FIT Ousts Dean Critical of DL

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i14/14a00702.htm

 

Why is AACSB so opposed to distance learning? There is a whole lot of 'distance work' being done in the business world. Why can't we distance learn too?

 

I don't know this for sure, but I believe the issue concerns the admissions criteria for on-campus versus dl students. The on-campus business students require a GMAT/GRE along with a minimum grad point for the undergrad. Their online program administered by Bisk doesn't require any of those things to the best of my memory. I think this has to do with maximizing enrollment to maximize $$$.

Something else I found interesting is that the MS in Systems Management that used to be offered through Bisk was exactly the same as the MS in System Management (IS concentration) on-campus. Recently the DL degee name was changed to a MS in Information Technology. It still has the same coursework but now it is a degree that to the best of my knowledge is *not* offered on-campus. I think it is always disappointing when the DL degree is somehow tainted by being named different than the on-campus degrees.

 

The real problem lies in what is mentioned in the article:

"cheapening the value of the institute's degrees "

There are still academics who do not believe DL students can learn. They still believe that opening education via DL is the same as lowering admission standard or lowering graduation standard, and hence afraid that their programmes are not just for the best of the top students. They are afraid that DL students, who are recruited via a "lower admission standard", will share the same programme or value as with those who are "the best of the breed" in their eyes.

AACSB is not the organisation opposed to DL. AMBA is another one. They require compulsory residential elements for all MBA programmes they accredited. So for programmes to obtain AMBA accreditation, they add some short residential elements to the programme. I doubted if these short residency can significantly make a DL programme different.

 

AACSB is NOT against DL. But some of the students and faculty at FIT ARE against DL.

 

I don't think that's it at all! I think the administration is against setting the same admission standards for DL students. If this is correct, then I agree with the students and the faculty that this waters down the degree. There is absolutely no reason in the world why DL students should not meet the same GPA/GMAT score entrance standards as on-campus students.

The FIT administration is wanting to let everyone into their DL programs (similar to other programs we know) and let the chips fall where they may. What they don't understand is that this affects the respectability of the program.

 

More importantly, what new DL programs is FIT going to unveil?

 

From the Article: About 25 students protested outside the building where trustees were meeting this month. One of the students, Amy Ho, a part-time M.B.A. student, believes that the university has backed off a commitment to get the accreditation that will make her degree marketable.

The accrediting group has approved dozens of business schools that offer online courses or programs, and a spokesman for the AACSB said delivery methods have nothing to do with whether a school becomes accredited. But some students and faculty members worry that the admissions requirements for online students might be lowered, cheapening the value of the institute's degrees and making it harder for it to meet the association's standards. "I'm concerned that in order to solve a short-term cash-flow problem, they're jeopardizing the long-term value of the degree," said Ms. Ho."

*sigh*

Ms. Ho better wake up and realize that SHE has to make herself marketable, and that the "value of the degree" is only as valuable as the abilities of the person who holds it.

Her comments just remind me of those types who go to school, get multiple degrees and never get too far in life, then complain that they should be further based on the school they went to and spent tens of thousands on. When will people learn that these things guarantee you nothing but a better chance, and that the rest is up to the individual?

 

I sincerely hope this firing was not because he was standing up for higher standards. I'm getting tired of all the greed that seems to drowning some academic institutions. It's repulsive, a mockery to distance education, and to education as a whole.

No one who truely wants DL to reach the same level as B&M wants any school to lower their standards for DL students.