On-line Scandal to Come

I am currently working on creating an on-line Introduction to Regulatory Affairs course for our College of Continuing Education.  Aside from the course material itself, which I will go into at a later date, I have been assigned a minder to "help" ensure that all the university on-line content rules are followed.  In the course of my initial meeting with the continuing education folks a conversation on ensuring the security of courses ensued.

There are people who will take on-line courses for students and/or will take on-line examinations for the student.  With the increasing push toward on-line education educators need to get ahead of the future scandal when this issue comes before the public.  A widely publicized incident where a public figure or a group of pseudo-public figures are caught which unearned on-line credentials will cause a backlash that will have the public throwing out baby and bathwater.  This endangers what promise on-line education has.

One potential solution to the problem of credentialing the on-line student is to enforce identity checks in on-line testing.  This could be done through a little cooperation between institutions.  In a state like California where you can't spit without hitting a community college, Cal. State or Univ. of Cal campus there could be testing centers where the on-line student can come with their ID to take tests.  If we add in public libraries and public high schools this type of cooperative sharing of resources could actually facilitate the development of on-line education in a form where the credential actually has some value.

For those in the physical sphere of education, it should be pointed out that similar checks might be appropriate in your courses too.  As class sizes have grown, how many of us really know all our students.  I am reminded of a case from over a decade ago where a colleague discovered at the last exam of the semester that one student taking his organic course, and earning an A, was not in fact the student of record, but a family friend dentist who had been in the classroom and taking tests all semester.

I also have a colleague in the business college who checks photo ID at every exam.

I have stated it before; As the internet makes content freely available the job of institutions of higher education will increasingly become one of credentialing and training in technique where on-line learning is not sufficient.

T.S. Hall