January 10th, 2012
With more than 6 million e-learners today, U.S. News is recognizing the importance of online learing that its first-ever ranking of online degree programs.
So, who’s No. 1? No one.
It’s not that schools aren’t worthy of the top spot. But for online bachelor’s programs, U.S. News ranked schools in three areas – faculty credentials and training, student engagement and assessment, and student services and technology. U.S. News also looked at graduate programs in business, education, engineering, information technology, and nursing, adding an admissions selectivity ranking.
Each time, a different school claimed the top spot. U.S. News says: “There will be no numeric rankings on overall program quality this inaugural year. Instead, U.S. News created non-numerical honor roll lists of online programs.”
That’s different from U.S. News’ more traditional ranking that schools tout, when there is a clear top school in the national universities, regional universities, graduate schools, and other categories.
Another interesting thing about this new report: Some online learning advocates are criticizing that fact that the ranking methodology was created after U.S. News collected the survey information, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
Administrators and researchers have complained that U.S. News asked the wrong questions to accurately measure the programs, and some schools like Kaplan University and Capella University didn’t participate. Some of the questions, such as those related to high school class standings, didn’t apply to online programs and adult learners, for example.
~Lori Johnston
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