As institutions push to get in on the distance boom, some haven't fully developed how they deliver distance education. Are they designed with distance students in mind or just Web versions of correspondence or on-campus courses, questions Pam Dixon, journalist and author of seven books, including The Virtual College , published by Peterson's in 1996. Students looking for distance education providers need a lot more information to make wise choices, observes Paula Peinovich, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Regents College in Albany, New York. They must use a different set of resources. It's difficult to tell what's real, so checking quality poses challenges for the consumer.
Students can readily assume that getting a degree off-campus is as effortless as logging on.
Questionable organizations can slap up spectacular Web sites and call themselves bona fide educational institutions. Accreditation is the number one verification of the quality of a distance education provider. As a wise consumer, you must be aware that not all accreditors are equal or recognized, says Peter Ewell, Senior Associate at the National Center For Higher Education Management in Boulder, Colorado. Accrediting agencies number in the hundreds, and the list grows longer as unscrupulous institutions create their own accreditors to get past consumers who look no further than the institution's Web site. There are a number of ways to check on the legitimacy of accreditors.