by H D Dumas

Created on: May 26, 2007   Last Updated: June 05, 2011

The author recently completed his Master's Degree in an on line Secondary Education program so this topic is familiar to me. My greatest obstacle to returning to school last year was an overloaded schedule. Working full time and running a business left little time for relaxation let alone returning to school to expand my career. What hope did this author have of returning to a regular classroom with structured days and courses offered at varying locations? How could I meet the needs of a busy professional and personal life and expand my career? The dream seemed impossible until the author began to contemplate the world of on line learning and the possibility of becoming an on line student.

On line programs offered the best hope of expanding learning despite restrictive schedules. Still, returning to school was a worrisome prospect for this author. Costly programs and uncertainty over which school offered the best degree in any area caused many sleepless nights. Fortunately, I already had a more traditional BA so my first hand knowledge of how traditional colleges operated created the foundation for understanding the structure and creation of on line academic programs.

For example, this author knew that academic programs must be properly certified if they are to be helpful to an employee's career. I knew that certification of varying programs was conducted on a regional basis because my BA was certified by the Western Association of States and Colleges. Various traditional agencies interact with Universities and Colleges to standardize courses and degrees. In short, WASC, CASC and a host of other recognized reviewing agencies provide a framework to maintain the product quality even though the programs are on line and offered by varying Universities within each region.

However, the question arose as to how on line programs could prevail against academic issues like grade inflation or other problems that might occur in an on line environment where traditional tests are no longer valid. Career advancement might suffer if programs proved to be ineffective in meeting Corporate goals for a changing workforce. How can an on line program maintain rigid academic quality on a national level? My research centering in the area of on line programs quickly demonstrated that many schools had grappled with this same issue and solved it by requiring extensive writing and research for each class. Reports were strictly formatted and classes underwent frequent review.

Still, the

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