professional bodies, is the single most important consideration for the individual."

Citizens need to be protected from "the worst excesses of some entrepreneurial providers, whose major concern is the bottom line rather than ... the students".

Perhaps tongue in cheek, the CoL report advises prospective students to be suspicious of any institution with the words "international", "global" or "world" in their titles.

The CoL also says there is a great need to develop "a global currency for higher education qualifications" - a kind of worldwide unit standard - so that building up a degree or diploma from several institutions is possible.

Right now education providers are sticking to traditional recognition of previous study. Quite rightly they want to protect whatever reputation they and their qualifications hold. Students enrolling in online courses are required to meet the same admission criteria as those enrolling in equivalent face-to-face courses. When these criteria include entrance tests before a moderator (as many US institutions require) enrolling becomes impractical.

The Commonwealth of Learning suggests sites that offer advice to prospective students as well as directories of online courses. They include Degree.net, About.com's distance education site and Worldwidelearn.

Degree.net has a good section on accreditation of US institutions; what accreditation is, names of dodgy "non-accredited" accreditation agencies, and news about "diploma mills" and phoney universities. About.com has a link to a Fast Company 1999 article rating five institutions providing courses solely on the web.

The cost of education is never far from the minds of students - it's expensive. A paper at a New Zealand tertiary institution can cost from $400 to $700 on average, more for some postgraduate programmes, and perhaps double that if you are an international student enrolling here.

Mind Edge lists courses typical of many available online and prices range between US$400 and US$2000 ($970-$4850). So you would be paying more than twice as much to take such a course online as you would to do a similar course here as a New Zealand citizen. That might be worth it if what you want to study is not offered by a New Zealand institution.

What will I be getting if I sign up to a course? What does the course material actually look like? As in the previous article about New Zealand courses, going online was not very successful for finding detailed demonstrations of online courses in action. Institutions are hardly thrusting their web-based offerings out at visitors - there's no show-and-sell.

Fathom.com, a consortium of online providers, has the most information about its courses, including detailed descriptions and course objectives, as well as enrolment and technical requirements.

Getting a degree via the internet seems like a good idea. The reality has yet to match the hype.

School's out. Summer is here. Web-based courses are still going to be there come autumn. If you must go online - go surfing instead.

Links

Commonwealth of Learning Report

Degree.net

About.com Distance Learning

Worldwidelearn

Fast Company article

Mind Edge

Fathom