Project Business Ethics

Misrepresentation & False Credentials:

The Internet and personal computers have made it possible for unscrupulous students to “create” their own degrees, their own transcripts, and their own diplomas. This is a serious problem, especially when students then use those credentials to get jobs, certifications, and other benefits.

            Managing this issue is very difficult because it does not originate within the online degree program’s control. It is a situation in which people leverage their knowledge of technology for an unethical gain.

The School’s Integrity:

Equal in importance in distance education to the student’s integrity is the school’s. The distance learning environments, and the attractiveness of the degree, provide fertile ground for unethical acts on behalf of schools, even those with accreditation.

Phony Schools, Diploma Mills, and False Credentials:

Undoubtedly the most egregious breach of integrity among schools are those which operate as “diploma mills.” A diploma mill is a school that offers to sell diplomas for a market price.  They do not have curriculum programs. They do not have courses. They do not, in many cases, have faculty members. Their transaction is to offer the “student” a degree for a fee.
Sometimes the diploma mills require students to create a portfolio of their learning and life experience. The schools “evaluate” that diploma and, miraculously, every portfolio qualifies for a high degree.
Various government agencies work to regulate these schools, but it is very difficult. If they are shut down in one place, they can easily move to another location and reopen.

Accreditation agencies are of course adamantly opposed to this sort of thing. But they are also largely powerless to stop the activity.
The only groups that can stop this kind of activity are consumers, either consumers of the degrees (students) or those who employ them. Without a willingness to confront these schools, they will inevitably work their bad medicine in the distance learning marketplace.

Technology Support:

Any school, upon launching a distance learning program, takes on a burden to appropriately support its learners with good technology. Whether that means making sure the servers are “up” as close to 100% of the time as possible, or making good decisions about the learning technology deployed, it is the school’s obligation to provide appropriate technology support.
This is an area in which many otherwise legitimate schools try to get by cheap. Whether due to budget constraints, leadership deficiency, or bureaucratic ineptitude, many schools shortchange their distance learners with a shoddy commitment to excellence in technology. It is unethical for them to do so.