text: The Dangerous Online Education Craze | Bacon's Rebellion
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  The Dangerous Online Education Craze
  Posted on July 16, 2012 by Peter Galuszka| 13 Comments
  Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell sure seems to love lobbyists. When it came time select someone to be co-chairman of a "summit" on education in August, he chose James W. Dyke Jr., a former state secretary of education who is now a registered lobbyist for the big-time online, for-profit companies as The Apollo Groups, which runs the University of Phoenix.
  Online education is indeed the buzz for months, especially among would-be education reformers many of them conservative, who see the for-profit, techie approach as a way to get more bang for the school bucks, cut costs, bypass teachers' unions in K-12 and get rid of the leftover 1960s leftie element in the state's public university system. For them, it is a win, win, win, win while keeping true to the Goddess of Budget Cuts.
  The approach is gaining power so fast it nearly pushed out Teresa Sullivan, a highly-acclaimed college administrator as the president of the University of Virginia last month.
  Sullivan's alleged reluctance to blindly embrace online education completely, was one reason Board of Visitors Rector Helen Dragas, who apparently just heard of the concept despite a couple of decades of distance learning experimentation, was one of her major criticisms of Sullivan Somehow, Dragas assumed, Sullivan didn't get the "existential" threat to her school wrought by changes in technology. Thousands of Sullivan fans at U.Va. and elsewhere turned the tide and had the firing reversed.
  But that hasn't stopped the march to online education as Dyke's appointment shows. It doesn't matter if it is uranium mining or classroom instruction, McDonnell seems to have a knee-jerk thing for lobbyists.
  Questions abound about online education. In a look at the system, Karin Kapsidelis the Richmond Times Dispatch shows that some college professors
  are excited about the idea of making university courses available more or less
  for free through such programs as Coursera, edX, and Udacity. Backing them are some big name schools such as Stanford, the University of California at Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard.
  The upside of such courses is that plenty of people can register for classes – up to 94,000. They tend to work better for hands-on technology or science, such as how to create a computer search engine or take a basic class in physics.
  The not so good news is that you don't credit college credit for the classes but pay for a test and a certificate if you pass. It doesn't mean you get an MIT sheepskin to hang in your office. Drop out rates are extreme. According to the TD, of the 94,000 students who signed up for a Computer Science 101 class, only 10,000 completed it in the two-month timeframe. In another course, 75,000 enrolled in the same class that was extended beyond the two months but only 12,000 were actively participating at any time.
  Experts say that such course may work for science and engineering where the answers are typically right or wrong, but not for liberal arts, which the Dragas putsch tried hard to de-emphasize at U.Va., not eliminate. As one online
  professor told the RTD about handling essays and book reviews, "It's not
  immediately clear how you're going to grade 30,000 submissions automatically."
  Alas, there are far bigger problems, especially when the online fad gets into Grades 12 and below. The state of Colorado has been undergoing a thorough reassessment of its commitment to online secondary school education. A 2010 state report showed that online students showed below-average test scores, dropout rates of 50 percent or more and teacher-student teaching ratios of a stunning 317-1.
  As Colorado gets sucker-punched by the for-profit, online craze, it is having to spend more, not less, state education money retraining and re-educating students hurt by the online experiment.
  In Virginia, we are being told that this is a "revolution" and we'd better get onboard or face the "existential threat."
  The bigger threat, however, is jumping in and cheating children and college students of an education. How are we going to know the risks when the co-chairman of the governor's education "summit" is a bought and paid for and registered lobbyist for the biggest for-profit online education firm?
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  13 Responses to The Dangerous Online Education Craze
  Log in to Reply	in other words, if you want an "education" you have to get it the way we tell you to?
  UVA and others might have to decide how they will operate in a new world of "education" but their choice is not to decide for others. Their choice is whether or not they want to be part of it or not.
  Kids in Va who cannot afford UVA but want to learn – or going to learn. UVA has to decide if they want to teach.
  Anyone can go online right now or to a public library and study what they want to their heart's content.It doesn't mean you are entitled to a high school or college degree unless you pass the tests or do the requirements.
  Just signing up for an online course doesn't cut it. These drop out rates are boggling.
  Log in to Reply	re: " .. unless you pass the tests or do the requirements."
  and THIS is where UVA distinguishes itself from Phoenix and other wannabes.
  Provide a UVA certification which will separate the men from the boys when it comes time to get the certification.
  An online Degree from Fly-by-night University or UVA or MIT?
  there is significant opportunity here for UVA to do "online"….RIGHT.
  Someone is going to do it right – does UVA want to be in that group?
  Who do you think runs this state if not lobbyists. Virginia is a lobbyist's paradise.
  A part time legislature with nearly no budget for office staff?
  A one term governor who appoints his lieutenants for their 4 year terms?
  How do you think our part time legislature stays current on the changing environment for things like online education? They listen to lobbyists.
  And listening to lobbyists is lucrative in a state with no campaign contribution limits. Kill two birds with one stone – get some back-up for whatever hare brained scheme the GA is cooking and put some money in the campaign coffers.
  Log in to Reply	Why do you pick on James Dyke, Jr? At least he was a state secretary of education. This is how things work in a state with a one term governor and a part time legislature with the least competitive state elections in the United States.
  If not lobbyists – who do you think is providing advice to our state government? The tooth fairy?
  Log in to Reply	Virginia is a weak-governor state. So is North Carolina, where the governor doesn't even have a veto.
  Doesn't the University of Maryland University College have about as many online courses as the for-profit colleges? A number of state schools offer online courses. My daughter took one this year at NC State.
  Log in to Reply	for the record, I totally support DJ's call for a 2 term gov. The current system is just plain bad. it reeks of rendering the Gov a lame duck from the get go and maintaining power in the GA.
  I will give McD credit. Knowing the limitations of a one-term Gov, he's made the most of his opportunities.
  No gov of recent vintages has pushed the transportation envelope like he has.
  and give the Va GOP credit. They specifically targeted some specific Senate seats like Edd Houck and seriously weakened the Dem influence in the GA.
  One more go around like that and the Dems are going to be thoroughly the minority party.
  Forgive me for asking, but what's going on? With The Big Blogger and Don the Groveton, I kinda know what the are going to say. Your view is changing.
  Log in to Reply	Peter – what in particular? If you really do believe my claim that I'm a fiscal conservative – many of my views make perfect sense in terms of consistency with a philosophy.
  where have I disappointed you?
  My apologies. You never disappoint and I look forward to your views.
  Log in to Reply	I see Larry as fiscal conservative also. And I think he has added much to BR over the years, as have others. I am disappointed, however, that Peter's taste in photographs has become so tame in recent time. LoL
  Log in to Reply	Fair point, TMT. I'll work on it.
  Log in to Reply	I kinda like them when they're a bit racy…especially if it irritates the big Baconator….