ABSTRACT
The best way to measure the quality of online education is by assessing it relative to traditional, classroom-based programs. The online practitioners’ actions reflect a deeper truth: aiming for parity with traditional education is aiming low. Instead, online education researchers have focused on effectiveness, improvement, and even transformation. The process of having to figure out how to use new technologies to redesign instruction has changed many faculty members from being reflexive to being reflective, reexamining long-held or previously unexamined assumptions about teaching and learning, and acting on the insights they gain through the process of developing and teaching courses online. So, for example, what makes massive open online courses so interesting is how they resemble bumblebees: by design, there is no way that they are capable of flying as viable educational experiences. Focusing on quality assurance and quality improvement also makes more relevant, more responsive, and more vital in meeting the challenges that American education faces.
