On-Line Degrees: How Employers View Them

by Evelyn Beck HOW ARE EMPLOYERS judging the value of the courses we're teaching on-line? What do they think of candidates whose entire degree was earned via the Internet? The results of a number of recent studies are mixed, with many business professionals uneasy about the quality of on-line learning but a majority of academics convinced that web courses are just as effective as classroom-based education. For example, a September 2000 survey of 239 human resource professionals by Vault.com, a career resources firm based in New York City, found that skepticism is high. Only 26 percent believed that an on-line undergraduate degree was as good as one earned by attending classes on campus, particularly if the degree came from a virtual university such as Jones International. More than half simply felt that on-line degrees were too new to judge effectively yet. Their concerns included lower standards, less critical thinking, and especially less interaction with faculty and with other students. "Recruiters are worrying that the social interaction that comes with being live on campus is diminished, that the pedagogical give and take between student and teacher isn't there, and that students aren't honing the interpersonal skills that make an effective employee," says Mark Oldman, founder of Vault.com. Cathleen Kennedy, who teaches computer programming at California's San Mateo College and who has done a great deal of research on the impact of on-line technologies on student learning, also worries about the lack of live human interaction, and understands why employers do, too. She says, "I suspect employers value on-line training, but not on-line degrees such as B.A. or M.A. Many of my on-line students mention that 'college' is about socialization and communication as much as learning specific content, and would not like to be limited to on-line courses. The experience of interacting with faculty, as well as other students, helps familiarize students with the academic culture and values relating to scholarship, collegiality, and citizenship." John Losak, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Nova Southeastern University's vice president for research and development, does admit that in an on-line course, "you miss the affect in having twenty people sit around a table. The interactions are not there; that's clear and obvious. But does that contribute to cognitive learning? One doesn't know the answer to that question. It's not a problem if you measure in terms of grades, graduation, and satisfaction. Some argue that it's negative not to have that interaction, but there's no evidence." His own study of NSU students found no difference in the grades, graduation rates, and expressed satisfaction between students enrolled in distance education courses and those attending classes on campus, disputing the perception of less rigorous standards. While diplomas do not make a distinction between degrees earned on-line or on campus, such a distinction might be revealed during the interview process. The Vault.com survey found that some fields are more open to on-line degrees than others. Not surprisingly, businesses focused on technology and the Internet were more likely than other firms to hire graduates who earned their degrees on-line. In contrast, a Business Week survey of 247 companies found that most "hadn't considered hiring an MBA with an on-line degree." Of course, most students taking classes through the Web are also enrolled in traditional courses, blurring the meaning of "on-line degrees." For Thomas Russell, who's been running distance education programs in many forms at North Carolina State University for forty years, that terminology itself is the problem. "I think employers are going to resist in many cases, especially if educators continue to refer to them as on-line degrees. As long as we differentiate, we'll always have a second-class citizenship." Acceptance is inevitable, he suggests, since employers themselves are increasingly using on-line courses as a less disruptive form of workforce training. Russell evaluated the effectiveness of distance education courses in his book The No Significant Difference Phenomenon (N.C. State University, 1999). As the title suggests, Russell believes that students in on-line courses are doing just as well as their in-class counterparts. Looking at 355 distance education courses and comparing them to traditional classroom student outcomes, Russell found that "the research says there's no significant difference using traditional measurement standards. Tests average about the same or slightly higher grades from on-line students." Russell thinks that on-line students work as hard and learn as much as students in classrooms, and he thinks employers are wrong to think otherwise. "Employers tend to look at any different way, especially involving computers, as easier, less fun, less strenuous," says Russell. "But the truth is 180 degrees away. An employer assumes that someone who earned a degree by distance education got a lesser degree. I don't think that is deserved at all. Research shows no difference. What technology has done is not change the learning students experience for better or worse. What it's done is made learning accessible to people." He also believes that time is needed for a fairer evaluation of on-line courses. "Right now the jury's still out," he says. "The end result will find no real difference."