“In recent days, I’ve been reflecting on my time as a policy advisor to the United States House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce in 2003, when we wrestled with how and whether to waive Department of Education regulations to aid in the growth of distance education. How could we balance vital consumer protections, and the responsibility of safeguarding federal aid, with the promise of connecting an unprecedented number of students with vital education and training through online modalities?

Members of Congress resisted expanding the Distance Education Demonstration Program (DEDP), or even memorializing in statute what the demonstration program was teaching us about how students and institutions were experimenting with promising new technologies. At that time, policymakers were concerned about maintaining quality and ensuring academic integrity. Equity and access concerns were paramount. Many of the institutions participating in distance education at that time were also for-profit providers and policymakers had a level of increased scrutiny about their motivations.

Fast forward seventeen years, and policymakers and institutions are again grappling with the promise and the peril of moving higher education online. We know that an institution’s transition to online education is neither quick nor seamless. It takes intense coordination and planning among administrators, faculty and instructional designers. Students’ transition to online learning (even for digital natives) is not without challenges either. Many students—like the ones profiled by Digital US, a national coalition of 25 community organizations and employers working to support digital skill development—struggle with consistent access to devices, internet, or tech support, and are unfamiliar or uncomfortable learning online.” Read More