Online Degree Programs: Overview

Introduction

Online degree programs, also known as distance degrees or distance learning programs, make use of various Internet technologies to enable individuals to complete coursework toward associate’s degrees, bachelor’s degrees, or advanced graduate degrees without traveling to a physical campus. Rather than sitting in a traditional classroom, students learn on their home computers through email, dedicated course sites, and multimedia. Students also interact with teachers and classmates using online chat or forum software. Online degree programs are also convenient for institutions because they can provide updated and expanded learning materials instead of relying solely on potentially outdated textbooks.

Many online degree programs are offered by reputable institutions, including Harvard University, Columbia University, and Cornell University, which possess current accreditation; some online degree programs are entirely virtual operations with no physical campus at all. Increasingly, schools with established reputations are adding online programs to their existing offerings. The vast majority of large colleges and universities in the United States offer some form of distance learning. These programs often offer significant advantages in terms of cost and convenience. In addition, as various forms of nontraditional higher education become more common, some students who have little conventional academic experience may still be able to earn degrees.

Unfortunately, the popularity of online degrees has been accompanied by the rise of unscrupulous diploma mills. The Internet has made it easier for diploma mills to promote their programs and reach more people quickly. These companies cater to individuals seeking to purchase fraudulent credentials, but may also deceive unsuspecting students who wish to pursue a legitimate degree. One method fraudulent schools may use is to use a prestigious-sounding name. Other diploma mills will advertise accreditation but from questionable entities. These are important issues since work from an unaccredited school may result in credits not being recognized at other schools or credentials being unsatisfactory for employers. As a result, many reputable online schools are spending extra time and personnel to ensure that they are in compliance with valid accreditation requirements. Several entities including the Federal Trade Commission, the Distance Education and Training Council, and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation publish guidelines for prospective students and employers to help them recognize potentially fraudulent programs.

Understanding the Discussion

Accreditation: Official certification by an external body that recognizes the program or institution as meeting certain predetermined standards of quality. An entire school may be accredited by a national or regional accrediting agency, or a particular program within a school may be accredited by a specialized accrediting agency.

Associate’s degree: An academic degree that is conferred after the completion of two years of study.

Bachelor’s degree: An academic degree that is conferred after the completion of a full undergraduate course of study, usually spanning four years.

Blended learning: Also called "hybrid learning," a term used to describe instruction that takes place partially online and partially in a physical classroom or laboratory setting.

Diploma mill: A business that sells false transcripts, references, and academic honors to individuals.

Life experience credit: College credits earned not by completing courses, but through the accumulation of equivalent knowledge gained from personal or professional experience. Life experience credit can include time a student has spent in the military or credit for college classes taken more than ten years ago. However, most reputable schools only offer this in response to a student petition and only for a small portion of the total degree program.

History

Although online degree programs did not appear until a few years after the development of the personal computer in the 1980s, the concept of distance learning or self-study is far from a modern innovation. Correspondence learning, for example, is a form of education that predates online learning, in which non-resident students complete guided readings and tests at home while corresponding regularly with a teacher by mail.

Correspondence courses became an increasingly important form of education in the Western world during the nineteenth century. They were offered by many institutions, including Exeter College in England, the Toussaint-Langenscheidt Correspondence School in Europe, and Illinois-Wesleyan University and the Baptist Theological Seminary in the United States. Historically, religious institutions have been especially active in offering distance learning options to their students. These programs were essential for people in rural and remote areas, who may have had limited transportation. Learning at a distance also allowed people to study with someone with special expertise and not have to travel.

By the 1960s, emerging technologies were beginning to change the way colleges and universities delivered their distance learning classes. While print-based materials were still very important, many schools started to make use of large-scale public broadcasting systems like radio and television networks to present additional lessons to their students. One notable pioneer in the field of distance learning was the Open University in England, which was established by the British Ministry of Education in collaboration with the British Broadcasting Corporation. The university began serving its first students in 1971 and had enrolled more than 70,000 students by 1980.

During the 1970s and 1980s, other tools (such as audio and video cassettes, laser discs, and fax machines) became available to distance learning institutions and their students. During the same period, a few large companies and organizations began to experiment with computer-based training (CBT) and online coursework. However, these early web-based lessons were extremely expensive to create and administer, and students could not interact directly with a teacher—only with a computer that was programmed to ask questions and respond, in a limited way to their answers.

In the 1990s, personal computers became increasingly affordable and available. Also, the growth of sophisticated Internet technologies, such as video teleconferencing, video lectures, interactive animated presentations, slides, annotated lecture notes, email communication, and online discussion groups, facilitated faster and more complex virtual interactions between teachers and students.

Online learning became a viable option for degree seekers whose lifestyles made it difficult or impossible to enroll in classes at a physical campus. Soon, it was not just single courses that were offered online, but entire degree programs available in subjects as varied as environmental science, business management, library science, history, economics, literature, and politics.

One 2011 study of online learning in the United States reported that over 6.1 million students took online courses in fall 2010, an increase of 560,000 students over 2009 numbers. That 10 percent growth rate was far greater than the 1 percent growth rate for overall higher education enrollment in 2010.

Despite their popularity, online degree programs have had their detractors. Critics reason that no virtual learning environment, no matter how advanced, can replace lively face-to-face discussions between teachers and students, or the ability for learners to receive immediate feedback. Some subjects, such as medicine, engineering, and architecture, can be difficult to adapt to online instruction. Other opponents point out that online courses make it harder to prevent academic dishonesty by students and note that some courses of study require practical, hands-on experience that cannot be easily replicated in an online classroom. In response, vendors began developing camera and keystroke-tracking systems to address the issue of cheating and to ensure that the person enrolled in the course is actually taking the course. Many feared these systems would violate the privacy rights of students since they would exist in the students’ home.

Finally, potential employers may still consider online degrees inferior to traditional degrees when considering job candidate—partly because many degree-granting institutions are simply too young to have gained a reputation for excellence, and partly because the proliferation of diploma mills can make it difficult to distinguish a real degree from a fake one. Some employers have also been wary of life experience credits and may not consider their value equivalent to traditional course credits.

On the other side of the debate, educators, administrators, and students who are involved in online degree programs argue that such courses are just as rigorous as their traditional counterparts. Because students are responsible for setting their own schedules and actively participating in virtual discussions (often while simultaneously holding a full-time job), online classes may even require more effort and dedication than conventional ones. In addition, online degree programs make it possible for nontraditional students, especially working adults who may never have attended college, to have access to an education without sacrificing work or family commitments. Online degree programs help to overcome barriers of entry caused by geographical location, and open up educational options for students in countries across the world.

A few scandals highlighted the importance of oversight and accreditation for online degree programs. In 2003, for example, it was revealed that a high-ranking official in the Department of Homeland Security possessed a fraudulent doctoral degree, master’s degree, and bachelor’s degree; all were purchased from the same diploma mill. In 2007, six people who had applied for jobs with the New York City Fire Department were arrested for falsifying records when their degrees turned out to be illegitimate.

Online Degree Programs Today

Online degree programs have become ubiquitous in the twenty-first century. They are no longer an unusual phenomenon, and for many students, they are the first option—not the last resort—for continuing education. Additionally, institutions of higher education have increasingly offered full undergraduate degrees and accelerated bachelor's programs online as well. By the mid-to-late 2010s, online degrees had not only grown in popularity but in respectability among employers. A 2018 Northeastern University study revealed that over six in ten human resources managers surveyed said they viewed online and traditional in-person degrees as equally valuable and that more than half predicted that future advanced degrees would largely be obtained online.

Enrollment in online courses and degree programs soared during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns in Spring 2020 to control viral spread resulted in most courses and programs suddenly and unexpectedly becoming online-only. The format of online courses varied significantly during that period, from traditional lectures to complex multimedia experiences. Studies done at City College suggested that students enrolled in large introductory online courses fared better than those in small, discussion-based seminars.

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics showed that in Fall 2020, more than 70 percent of undergraduate and graduate students signed up for at least one distance learning course, and about half pursued distance learning courses exclusively at that time. The share of students learning online cooled a bit in 2021, as pandemic-era restrictions eased and in-person instruction became more readily available again. Nonetheless, online course and degree enrollments remained higher overall than they had before the pandemic, and research suggested more traditional-age college students were opting for online degrees over in-person instruction in the ensuing academic years.

Online degree programs continue to face other challenges as well. For instance, critics have objected to aggressive marketing toward and recruitment of students for online programs. In 2022 Congress investigated postsecondary institutions' partnerships with online program management (OPM) companies, expressing concern over tuition-sharing arrangements in which OPM companies retain as much as 60 percent of student tuition. Critics say these companies lack transparency and have a perverse incentive to recruit and enroll aggressively at the expense of offering high-quality programming. In early-to-mid 2023, the Education Department proposed a regulatory rule change that would redefine third parties and disclosure practices.

These essays and any opinions, information or representations contained therein are the creation of the particular author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of EBSCO Information Services.

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