ABSTRACT
The troubling matter of lower-than-acceptable retention rates in online programs coupled with online students having reached a critical mass made the concern about quality assurance more urgent by the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Another demand-for-proof juncture was reached as private studies and governmental investigations revealed that significant amounts of federal financial aid were flowing to students who were not able to successfully complete online courses and programs, especially at for-profit institutions. “Quality assurance” may be the ultimate goal of clamping down on institutions, accreditors, and states, but the more immediate purposes are “accountability” and perhaps “fiscal integrity.” The emergence of online education 2.0 in the form of the massive open online course (MOOC) has riveted the education community and the mainstream media, and not only because of doubts about the quality of an unregulated educational product. MOOCs are news because of their potential to disrupt the foundation upon which the higher education industry rests.
