Issues with online STEM education - assessment and accreditation.

Online programs are constantly growing in number. There is a variety of issues facing online education, e.g., possible lack of eye contact, its impersonal nature, etc., that affect the quality of and attitudes toward the programs. We propose that comparison of online education to traditional education is best approached from the viewpoint of quality. Further, quality of online programs and courses should be characterized in terms similar to traditionally delivered ones, i.e., in terms of outcomes and outcome assessment, rather than by focusing on the medium per se. Adoption of the quality standard of outcomes assessment has the advantage of allowing opportunities for continuous improvement to be identified. By focusing on what objectives and outcomes are achieved, rather than the details of how, outcomes assessment also fits well with the goal of accreditation agencies to develop more practical guidelines to be applied to online programs.