Regional Accreditation Lacks Quality

Well, money can certainly paly a part, but long-standing, ingrained tradition plays an even greater role. Most of the really innovative, non-traditional programs are not initiated by established institutions, but but newer organizations that have been establish to meet the needs of those whose needs are not being met by traditional universities.

when I say institutional center, I mean things such as offering class only on days and times that faculty want to teach them (as opposed to when students are availbalbe to take them). Requiring students to come on-campus for things like registration, matriculation, assessment testing, guidance counseling, tutoring, library services and other things that can be offered effectively off-campus (via technology, local education centers, videoconference and other means). Rigid residency requirements (you have to pay a certain amount of tuition to us before we will give you a diploma), lack of flexibility of course transfers (e.g. " I know that you took Spanish 214 at your other university, but we require Spanish 213 to meet the general ed language requirement, so you'll have to take that course in addition to the one you already have) and other such practices, put the convenience of the institution before the needs of the student.

Fortunately, many "traditional" unviersities are now coming to grips with the fact that their student body is far older and more non-traditional than ever before and is becoming more so. They are offering weekend classes, more night classes, and, of course, distance learning. I encourage my university to look at Capella, Walden, Jones International, University of Maryland University College, Excelsior, Charter Oak, Thomas Edison and the foreign schools, such as UNISA, the Open University of the UK, Athabasca, Edith Cowan, University of Andalou and others (the foreign schools are often light years ahead of what we are doing in the U.S.). These schools serve as examples of what you need to have in place when you offer non-traditional and distance programs. They tend to look at students as customers, which naturally engenders a more student-centered institution. The traditional institution over the centuries has been the community of scholars, so the focus has been to build things around the wishes and desires of faculty. later on, schools have been built around the demands of collectively bargained union negiations.

Tony Piña
Administrator, Northeastern Illinois University

 

Thanks for your thoughtful response, Tony.

I am not a professional educator but it seems to me that people learn differently and that one approach to education may not suit all people. For instance, some people need to be in class because they learn through verbal communication rather than reading. Others have the self-discipline to take a textbook, study it and learn the material without any other stimulus. Taking the latter example, where a professor may be redundant, why can't universities substantially reduce credit costs for those students who may only need to be tested (very much like is done in the private sector) to validate the work they have done?

Taking this one step further, couldn't you create a whole university whose curriculum is structured in this fashion which catered to this type of learning behavior? The credit costs of such a university would be very low (since a staff of professors would not be required) and a student who cannot afford the extremely high cost of current college credits may still obtain a higher education at a much more affordable rate.

What I have failed to see in Distance Learning is the reward to students who are doing most of the work themselves. These students don't require classrooms, parking lots, heating and cooling services, cleaning services, lecturing professors, etc. and yet their credit costs (most of the time) are equal to students physically attending the university. If you did the cost accounting, this would not make any sense.

 

There are at least three universities that do exactly as you describe, and two of them will even give experience credit if you are able to convince them or prove to them that you are deserving of the credit. All three would allow a person to graduate simply by testing out, and this method would most often be cheaper than doing it another way. The difference between them and most of the unaccredited schools is that they assess and verify experience rather than just give it.

I like the concept of testing for credit and PLA, I just wish that more areas were offered and more schools would allow it.

 

Excelsior
Charter Oak State
Thomas Edison State
Western Governors

 

Some of these still require the same tuition even if you test for it I believe. That can amount to thousands of dollars in tuition for taking a few tests. How can a school justify that? I recognize that students should not necessarily be treated unequally but when one has obtained the education through life experience or because they are autodidactic, why should the pay the same tuition?