EveryOnes Distance Learning Needs
The Challenge of Online Learning
It is no surprise that distance learning is viewed by many whose jobs depend on the academic establishment as the enemy; thus frequently attempts are made to denigrate degrees earned at a distance as the supposed inferior of their campus-based counterparts, even when their requirements are clearly directly comparable, and there is a clear offensive by the large and well-heeled campus-based schools against smaller specialist institutions, especially those that have escaped to some extent the shackles of state regulation, that threaten their control of the e-learning market. The truth is that, just like the Web itself, e-learning, being a global phenomenon, is seen as a threat because it is not capable of being controlled and subjected to the same political and academic restrictions as learning on the campus. British students, for example, do not only have the choice of British providers of learning, but those from Europe, with its long tradition of private higher education, the U.S.A. and even South Africa, India and countries beyond. The means to experience the educational culture of another continent without so much as leaving one’s living-room is a truly astounding innovation.
But why should the new e-learning market only be open to those already providing campus-based learning? The phenomenon of the specialist e-university, existing without a campus and with only an office for its physical facilities, with the rest of its activities occurring entirely online, is already here. Jones International University is a good example of such an institution; it offers high-level instruction from a diverse and well-qualified faculty, as does Western Governors’ University, also without a campus and specialising in experiential assessment. Smaller institutions exist in abundance, often focussing on a particular area, philosophy or learning style. It is self-evident that starting an e-university, particularly one offering a limited range of programmes, is a significantly less expensive and difficult undertaking than its physical counterpart, thus enabling a wide range of potential providers, including notably corporate e-learning programmes, to seek to take a share of what is an extremely large and lucrative market. The nature of distance learning means also that the university offices may be located according to the optimum financial and regulatory conditions for their establishment, rather than necessarily needing to be near their clients, and that the client base is not merely national but potentially global. It is even possible to use open-source software for course delivery, such as Moodle. The University of Phoenix, started by history professor John Sperling, is a prime example of a privately-owned American e-university (now the world’s largest) that delivers a deeply market-oriented product in a commercially astute and aggressive manner. In an article from Business 2.0, Paul Keegan writes,
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