The future is now, apparently. Online credentials are becoming more accepted in comparison to their face-to-face counterparts. Goldie Blumenstyk, in The Edge: A vote of confidence for online ed, points out that a survey done by the Center for the Future of Higher Education and Talent Strategy indicates that 71 percent of C-suite executives think that online credentials are “equal to or of higher quality than one completed in person.”
Given the quality of the overall experience delivered in online learning, I’d say that this is a credit to (ha! get it!) student diligence at making their learning outcomes acceptable to the companies hiring them rather than the wide-spread high quality of online education.
This is not to say that online experiences can’t be amazing. I merely have to point out the Engageli tool for synchronous learning or HBSO‘s approach to asynchronous learning. Both are, in many ways, superior to a face-to-face experience at generating equivalent or better learning outcomes.
Let’s see if this question gets turned around in a few years to questions to validate if face-to-face learning can be equal to or better online learning.
