Google Groups' Advertising

I decided to use Google Groups to check out a.e.d. When I entered "alt.education.distance" as a search term in Groups, a page with a lot of hits came up, of course. But what also came up is there advertising. Along with Devry and a couple of other legitimate options, the following were available just a click away:

Lexington
Columbus
Lacrosse
California Coast
Novus

Geez, the USA Today must be providing their accounts.

 

Why must you always pick on CCU, Rich?

 

Re: Re: Google Groups' Advertising

Now, you know I don't pick on them. I pick on those who exaggerate the utility of CCU's degrees, the California Approval process, and the no-dissertation DBA.

 

Apparently the only test that Google applies in selecting these particular ads for your screen is an automated relevancy test. The department that originally accepts the ads is probably signing up advertisers with a tremendous variety of products, doesn't investigate any of them and doesn't have a clue about academic propriety in distance learning.

Nevertheless, Google itself is (in my opinion) a very useful indicator of a school's nature and credibility. By running searches on questioned institutions, you can get a pretty good picture of what the school is up to and who recognizes it. Needless to say, some of the Google advertisers would fail the Google test.

I'll bet that we will be seeing a lot more of this soon. Google gets so many inquiries that the pseudo-schools will all want to be standing there on the DL streetcorner under the Google streetlight, propositioning passers-by.

Everytime anyone makes a Google search,they are identifying themselves as a target audience interested in something that somebody wants to sell.

 

Hey, if you want to advertise an "Ivy League" school you place it on Google. I'm wondering if WAUC is paying "big bucks" to have these schools strategically placed on Google's group listings?

 

While I've always agreed with Rich's (and many others) opinion on the utility and/or value of the above mentioned degrees, I think it should come as no suprise that media outlets take no resposibility in choosing their customers. Here in Los Angeles, local television on Saturday mornings and late at night are dominated by infomercials. One can order a wide range of (this forum's favorite term) "less than wonderful" products. Magazines and newspapers are filled with adds for questionable goods and services.

My point is: the ultimate resposibility resides with the people who utilize these schools, and with the human resources departments, who, by the definition of their job title, should be well informed on the issue of accreditation.

 

Unfortunately, if a good percentage of advertised DL programs are substandard or even flat-out scams, then before too long the general public is going to start associating all of DL with substandard education and with scams.

Comedians are already getting laughs with the phrase "internet degree".