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[zharkov]

Like it or not, online degrees are only going to grow in popularity.  So we either learn to teach them well and evaluate which institutions are doing a good job with them, or we can stamp our feet.  

I just noticed that the Walden University online Ph.D. in Management is ACBSP accredited.  I wonder if they have separate criteria for accreditation of online programs.  

Walden, Phoenix, and the other for-profits have done an excellent job in designing programs around learning outcomes and building in assessments.  So on paper, their programs look nice.  But even though I have done a lot of online teaching, I harbor some skepticism about such schools gaming the system.   Last I knew, there was not any AACSB approved doctoral programs, although I think a school or two was trying to get approval. 

PS:  A note of explanation to those not in business or related fields, both ACBSP and AASCB are business program accreditors, with AACSB generally considered more prestigious.   

[lyndonparker]

While I tend to be very skeptical about online education, I guess I could see its value for an MA degree. But a BA or PhD? Forget about it.

I'm not disagreeing with you but I'd be interested to hear more about why you think this.  Is it because the MA would be shorter than the BA and PhD and requires students to have already have had face to face experience...?
 

Pretty much. I think both BA and doctoral studies involve the acquisition of certain skills that can only be acquired through face-to-face contact. How to read, speak, think, and write critically, how to interact with others, how to learn certain habits of mind. An MA, on the other hand, takes students who have already (theoretically) mastered these skills, so they are better able to focus on the content at hand.

It may be worth stating that I am the product of a SLAC and teach at one. I value the experience provided to students in such a setting highly. Although I will admit it is somewhat like Montessori schooling--you either "get it" or you don't.

[yemaya]

I just talked with one today, a prospective student, a veteran who did an associate's degree online.

She is having trouble coping because she has horrible writing skills, which are holding her back on her job, too.

I have to wonder, with so much of online work reliant on writing, about that online university.  (One of which I never had heard before.)  On the other hand, I have for years had veterans who did a lot of online work through the U of Maryland, apparently a pioneer in online courses for veterans, and those students were fine.

I think that the problem is that not all online programs are created equal.  It's not surprising that a place like U. of Maryland would attract a higher caliber and better-prepared batch of students.  I think that if you take a good brick and mortar school that's committed to upholding the same admissions and academic standards as its brick-and-mortar students, you're likely to produce a decent online degree.   But the key is that these students have baseline skills (writing, studying, time management) who take their education seriously and realize that whether online or on campus, they still have to do the work if they want the degree.  Not every school is successful at this.  They take students who are remedial, at best....they take students who believe that paying tuition entitles them to a degree, and so on and so forth.  And that's the problem with allowing students who went the UoP or Walden route into a real university.