e-Learning Pundit

Is an online, executive MBA coming to George Mason University?  Cool, if so.

Randy Hutchinson, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South, comments on diploma mills in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Cool info about the online Master of Arts in Art Education through Boston University.

Unaccredited Clayton College of Natural Health will close, leaving many students hanging.

From yesterday’s edition of “Mitch Lipka’s Consumer Ally” at WalletPop comes this revealing piece by Beau Brendler.

Nevertheless, we must give credit to GetEducated.com, who was on top of this over two months ago. 

According to this recent research from the GetEducated.com Consumer Reporting Team, yes, even flaky degrees show up on LinkedIn contacts.

…Almeda University has been called a degree mill by Alan Contreras, administrator of Oregon’s Office of Degree Authorization. A search of LinkedIn for professionals listing Almeda in their educational profiles yielded 1,791 results. Among them: the lead consultant forensic psychologist at a UK mental health facility, a systems engineer at NASA, and a contract manager at an aerospace firm in Denver…

And much, much more.  Near the end of this report, there’s a list of costs associated with degree mills. 

Again, these shady operations hurt us all.

among the Kiwis.  So reports the New Zealand Herald.

Mr. Alan Contreras, Oregon Office of Degree Authorization, is spearheading the effort.  

While we’re on this subject, please be sure to check out Diploma Mill News every now and then.  Lots of great info.

Please remember that such mills and similar shady operations pose a genuine threat to those of us who have invested years in our own college education.

- New Jersey clamps down on earning unaccredited degrees while serving in publicly funded positions, requires enrollment in accredited schools for tuition reimbursement.

- The New Jersey Commission on Higher Education orders professors to stop using the “doctor” title.  Apparently, these profs hold degrees from unaccredited schools.

- Nine Washington State Troopers investigated for bogus degrees.

Surprisingly, we haven’t seen as many bogus degrees in the media during this election cycle as I initially thought.

Alabama began cracking down on these questionable institutions three months ago.  This effort is paying dividends.

According to information released Thursday by the Alabama Community College System, applications for five institutions to come to the state were denied, four had their operating licenses revoked and licenses for 21 schools were not renewed. Also, one school closed.

31 and counting!

+ Embarrassing unaccredited degree fallout: Wylie, TX city councilman and teacher resigns teaching post over a questionable bachelor’s degree from Concordia College.

+ California: Candidate’s online doctoral degree comes under fire.

A couple thoughts.  First, Concordia College and Concordia University really exist.  There are several private, accredited institutions in various states carrying this name.  However, the degree in question comes from an unaccredited school in Washington. Furthermore, as I predicted earlier, it appears the Spokesman-Review list of diploma mill recipients resulting from Operation Gold Seal continues to expose numerous bogus degree holders, needless to say.

Second, in regards to the California candidate, I think such press coverage gives online education a bad name in the public mind.  Although the storyline indicates that the school is accredited by separatists, only later can the reader determine that it is also truly unaccredited.

FauxPlomas, a new term from Fox Business News.  I like it!

Meanwhile, a Chicago-area police officer’s college degree failed to make the grade.

Some educators in New Jersey apparently “earned” graduate degrees through a certain ”university”.  Two local newspapers note these efforts at self-improvement.

A ”poor excuse” is what The Asbury Park Press calls the decision to pursue such questionable credentials.  Moving right along, a second editorial in The Star Ledger thinks the matter is “unbelievable“.