Proposed federal guidance on recordkeeping in online classes is bringing out the worst in universities.
Are the men and women who staff America’s colleges rugged individualists determined to swat away the overweening hand of the state? Or are they simply greedy? An ongoing dispute over attendance-related recordkeeping and compliance has brought the question newly to the fore.
As reported by Inside Higher Ed last month, the conflict began when the federal Department of Education released proposed guidance intended to “clarify, update, and consolidate certain provisions that apply to distance education.” Nestled among the new rules was a requirement that universities take and report student attendance in virtual classes, lest (to borrow IHE’s paraphrase) “students drop out of online courses while the institution continues to collect federal Title IV financial aid funds.”
The federal government wishes not to pay colleges to educate students who no longer exist.In describing its proposal, the education department noted that “institutions can often easily determine when students stop attending a distance education course.” Because “institutional systems are already monitoring when students submit assignments,” noting that an enrollee has failed to do so in a timely manner is typically as simple as consulting one’s learning-management software (e.g., Blackboard).
As standard practice dictates, the feds conceded that “the proposed regulatory change would add a burden for institutions.” Nevertheless, this hardship was expected to be minimal:
