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Quintessential Answers:
Q&A's with Career & College Experts

 

Questions and Answers with Career Expert Blair Stobaugh

 

Please note: On a somewhat infrequent basis, Quintessential Careers asks noted career experts five questions related to their expertise and publishes the interview in the current issue of QuintZine, our career e-newsletter. Those interviews are archived here for your convenience.

 

Blair Stobaugh is vice president of new business development at Bisk Education.

 

Q:	What do you feel is the most disturbing trend in distance learning today?
A:	That the so-called diploma mills are giving the entire e-learning industry a black eye. I think we all have received their spam emails offering college degrees in six months or from your life experiences. The degrees offered from these organizations are not worth the paper they are printed on because a regional accrediting authority does not accredit the schools offering the degrees.   The leading online degree programs, such as the University Alliance, differentiate themselves from these diploma mills because all of the participating schools (Villanova University, Regis University, Jacksonville University, and Saint Leo University) are regionally accredited.   When a prospective student researches online degree programs, one of the first factors he or she needs to confirm is that an online degree program holds accreditation from one of the regional accrediting authorities. If a program does not hold accreditation from one of these agencies, then move on.
Q:	How have the recession and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks affected distance learning? Has there been an increase in people seeking to upgrade their skills through distance learning because of the recession? Has there been an increase in enrollment in programs "for the greater good" (as opposed to business) because of the terrorist attacks?
A:	I think the increase in people enrolling in distance-learning programs started well before the Sept. 11th tragedy. In today's competitive business world, employees might need to earn a bachelor's or MBA Degree to move to a higher level or receive a promotion at their company.   Since the Sept. 11th tragedy, a great number of professionals may have been laid off and must acquire additional schooling to stay competitive in the job market. A lot of job advertisements state that a candidate must have earned a bachelor's or MBA Degree to be considered for the position. Additionally, employers are offering tuition reimbursement to employees because it is more beneficial and cost effective to educate a current employee rather than to hire a new person for the same position.   For a lot of working professionals, attending a traditional on-campus program is not a reality because of work schedules, travel distance, and family or personal commitments that don't allow a person to attend a regularly scheduled on-campus degree program.   One of the great features of online degree programs like the University Alliance is that its digitally streamed lectures and course work are available 24/7 and can be accessed anywhere a student can log on to the Internet. Students can replay the lectures as many times as they want, access virtual chat rooms, communicate with their professor and other students, and take their course tests completely online.
Q:	Is there something you can share with our readers about distance learning that may not be widely known?
A:	When a student earns a degree through an University Alliance school the degree he or she earns is the same exact degree that a traditional on-campus student receives. There is no small print at the bottom of the document stating the difference between the online and traditional student. The online students are taught the same material from the same professors that instruct the traditional on-campus students   Most of the University Alliance's students have never set foot on the campus of their college. Yet when they graduate, students are encouraged to take part in the traditional commencement exercises with the rest of the graduating seniors. I have met many University Alliance school graduates who have traveled across the country just to celebrate the completion of their course work and take part in the graduation ceremony.
Q:	The failures of several high-profile distance-learning programs have been in the news recently. For example, Kendra Mayfield wrote in a Sept. 2001 issue of WIRED News: "Today, the distance learning market continues to grow, but much of the momentum has slowed. Many e-learning startups have gone belly-up, realizing the enormous costs of launching efficacious courses online." The Chronicle of Higher Education has reported more recent failures. Do these failures mean that the promise of distance learning is not to be fulfilled, or did the failed programs simply have ineffective business models?
A:	The failure of some e-learning companies is more a reflection of their inadequate business model than any commentary on the promise of distance learning. The false impression was that if you build a Web site, students would enroll. Those programs that offer a high-quality online educational experience still need to advertise, respond to student inquiries, and provide student services and support. Students are investing a great deal of time and money in their education, and they need to have a high comfort level with any specific program before they enroll. Many of the distance-learning failures did not even make it to the first enrollment step! The lesson for the student is to look at programs that have high enrollments. These are the programs where success speaks for itself.
Q:	Do you foresee a time when distance learning will be the dominant delivery system for education? Will it ever replace or at least overshadow traditional classroom learning?
A:	Distance learning fills a tremendous void for the working adult learner who cannot attend a class each week because of professional and family commitments. For many working professionals, attending a weekly class is just not an option. The flexibility of distance learning provides a unique solution. Within existing classroom-based programs, distance education can become a part of the class materials or taken as a stand-alone course. Factors such as individual learning styles, convenience, location and cost are all factored into the learners' ultimate choice of learning options.

 

 

Blair Stobaugh is vice president of new business development at Bisk Education.

 

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Check out all our interview with career experts in Quintessential Answers: Q&A's with Career & College Experts.

 

 

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

 

 

 

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