tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76663091914431899012024-03-14T02:51:46.792-07:00Journal of Online EducationUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7666309191443189901.post-43772258395396182242014-09-07T12:23:00.001-07:002014-09-07T12:23:37.825-07:00<h2>
<span style="color: blue;">
Fred DiUlus' Insider Look at National Collegiate Accreditation</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There are two groups of
"Approved" government sanctioned college accrediting agencies in the world today. One
group represents the USA's Department of Education. It contains
a list of approved private organizations that permits their
sanctioned and accredited members to qualify for and receive US Government
student loan resources. If an accrediting agency is not approved by the US Education
Department nor has sought such approval, then that agency's
members are not eligible to apply for US Government loan assistance
for their students</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The other group of
government accrediting agencies are strictly government licensed. This other group of agencies represent
official approval to operate and award degrees in each of
the 50 American States, US Commonwealth countries, US Territories,
and 193 nations everywhere else in the world listed with the United Nations as institutions of higher learning. These states
and nations sanction and license schools to
conduct programs and award degrees within their jurisdictions. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In the case
of individual national government sanctioning bodies, a membership
in UNESCO, the education arm of the United Nations allows for
reciprocity by, between, and among member nations for degrees earned in authorized colleges in those
nations. In every instance these degrees are recognized by the government
issuing the approval. Currently the US Department of Education does not
provide reciprocity for US students to attend one of these other
accredited international schools with US government assisted student aid. Not because they can't but because the Congress has been silent on it. That is the prohibition.</span></div>
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The USA Department of Education however has many accredited sanctioning agencies on its approved list. The
ones below are those that are the most notorious approval agencies that
accredit member schools and permit their accredited members students individiual eligibility for US
Government Guaranteed Student Loans:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.acics.org/">Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges
and Schools<span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></u></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.detc.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10.0pt;">Distance Education and Training Council</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.msche.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10.0pt;">Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> *</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.neasc.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10.0pt;">New England Association of Schools and Colleges</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> *</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.ncahlc.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10.0pt;">North Central Association of Colleges
and Schools</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> *</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.nwccu.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10.0pt;">Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> *</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.sacscoc.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10.0pt;">Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> *</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.wascweb.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10.0pt;">Western Association of Schools and
Colleges</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> *</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.abhe.org/index.html"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10.0pt;">The Association for Biblical Higher
Education</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.aale.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10.0pt;">The American Academy for Liberal Education </span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.tracs.org/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10.0pt;">Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and
Schools</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Six of the agencies noted
above with an asterisk * advertise in one way or the other that they are among
an elite group of six regionally approved accrediting agencies. This slightly misleading
information overlooks the fact that there are at least five other agencies
who are also approved. Technically, the others are not regional, they are
national. Regional agencies may or may not accept transfer credit
from either "national" or their regional cohorts; a fact the public is basically uniformed about regarding this right to accept or refuse a transfer student even thought they are coming from a so-called accredited body sanctioned by the US , Department of Education. The difference between national and regional agencies is simple. Nationals can accredit colleges in any state, US territory, or US Possession such as the US Virgin Islands, Guam Puerto Rico, the Marshall Islands, et al. Regional agencies by their nature are tied to the region in which they were created to serve. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">One last thing: </span><span style="color: #000066; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Of all the accrediting agencies approved by the </span><span style="color: #000066; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/"><span style="color: #000066; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">US Department
of Education</span></a></span><span style="color: #000066; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">, the one rated tops is the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges. In the total scheme of things, it is a hollow accolade. The only word that counts today is the word ACCREDITED. Where that accreditation comes from is becoming virtually meaningless as no universal measuring stick is available except perhaps regional bias and prejudice to determine among the student graduates from the various accredited venues, which of them learned and which of them really learned.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #000066; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">______________________________________________</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.freddiulus.info/">Dr. Fred DiUlus</a> is the CEO and Dean of <a href="http://www.globalacademyonline.com/">Global Academy Online</a>, a builder of online and hybrid universities for the past dozen
years.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7666309191443189901.post-47469137323092207602012-07-12T13:31:00.002-07:002012-07-13T13:41:44.244-07:00College Accreditation: A True False Test<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;">Here's a college
entrance exam </span></b><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;">no accredited college or university will ever give to their
entering students. Perhaps they should if Truth is what they seek. It
requires answering three statements with either a True or
False response. Each incorporates major ethical issues plaguing American
higher education. The fall out of the answers may affect potential
students everywhere
</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;">Number I.</span></strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"> A legitimate college degree is only
earned through a school accredited by an agency approved by the US
Department of Education.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;">
True / False
</span></strong><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;"> Number II.</span></strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;"> A degree of any
kind -- Associate of Arts to a PhD -- received from a college or university
other than one accredited by a US Department of Education
approved agency is or should be considered a <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;">diploma mill.
</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></strong></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;">
True / False
</span></strong><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span><strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;">Number
III.</span></strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;"> A college/university degree accredited by a US Department of
Education agency guarantees graduates a job.
<br />
<strong><br /></strong></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;"><strong>
True / False
</strong></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
<strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599;">The Answer KEY:
</span></strong></span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span><b><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
<strong>Number I.</strong></span></b><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"> Not one single institution of higher learning in
America, not one, is, or ever has been, required to have
accreditation awarded by any agency approved or not approved by the US
Department of Education. In America, accredited schools covet and
may even flaunt their regional accreditation so that they can attract
students. The applicants may not be able to afford the education but will
easily qualify for federal guaranteed student loans to pay the
school's tuition. Colleges are paid directly from the Feds. The number of
students on guaranteed student aid now exceeds 80 percent of the
learner populations in most public and private colleges in America.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;">It has been suggested
that should the US federal guaranteed student loan program cease to exist tomorrow,
the number of students attending American accredited colleges and universities
would drop more than half by nightfall. The rest would dwindle by half again by
the end of the last paid semester. Tuition costs, even in state schools,
are increasing so rapidly it is prohibitive for most students to attend were it
not for the student loan program. The only way for a college to get
on the Government guaranteed student loan list is to be accredited by an
approved by a US Ed Department private agency,
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
Are the schools driven purely by the economic factor to stay in business and
prosper? </span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;">Many suggest the real motive of American accredited colleges in
sustaining accreditation and paying the huge fees demanded by accrediting
agencies and dealing with assessment visits from peers to analyze their
programs is indeed driven by economic advantage.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
Detractors also suggest the accreditation deception assures a closed higher
education monopoly along with the ability to increase tuition without
objection. Historically this is an enabling ongoing unobstructed private access
to billions of dollars of student guaranteed education funding.
Thousands of potentially competing schools, among them the best in the world,
are left out of the loop. They cannot touch this federal money even though
they are licensed in their home states or accredited by a foreign
jurisdiction. </span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;">These outcasts not only include new
online and distance education schools, they also count in their midst colleges
that are older than the USA and have been teaching and putting out
scholars for two, three, and four hundred years.
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span><b><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
<strong>Number II.</strong></span></b><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"> Thus, the idea that any school not accredited by a US
approved agency must be a diploma or degree mill is a perception that is
also totally false. This mythical conclusion has all the earmarks of an ongoing
conspiracy. It seems to have originated with the FBI's infamous DipScam
investigation years back when a lone agent and his staff zealously took on the
paper mills -- those schools that would give you a degree for a few
hundred bucks and mastermind a bogus transcript for you to boot.
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
The FBI undercover job has long since been discounted as a grand waste of
taxpayer money. Even though the agent in charge gathered over 200 bogus
degrees to prove the point that more money was needed to thwart the growth of
mills via the Internet, Congress realized the the problem was not with the
mills but with the demand of the public to seek out and acquire a
credential whether it was worth the paper it was printed on or not. it is
the public that demands easy and fast and the mills were only
meeting the need. That is Basic Marketing 101. The public drives the market,
not the other way around. The attention, however, did change the way the diplomas
were marketed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;">The original diploma
mills that survive, reinvented themselves and continue to do a robust business
by just labeling what they offer as FAKE.
They sell degrees and transcripts by the thousands just like they used to. It's
almost a billion dollar a year business. It turns out that defining what
a diploma mill is and what phonies actually meet the profile is actually pretty
easy. It doesn't take a physics professor to point out whether a school has a
place in the cosmos. But those in love with the concept that all
colleges need to be accredited choose to propagate the myth that a school
not accredited is a diploma mill. Thus, the conspiracy to perpetrate the myth
to cast all unaccredited or foreign accredited institutions as degree mills
remain unabated.
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
The attitude is <em>'accreditation arrogance'</em> because the first
principle of American higher education is pretty simple - Accreditation
is voluntary, and a college or university has a choice to seek, or not seek,
American accreditation.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;">Number III.</span></strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"> The final
fallacy is that one must attend an accredited school because employers will not
hire an applicant if the degree comes from an unaccredited college or
university.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
Let's put the cards on the table. Human relation departments are not charged by
their CEO's to make sure job applicants graduated from an accredited
school before they are hired although HR departments are becoming
more aware of what is and what is not a good degree and how to prove it.
In at least one western state in America, college graduates must meet
this requirement for every job in state government that requires a degree. </span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;">Over 150 nations, American states,
religious organizations license schools to operate and offer approved
degree programs. Colleges and universities in these nations and those in most
of the world find degrees earned from institutions licensed in these countries
and specialty organizations perfectly legitimate. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
The question any prospective student should ask is "will my degree be
recognized?" not "Is the school accredited?"
USA accreditation guarantees nothing except a perceived status but it alone is
not even the guarantee of a
transfer into another so-called accredited school. If you doubt that, stop by
the registrar's office at a claimed accredited college and ask if the degree
from that institution will guarantee admission into the graduate program of another 'accredited'
school other than programs they possess internally. Sadly, jobs are never
guaranteed for grads, anywhere, regardless of the school, or so-called best of
the best. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span><b><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;">There
are absolutely no guarantees.
</span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt;"><br />
The real benefactor in all this is you. </span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;">Look beyond the scarlet letter from American
accreditation fanatics would have you wear if you choose to attend a perfectly
legitimate and respected unaccredited institution. If you can afford to
break the yoke of servitude put on by the private regional accrediting agencies
and the US Department of Education and get past them without a student loan,
then alternative higher education choices become endless and to say the least
an endless opportunity.
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
Worldwide 17,000 institutions of higher learning exist that are approved; only
about 3000 are USA accredited. Would you want a degree from a 200 year
old international institution that reeks of well known graduates or a
recently accredited university that is five years old. In this lite,
accreditation of the type put upon us by the education industry in the USA is
nothing but propaganda of the worst kind.
</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br />
With the advent of the Internet and instant Virtual education access, selecting
a school outside the USA is far more available then ever before. Do not
be afraid to find the College that suits you even if it is located 12,000
miles away.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt;">___________<br />
</span><strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Author:</span></strong><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;">Dr.Fred DiUlus</span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-family: Times, serif; font-size: 10pt;"> is
the founder and volunteer director of the Center for Ethics in Free
Enterprise, the 15 year old founder of Global Academy Online, Inc, the
international university builder. Dr., D is a frequent public speaker, author
of over 20 books including the Federal Financial Digest and The Federal
Financial Register Series that exposed hundreds of corrupt banks
and savings and loans and banks during the 1980's..,He is the author of the
popular Free eBook </span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://globalao.site.aplus.net/best_worst_order.html" title="Best &amp;amp; Worst Online SCHOOLS Order Page"><span style="color: #888888; font-family: Times, serif;">BEST
WORST in ONLINE DEGREE PROGRAM PROVIDERS</span></a> </span><span style="background-color: #ffe599; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7666309191443189901.post-46590337405055658992012-06-19T13:00:00.001-07:002012-06-19T13:20:35.313-07:00100 Marginal Online Colleges and Growing<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">According to the 2012 edition of </span><b style="background-color: white;"><i><a href="http://www.globalacademyonline.com/bestworstschoolsonline.html">The BestWorst Online Degree Program Providers</a>, </i></b><span style="background-color: white;">100 accredited online college providers are
marginal at best. They offer little academic rigor and virtually no chance of
transfer to a top tier university for an advanced degree.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>Each of these
marginal online schools offer degree programs rated a number One (1) on a One (1) to Five (5) rating scale. Top rated schools can achieve the highest rating of number Five (5).
Almost 25% of the almost 400 schools currently rated and ranked are found in
the poorest category.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">st list has grown over the years. Marginal online programs
of universities attract many non-traditional students returning to school and in
a hurry for a degree. They throw caution to the wind and will opt to take what
they think is the easy road. They want to achieve satisfaction but insist on a school that seems both easy and “accredited”.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />Most
number (1) schools are really academically poor. In addition to their rating,
they have one other thing in common and that is a marginal and poorly trained faculty. Online
faculty, according to top online schools, should be every bit as good as
traditional faculty lecturing in a classroom and carry equal or better credentials. It appears the
current crop of online marginal colleges is just throwing together faculty and
degree programs left and right. The motive, it seems clear to critics, is to keep up and get in on
the cash bonanza bandwagon they perceive is ahead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />The biggest marginalized players
in the Online Degree provider game are those universities that really
stand out. Students dedicated to getting a college education who have investigated the scene know exactly who they are and avoid them. One of the sad commentaries about the marginal schools is
that many potential learners are in a hurry for a degree and throw caution to
the wind. They do not investigate and fall victim to false promises of success and job success. They will opt to take what they think is the easy road to achieve
their education goal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />Questionable colleges are lying in wait
and laying the trap for unsuspecting students that cannot see whether the target
institution is or is not a degree mill or a quality online provider. Often, by the time an
unsuspecting learner has caught on to the scam being blinded by the promise of a quick and easy road to an accredited degree, it’s too late.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><b><i><u><a href="http://www.globalacademyonline.com/bestworstschoolsonline.html">The BestWorst Online Degree Program Providers</a></u></i></b> is published with new updates annually. The eBook is a free download from several online sources. It
weighs ratings heavily on the quality and experience of each university’s teaching faculty.<br />____________________</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="author">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dr. </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: x-small;">Fred DiUlus - author, educator, and online
education pioneer is the father of online college ratings and rankings, He is the volunteer Director and CEFE Fellow at the Center for Ethics in Free Enterprise and the CEO
and Dean of Global Academy Online, Inc., online university
builders.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7666309191443189901.post-56224186809313239532011-11-26T15:21:00.000-08:002011-11-26T16:13:57.185-08:00A Conversation with Online Education Pioneer, Dr. Fred DiUlus<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbXlUAHdlk2A0ROIeeWLh913-AoX1OFEMQ9JXhVms9hVo_vcYfLYPnL986TRt9XbD789fnvxU5_B_m9T6rMH2EgWXnP4gdoCHMVdOdnuiP6ZCXdwdcIvJD-_ULuw6QApxvr-FsJggoZQ/s1600/DIULUS.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 202px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 175px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5679449522433267986" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbXlUAHdlk2A0ROIeeWLh913-AoX1OFEMQ9JXhVms9hVo_vcYfLYPnL986TRt9XbD789fnvxU5_B_m9T6rMH2EgWXnP4gdoCHMVdOdnuiP6ZCXdwdcIvJD-_ULuw6QApxvr-FsJggoZQ/s320/DIULUS.JPG" /></a> ____________________<br /></div><br /><div align="justify">The following is an interview with Dr. Fred DiUlus, CEO and Founder of Global Academy Online, Inc. He is an online education pioneer and the father of online college program ratings and rankings. The interview with the <em><strong>Journal of Online Education</strong></em> was over the 2011 Thanksgiving Holiday. He shares with us some of his career choices in online education and the past and future of one of the fastest growing industries today.</div>____________________<br /><br /><strong>J.O.O.E:</strong> How did you, a Wall Street veteran of three decades and recognized by US NEWS as one of the nation’s top investment experts ever get involved in online higher education?<br /><br /><strong>Dr. DiUlus:</strong> In 1989, the financial publishing firm I had purchased was moved from Houston, Texas to the Jacksonville, Florida area. Wanting to share what I had learned over the years, I solicited a part time teaching position at the University of North, Florida, one of the fastest growing regional universities in the nation at the time. I was invited to teach one semester of Business Ethics and was told by the Dean not to get too comfortable teaching the subject as “ethics” concentrations for business professors was just a flash in the pan. I ended up teaching the course as well as Entrepreneurship ten straight years, the last five as a fulltime lecturer. During those years I developed a systems methodology to teach applied ethics and entrepreneurship online. The result was the first private education Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship. I later named it the <em>Center for Ethics in Free Enterprise</em> and offered the very first online Applied Ethics and Entrepreneurship certificate training programs.<br /><br /><strong>J.O.O.E:</strong> That was a pretty radical departure from your expertise wasn’t it?<br /><br /><strong>Dr. DiUlus:</strong> The online education portion certainly was. However, I had been teaching college classes throughout my investment career and never missed a chance to do so. When I discovered that I could help influence the spread of learning online globally to every nook and cranny in the world, I could not move fast enough.<br /><br /><strong>J.O.O.E.:</strong> There is a rumor that you hatched that idea thirty years ago. Can you tell us about it?<br /><strong><br />Dr. DiUlus:</strong> It’s not a rumor. Thirty some odd years ago as I was sitting in front of a $10,000 state of the art PC with two floppy eight inch drives, one to initiate the operating system and the other to draft documents. We then transfered the data via hard-line phone connections to a mainframe where it was spun into meaningful prose and sent back. It was, by today’s standards, slower than molasses. I wondered about the possibility of pushing this technology to potentially make learning available to the world. It took thirty years for the technology to catch up to the idea.<br /><br /><strong>J.O.O.E.:</strong> How did you come to create Global Academy Online?<br /><br /><strong>Dr. DiUlus:</strong> In the late 90’s, I was serving as an Associate Professor at a southwestern university that had hired me away from UNF to develop a Free Enterprise program at their school. While growing the program, I was fortunate to be given a grant by a major online systems provider to create an advanced Entrepreneurship program. I took the new MBA development to my school’s business dean and the academic dean to offer my work to the school. I detailed how within two years the program would help double the size of the university’s full time enrolled (FTE’s) because such online programs were in great demand. I suggested we could build two other advanced degree programs online that were equally in demand. As the market was global and well beyond the 100 mile radius the school considered their market share, I pointed out it would not infringe on existing faculty jobs or put additional demands on them. They turned the program and me down. Two months later, I resigned and went about creating private label online curriculum and a delivery system for colleges and universities that in 2002 became Global Academy Online, Inc. Its first program was an online, private label, fully staffed MBA program.<br /><br /><strong>J.O.O.E:</strong> Weren’t they just a bit shortsighted?<br /><br />Dr. DiUlus: Not exactly. They actually professed the common beliefs of the academic world of the day. Remember this was 2002. In their eyes online education was not credible. They genuinely believed students could not learn as much unless they were standing in front of them and online learning would never be regarded as good as a traditional education. The icing on the cake was their expressed belief that by adopting the program they would be harming the university’s reputation not, as I suggested, enhancing it. They were right on the money for the day. Fortunately, there were those of us who believed otherwise on all counts. It was a hard sell. As they say, "You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink." All my research showed opposite results of what the dean and provost concluded. They just regurgitated myths with the myths spread by the rumors of the day.<br /><br /><strong>J.O.O.E.:</strong> Was this prevalent throughout academia and if so why were they so close minded?<br /><br /><strong>Dr. DiUlus:</strong> Traditionalists don’t think beyond their internal strategic plans and most, even today, do not offer or even suggest moving their schools to online degree programs, let alone mention them. Small inroads were made by firms like eCollege, WEBct and Blackboard. MOODLE had not even been invented nor the dozens of other course management systems providers that exist today. The big three as they were called provided online supplemental online teaching protocols to schools but the thought of having an entire online school program within a traditional environment free of the classroom was tantamount to heresy.<br /><br /><strong>J.O.O.E.:</strong> You participated in several strategic planning sessions and led many sessions for organizations other than schools. What is the mindset when it comes to online education?<br /><br /><strong>Dr. DiUlus:</strong> Unfortunately, most strategic planning specialists follow a set formula to sustain the status quo for a target school. They offer to improve it, and make sure that it survives. Instead of wiping the slate clean and starting over as though the school were brand new, planners follow the SWOT method religiously. Accentuate the strengths, cut the weaknesses, embrace the opportunities and challenge the threats and overcome them. In their eyes, online education is the threat. Rarely and only within the last two to three years has it been broadly considered the opportunity. For most schools, the desire to overcome the perceived threat instead of embracing the concept and growing it, assured the opportunity that existed was not considered.<br /><br /><strong>J.O.O.E.:</strong> Do college presidents not see this?<br /><br /><strong>Dr. DiUlus:</strong> Probably, they do, but I suspect from my conversations with many over the years that they perceive the risk as too costly to their own careers and fear unnecessarily for the school’s reputation as well as theirs among the board of trustees. They are unwilling to change. There are exceptions, plenty of them. Most administrators, college presidents and those that may want to achieve such a high position someday are cut from a mold we call transactional as opposed to transformational. These are two terms experts use to describe leadership style.<br /><br /><strong>J.O.O.E.:</strong> How do they differ since the idea of being one type of leader or another may be a blur to outsiders?<br /><br /><strong>Dr. DiUlus:</strong> Transformational leaders are change agents, pure and simple. The term speaks for itself. Most college presidents in the world today are transactional. In other words, the view is, “If it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it.” That mindset however is changing as the economics of sitting on one’s institutional hands and not moving to adopt online education protocols rapidly is pushing schools to become tomorrow’s failures. Their ability to support infrastructure and the declining financial health brought about by tight fisted legislators and benefactors are seriously impacting them. They are being drawn to online education not because they consider it worthy or they changed their minds about it, but because of necessity to survive economically. Many are suffering now because of the lack of vision ten years ago and are desperately trying to catch up. For many that vision is still skewed in the wrong direction.<br /><br /><strong>J.O.O.E.:</strong> What do you hold for the future of higher education?<br /><br /><strong>Dr. DiUlus:</strong> I believe what I warned a decade ago. Colleges and universities as we know them will cease to exist in a generation transformed by technology and 24/7 continuous education online. I did not make this up just to be contrary. Peter Drucker, the father of modern management warned us of this just before he passed away. Virtually every prediction he ever made about education has come true. My feeling is that before this decade is out, I will be able to pull out my school device (a combination of a phone, ipad, ipod, laptop, kindle, nook, or whatever) and access any field of interest, study it, have a lecture on it by the finest professors in the world, and view it all on my desk in a 3D or holographic image, interacting with the image at will. This technology already exists today.<br /><strong><br />J.O.O.E.:</strong> Why do you believe an online education is superior to a traditional education?<br /><br /><strong>Dr. DiUlus:</strong> It is not because of what I think. It is what students and learners around the world already think. For those who have experienced both traditional and online education ninety plus percent (90%) believe that this education is superior or as good as the traditional classroom.<br /><br /><strong>J.O.O.E:</strong> Then where does all the negativity come from regarding online higher education?<br /><br /><strong>Dr. DiUlus:</strong> Mostly from classroom hugging professors. They have no compunction about expressing dissatisfaction with the whole development of online learning. My experience in faculty meetings from coast to coast bears this out. I would say the average among faculty who are against a school’s partial or wholesale adoption of online education is hovering around 60% or higher. The new breed of professor, those coming out of colleges who can and do seek to teach online have a much different attitude. The future that lies with youth who have been brought up on technology and probably know far better than most of us, see first hand the revolutionizing of higher education. Perhaps we should consider online education as the blackboard of the middle ages. Professors then thought the board’s introduction into the classroom would destroy education.<br /><strong><br />J.O.O.E</strong> Thank you Dr. DiUlus for being so candid.<br /><br /><strong>Dr. DiUlus:</strong> My pleasure.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1