Online degrees fare badly in new Gallup poll

In October 2013, Gallup surveyed 2,000 adults, and found a very high level of skepticism about the validity and usefulness of online degrees. When asked whether they thought employers would regard an online degree as better, the same, or worse than a classroom degree, 49% said "worse." 43% thought online instructors were not as well qualified, and 45% felt online grading standards were less trustworthy.

On the brighter side, more respondents thought that online education offered a wider range of courses, and was a better value for money, than classroom courses.

Of course what we really need to know is whether these perceptions are accurate. Surprisingly little seems to be known about what employers really think.

 

What I'm wondering, just from reading this is how would employers know whether a degree is online or not? Most schools that I know do not designate whether a particular study is online or not- even on diplomas, it just has the school name, and that about it.

 

I agree with Trustbunny.

If I said I graduated from Pepperdine University, nobody would know that I accomplished my degree online unless I provided that information; as Pepperdine University is a well known B&M college who now offers many degrees online. However, on the opposite side of the coin, if I told you I graduated from the University of Phoenix, you would assume I obtained my degree online as that is what UoP is known for.

So ignorance is bliss, and people have preconceived notions which might not be warranted. Such is life.

 

It's actually trustBUDDY... although for some strange reason..trustbunny does sound really cute...

 

I think I'll go with NorCal on this one. I'm an adjunct at Strayer, and the public perception is that most of the for-profits are online schools, and the more uninformed think they are diploma mills.
I would strongly encourage folks to get thier online degrees from a nonprofit B&M if they are starting out or in a new career field.

 

TrustBuddy,

It is easy to identify whether the person received their degree from distance learning or online. Simply comparing the timeline between job and degree studies in resume. For example, I was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California while studying at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. While working in the Northern Virginia, my first master from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. So, with the information likes that prospective employers easily identify my degrees from distance learning.

 

I don't list my degree dates on my resume or corporate bio. I see no reason at all to do so.

 

I've seen surveys of how young people view online education. Those are even more positive. I've seen surveys of employers. While a most don't see online degrees as equivalent to ground degrees, the numbers have been improving over the years. Employers have even admitted they are finding it increasingly difficult to tell whether a degree was earned online. Although I chose not to, there are a number of universities within an hour of me I could have attended online. No one would be able to tell.

I'm always interested in how these questions are asked and what people are thinking when asked about online degrees. It seems, from my experiences, that most people think of for-profit schools when someone mentions online education. Most people don't know that most for-profits have offer courses on ground, many of them have been around before the advent of online degree programs, and that thousands of traditional colleges offer online courses. At traditional schools, the professors who teach ground courses are usually the same ones teaching online courses.

 

I would be interested in knowing how those 2,000 people were chosen. My experience has consistently been that most people know virtually nothing about distance learning and most of those that know anything at all know only what they've heard from TV commercials. I sprinted through Google and found numbers indicating that approximately 30% of the American adults have college degrees. That would be about 600 of the 2,000 respondants. So less than 1/3 of the respondants might actually have a basis of comparison. I could go to the amazon basin and conduct a poll on which is the better dog, a Labrador Retriever or a Golden Retriever. You could get a nice result with interesting numbers but does it really mean anything?

 

I have no problem telling people I earned my degrees online. In fact, I talk about it often. I've even started a program within my organization where we pay for employees to earn their associate degrees (online). I don't list the dates the degrres were earned because I don't see it as important.