Outsourcing online learning is selling students short

Offloading virtual learning to third-party ‘partners’ doesn’t always work for students but remains a blind spot for quality assurance, says Nora Carrol

Published on
July 26, 2021
Last updated
August 11, 2021
Nora Carrol
Source: istock
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Reader's comments (5)

#1 Submitted by ali.... on July 26, 2021 - 4:51pm
These scams are unfortunately not limited to the USA. One similar example in the UK is Essex's 'partnership' with Kaplan. Naked profiteering with the regulatory bodies having their heads stuck in the sand.
#2 Submitted by Dominic Micklewright on July 29, 2021 - 3:07pm
Your comment about Essex' partnership with Kaplan is ill-informed. The partnership was created in 2006 specifically intended to deliver degrees (rather than MOOC's) from the outset. Every new University of Essex Online program undergoes rigorous approval processes directly overseen by University of Essex the involve both internal academic input and external academic input. Programme that do not see the standard are not approved and I can authoritatively tell you that such programmes have been stopped in the past. Every University of Essex Online module is delivered by a named academic member of staff that students interact with. Every student also has a separate academic advisor who remains with them for the duration of their studies. All University of Essex Online students receive detailed written feedback and a grade for their assessed work within 7 days of submitting it. University of Essex Online is the only online degree provider with a Gold ranking in the Uk Governments Teaching Excellence Framework. University of Essex Online has also had among the highest student satisfaction scores in the UK (>90%) ever since it began with the overall student satisfaction outcome for 2021 measured at 95%. If you are wondering, I am a Professor and the former Dean of Partnerships at Essex that has been very careful to avoid all of the pitfall of private partnerships written about in Nora Carrol's interesting article. I think the negative post by artthe about the Essex-Kaplan Partnership is not at all fair or based upon any of the facts.
#3 Submitted by ali.... on July 29, 2021 - 6:13pm
I understand your need, as the former Dean of Partnerships, to defend institutional reputation; but I disagree with the interpretation offered. I was asked to 'teach' on one of the online programmes and to provide quality check reviews of specific modules. I ran away in disbelief after seeing the paperwork, the 'quality' of course materials and the tick-box approach to education. I am pretty sure that the standard degrees offered by Essex (at least in my field) are far more robust than what I saw was being sold to students through the online programme. Hence, the need, in my most humble opinion, for focused oversight of such online programmes/partnerships by regulatory bodies. Enough said.
#4 Submitted by bashir on July 29, 2021 - 7:07pm
Business online
#5 Submitted by Dominic Micklewright on July 30, 2021 - 7:25am
All of our University of Essex Online provision is subject to the review and oversight processes by the Quality Assurance Agency which they have met the standards for on numerous occasions. Our online programmes are delivered in a different way but this does not mean they are not robust and of very high quality. Our online programmes and the flexible learning methods we have carefully created provide many students with an opportunity to study towards a degree who would other wise not have the opportunity to do so. For example, people whose circumstances mean they cannot attend university on the traditional way. Those supporting families that cannot afford to leave work, frontline service personnel, those who were forced to leave education early because of caring or other responsibilities. Our online degrees make an enormous contribution to rebalance university inequality and exclusion. If you do not like the different approach we take to achieve this then that is you choice not to work with us as one of our tutors and we respect that. However, please desist from making unwarranted and unsubstantiated negative comments that undermine the degrees of all those online students who are trying to improve themselves by learning in often very difficult circumstances. As I have previously mentioned the quality of University of Essex Online Degrees is high and has on numerous occasions an in numerous ways (TEF, QAA, NSS etc) been independently confirmed as such. Elitist and exclusionary attitudes towards the important role online learning offers are unhelpful and unwelcome.

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