I am not sure if this has been suggested before, however I am sure that we have enough expertise in this forum and in the articles published, to develop and publicise Codes of Practice for distance learning institutions and for accreditation bodies. These could cover a number of matters including staff to student ratios, course lengths, provision for verification of exam results, requirements for regular visits by accreditors, provison for.... well you know what I mean. If we could get some of the reputable DL colleges to sign up to this and publicise the fact in a positive way as a sort of international quality mark we might make matters awkward for the shady operators and perhaps persuade some of the borderline cases to put their houses in order. Please note, I am not volunteering to do the actual work. My specialist subject would be procrastination, if only I could get round to it!
