Regional accreditation that was given by any of the six Regional Accreditation Associations is the most popular, widely known and I should say the most reliable basis of assuring the value of your online education in terms of acceptance and validity especially if you will work within the United States.

But there is the so-called National Accrediting Agencies that like Regional Accrediting Association are likewise recognized or accredited by the US Department of Education (USDE) and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) to develop a set of evaluation criteria, conduct evaluations and determine if the institution met those criteria that will ensure the standard and quality of education.

The Regional and the National Accrediting Association have some similarities: all of them are non-profit organizations and follow the same voluntary process in which the university who wants to be accredited need to undergo an extensive program evaluation. Both Regional and National are also eligible to offer federal financial aid to their students.

The main difference between the Regional and National is their background and geographic scope. Regional started as association of traditional colleges in a specific state; hence, they have area of concentration. The National on the other hand started as association of various institutions with common ideas like biblical or secular organization and catered to those institutions that were not originally colleges.

Although that there were legitimate National Accrediting Associations who are duly recognized by either ESDE and CHEA, the issue is really about the transferability of course credits from one school to another. Nationally accredited schools generally accept credits from both regionally and nationally accredited schools but regionally accredited schools usually do not honor credits from nationally accredited schools. This is the same for graduate or doctoral degrees as there is some regionally accredited schools that do not accept students who earned their degrees in nationally accredited schools.

Another and I think the most important factor, since online education are widely popular in adult learners is the validity of the accreditation to your employer or company. Our prime reason why we wanted a bachelor’s degree or a master/doctoral degree is for career advancement and so, we need to be sure that our earned degree will be valid and recognize by our employers.

And perhaps, it is in this reason why I prefer studying in a regionally accredited school but if your purpose why you want to earn a degree is for personal enrichment, I guess, the issue between regional or national accreditation will not be a big deal. Remember that the goal of accreditation is to ensure that education provided by institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality.

But if you choose to study in a nationally accredited school, just be sure that its accrediting agency is listed in USDE and CHEA to ensure the quality of your education. For the complete list of the accrediting organizations recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and CHEA, please click here.

In my own opinion, this is not good. It looks like Blackboard is trying to monopolize the technology used for internet-based education because of their lawsuit move. And in the first place, the patent for technology used for online education should not be granted to anyone as this aspect is too broad and general.

I just hope that the court can see that the patent is inappropriate because the cost of online education will surely be affected if the system of delivering the online education will be monopolized by just one company. Likewise, I hope that the re-examination request for this patent will be granted. Some explanation about the Blackboard’s patent can be read here.

Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers is said to be the critic of distance education but he offered this legislation with a good motive: to eradicate meaningless or worthless college online degrees that are offered through the Internet. If this will pursue, fraud institutions offering degrees for sale will soon be banished and this will likewise help legitimate online education to prosper and gain the reputation it deserves. Online education despite of controversies is still rising because of the real benefits of valid online learning and its undisputed advantages to adult learners and working professionals.  I am a personal believer of online education and I too would like to eliminate those bogus online schools that are ruining the essence of learning.

This was the outcome of the forum held at Manual High School by Trujillo Commission. The forum which was composed of 50 attendees was set to take the public comment on online instruction, funding, access and other issues related to Web-based education. The recommendations that were gathered will be utilized by lawmakers in formulating the online-accountability legislation.

This is a good move for the education or federal commission in creating an online accountability legislation that will assure the parents and students that they are getting quality online education. There is really no need to ban online schools from offering education but the law makers should see to it that these online schools faithfully comply to the law.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 or FERPA is also known as the Buckley Amendment. This act pertains to the federal guidelines that protect the privacy of student records. Under this act, the students have the right to inspect and review their educational records, request for amendments of any inaccurate or misleading information; and to be informed through written notice should the school needs to release any information from a student’s education record.

However, FERPA authorize schools to release those records, without consent, to the School officials with legitimate educational interest; other schools to which a student is transferring; specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes; appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student; or to comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena.

The Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act or TEACH Act on the other hand entitle educators a separate set of rights, in addition to fair use, to exhibit and present the works of other in the classroom. Recently, the TEACH Act revises the U.S. Copyright Act and expands the extent of educators’ rights to perform and exhibit works and to make the copies integral to such performances and displays for distance learning programs.

This ruling demanded all the non-traditional higher education programs to give at least 12 hours of weekly regular scheduled instruction in order for students to be eligible for federal financial aid.

Another program that pertains to distance education is the Distance Education Demonstration Program or DEDP. This was created as an assessment to verify if the rules regarding financial aid for distance education needs to be modified. The program was likewise created to provide for increased student access to higher education through distance education and to help determine the most effective means of delivering quality education via distance education.

The laws and rulings that I thought of including here are the 50 Percent Rule, the 12 Hour Rule, the Distance Education Demonstration Program, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act.

The 50 Percent Rule was a regulation that prevents the colleges offering more than half their courses through distance education and/or enrol more than half of their students in online programs from obtaining federal financial aid programs. This was created in 1992 to stop the acceleration of diploma mills.

However, on February 8, 2006, the Higher Education Reconciliation Act or HERA stopped down the 50-percent rule granting online students equal access to certain types of federal loans. This means that people who wish to study or continue their studies through online colleges have now more ways to finance their education whether it is just short-term certificate programs.