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Distance Ed: Separating the Chaffe from the Wheat

© Julie Spears

It is a wonderful world for learners today, free to attend prestigious, internationally known schools from their homely desktop. The boom in distance education is beginning to attract the participation of some rather highly regarded educational institutions, including Heriot-Watt University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Stanford University. Both are starting with a single advanced degree available entirely online. Stanford is offering a graduate course in electrical engineering - with a focus on telecommunications.

Education consumers need to be aware of the down side of this attraction, too. The increased demand for distance education has also created an increased supply of cons looking to the fast-growing Internet market with an eye for easy money. The Internet is indeed a perfect media for creating illusions, thus making it incredibly easy to pull off a scam and an irresistible opportunity for unscrupulous tricksters slipping in to make a fast buck. Anyone can publish a web page and look quite legitimate. An official-looking seal alongside a lovely photograph of an ivy-covered classical building is seductive bait for unwary customers with academic fantasies. Wiser, but poorer learners from 'the school of hard knocks' not only loose their money but their self-esteem suffers a decided blow, which could discourage even the most determined learner.

Contrary to what one might assume, anyone can request and obtain an extension of ".edu" on their domain name. It is no more difficult to name one’s business than -- and it appears a lot more convincing to trusting customers.

The freedom that makes the Internet such a democratic place for all cannot also function as a watchdog. Dishonest opportunists can and do extract money from naïve consumers just as they have always done. Conducting financial transactions with strangers, even those that appear to be old friends should be investigated with a skeptical approach initially. Become a user, not only of electronic commerce on the Internet - become aware of the vast amounts of non-commercial information available to you. Verify legitimacy and check resources with the established and credible agencies widely known as trustworthy. Many trusted agencies for consumers also have a presence on the Internet. A responsible informed consumer is the best self-policing practice to discourage fraud - and at the same time keep the 'Net thriving, vital and free.

Verify even those educational institutions with familiar-sounding names. The author for the Distance.ed for Dummies Homepage demonstrated how easy it for "diploma mills" to look authentic with his thinly disguised spoof, "Oxford Open University".

The copyright of the article Distance Ed: Separating the Chaffe from the Wheat in Adult Education is owned by Julie Spears. Permission to republish Distance Ed: Separating the Chaffe from the Wheat in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.