DLAB - whats the value?

What is the value of such accreditation.
It is legitimate but unrecognized.

http://www.usdla.org/html/resources/accreditation.htm

The Distance Learning Accreditation Board (DLAB) is a service of its parent, the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA). DLAB officially commenced its activities in December 2004.

 

We normally discuss accreditation in terms of its impact on degree acceptability. Because that was the focus of my doctoral research, I'm probably more vocal than most in that regard.

The USDLA is doing something different here. They're establishing an accreditation program that should have value, but not for degree acceptance. Rather, the value will come like a "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval." If a DL program gets this accreditation, it is presumed to have gone through their evaluation process and met their standards. If students and other consumers of DL grow to appreciate--or even expect--this accreditation in their decisions to enroll in or accept degrees from DL programs, then it will be successful.

The biggest question I have--and it went unanswered when I posed it to USDLA--is whether or not they will accept schools/programs lacking USDoE or CHEA accreditation. I hope not. Because USDLA is not a recognized (by CHEA nor the USDoE) accreditor, its accreditation could be misconstrued for the reasons above. But by limiting their (USDLA's) accreditation to those organizations otherwise accredited by USDoE- or CHEA-recognized agencies, they avoid this pitfall.

Bottom line: Their accreditation should stand on its merits as a measure of quality only, and not on its value in terms of degree recognition--of which there is none. (But a false impression of such could be made by unaccredited schools if they were successful with DLAB.)

 

I hope that this text is a work in progress, because right now it's just stupid:

The Distance Learning Accreditation Board (DLAB) is a service of its parent, the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA)...

Disclaimer: The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) does not accredit, endorse, or speak to the quality of any program for any institution...

Isn't that a contradiction?

http://www.usdla.org/html/resources/accreditation.htm

I think (from what we're given it's hard to know) that this new USDLA accreditation isn't intended to be institutional accreditation like DETC provides. Instead, it's specialized accreditation of a school's DL delivery format.

If that's the right interpretation, then it's probably a very good thing. There are some fully-accredited universities out there whose DL provision is pitiful. No matter how accredited a school is, if it can't deliver its DL programs and resources to students in remote locations, then those students just aren't receiving the real deal.

But I emphatically agree with Rich that the USDLA shouldn't award its accreditation to schools that lack broader recognized institutional accreditation (or its foreign equivalent). That would just confuse prospective students rather than helping them.

I'd also like to see a re-write of this webpage to clarify just what the USDLA is and isn't doing.