Distance learning has a rich history going back to the correspondence schools o the late 19th century. Nonetheless those of you who did DL 15 or 2C years ago recall what it felt like being outside of the educationa mainstream. The responses of tradi tional colleagues ranged somewhere between sympathy and suspicion.
Through all of this, though, a network of distance learning professionals emerged. These were the pioneers who sorted through the competing theories, the often flaky technology, and the unrealistic expectations in order to learn what worked. Today we call that network of professionals the U.S. Distance Learning Association. The hard lessons we learned over 20 years we call best practices.
At our Board Meeting in Miami last summer, your association took the next step in professionalizing our industry when the Board approved USDLA’s accrediting schools, agencies, and corporations engaged in distance learning. Let me tell you why this is important to you.
The traditional educational establishment is, by its large and consensus-driven nature, slow to respond to innovation. That is not a criticism; getting everyone on board takes time but doing so gives a certain security. Nevertheless, those educators whose effectiveness and business plans are built on technology and whose days are measured by Internet time often live or die on timeliness. Traditionally, responsiveness has been a weakness of accreditation.
The best way to meld sound judgment with responsiveness is to access recognized professionals and build on their experience. That is what the Association has done in establishing the Distance Learning Accrediting Board, DLAB. Thanks to a generous grant by Glenn R. Jones of Jones International University, we have assembled a package for distance learning providers that emphasizes outcome-based learning and the continuous improvement process.
In establishing this, we have no desire to supplant other accrediting agencies. They perform a vital role. Rather, we cast ourselves in a role somewhat analogous to that of a medical specialist. A patient usually goes to a primary-care physician— the regional association—for an opinion. Depending on the issue, that may be the end of it. When the stakes are higher, though, the next stop is with a specialist. DLAB is the specialist for distance learning.
Currently, we have 56 Principles of Best Practice for Distance Learning subsumed under ten categories. Those categories are: mission, standards, integrity, student enrollment and admission, human resources, learning environment, teaching and learning, student support, program evaluation, and third-party relationships.
Our intent is to use these principles constructively, working with providers to assure the quality and future development of their programs. To that end, my co-chair on the Accreditation Committee, George Collins, is already meeting with potential candidate-schools to better define our processes. We want to maximize the benefit—and assuring quality and validity is a huge benefit—while minimizing the pain inflicted by the process. Our goal is to have our first evaluations underway this spring.
We believe DLAB will provide a great service to the DL community. If you have an interest in this, you may contact DLAB through USDLA’s Boston office. Let us hear from you soon!
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