Morse Code: Inside the College Rankings

U.S. News to Collect Online Education Data

June 29, 2011 RSS Feed Print

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As early as mid-July, U.S.News & World Report will begin a first-ever effort to collect in depth data from all online bachelor's and five master's degree level education programs in the United States. To that end, U.S. News Editor Brian Kelly reached out to college presidents to inform them about the new and exciting online education project and to urge them to help facilitate a response from their campuses. Below is the full text of the letter:

Dear ________,

I'd like to ask for your help. Later this year, U.S.News & World Report will be publishing an expanded directory of online education programs with more detailed information including rankings and other searchable data. With the rapid growth of online programs in higher education, prospective students are asking for more, and more useful, data to make informed choices. We are creating a site that will bring the same quality of information to online consumers, and the same opportunity for schools to connect with those students, that we've brought to brick and mortar institutions over the last three decades. I'd like to make sure that we're able to represent your school with the most accurate, updated information.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be sending surveys about the makeup, requirements, and quality of your online education programs. Each discipline-specific survey will be sent to the appropriate departments at private, public, and for-profit regionally accredited higher education institutions in the United States.

The questions are based on academic and industry literature reviews, as well as consultation with numerous heads of online degree programs in multiple disciplines. The questions will be categorized among six distinct program-specific surveys: the master's levels in business, computer information technology, education, engineering, and nursing, as well as an online bachelor's degree program survey. These program and degree levels were chosen because they are among the highest enrollments in online education. We'll be expanding the list of programs in coming versions. In addition, this will be the first initiative to collect program level data from all online degree programs in these disciplines. With your help, the rankings will become much more sophisticated in each succeeding year.

The data we collect will be part of a redesigned online education section at usnews.com. As with our Best Colleges and Best Graduate Schools sites, we see this as an essential starting point for students looking to find the best online programs for them. We'll be including profiles of online degree programs, advanced online program searches, and online program rankings or evaluative lists.

Our education rankings have attracted many millions of users over the years because people trust and value the information we provide. At the same time, many schools have benefited from the exposure our coverage has given them. With your help, we will maintain that same credibility and value for the online education community.

For more information about the data surveys, online program rankings or new online education site, please check our Morse Code blog for updates or contact OnlineEd-Official@usnews.com. We look forward to continued collaboration and cooperation with you in the future.

Sincerely,

Brian Kelly

Tags:: colleges,; graduate schools,; rankings,; college admissions

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The timing of the surveys is particularly poor. Arriving July 29 and due date in late August for SIX surveys, five of which require significant faculty input? For most semester institutions, you've managed to neatly cover summer break and the busiest days of the academic year - the start of fall semester. The previous SINGLE online survey was on a similar time schedule, but was far more centralized and manageable. Did you go over the implications of this schedule with your AIR advisory committee? It's an amazing and almost arrogant demand at this time of the year.

WE78 of IA 11:20AM July 29, 2011

I am a faculty member at the California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. Checking our ratings, I note that we are #6 in the category of Western Regional Public Universities. We do not appear at all, however, in the rankings for Great School Great Value. Why is that? It seems odd, since our tuition is far less than most. How is that we are #6 overall and unrated as a good value? Thanks.

William Ahlgren of CA 7:22PM July 02, 2011

Being in the active military, it is very difficult for myself and others in similar affiliations to go to college full-time or even part-time at night in a traditional B&M school. So, attending a traditional or non-traditional 'online' degree program is better suited. However, it would be nice to see some sort of ranking structure, so I could make sure I was weigh ALL options when I ultimately make my choice. Even when one attends an 'online' program through a traditional school, lets say, University of Alabama, you still don't how well the program you are attending holds up, you can only assume its at the same level, especially if its happens to be listed under a College of Distance or Professional Studies, vice a College of Business or Education. A lot of times, that is where most traditional colleges place online or distance learning. There is usually no rankings for these newer colleges or programs either, let alone ranking for a whole university (non-traditional) dedicated to 'online' degree programs like Walden, Capella or University of Phoenix.
I look forward to see how this shakes out. Would love to be involved somehow if I could too.
NVYGUNZ (M.Ed. Northeastern University)

NVYGUNZ of RI 3:17PM July 01, 2011