Is Online Education Valid?

With the development of IT, you can deal with almost anything online, shopping, dating, or even taking degrees (MA, PhD). With respect to online degrees, however, it is still very much questioned, particularly of the following issues:

• Online Degree Providers: whether or not they are internationally accredited, have sufficient academic supports;
• The Degrees: whether or not they are acknowledged by the countries of the students,
• The Students: whether or not they are really the persons who read the materials, do the assignments.

If the answer to each issue above is YES. The degrees obtained are valid. The students did really learn something with their degrees (MA, PhD) attached behind their names. There is, however, a case where the degree obtained online is nothing but a piece of paper. This (the degree provider) is called "Degree Mill" in which the students (better called 'buyers') simply fill out personal data online, make payment, and get the degrees without the labor of reading texts and doing assignments, all completed within weeks. Read some of the cases from Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social Aggression, Threats, and Distress (Book and CD).