The push for new assessment models in online education comes largely from competition with its older brother, traditional education, says Mr. Ewell. Because distance education is comparatively new, he says, critics often hold it to a higher standard than traditional education when judging quality. It has more to prove, and is trying to use assessments that show its effectiveness as the proof. (Carnevale, 2001, (http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i31/31a04301.htm) Yet, as many traditional educators fear, the concepts of outcomes-based evaluation, e.g. standardized assessments has been so widely accepted by the education world that traditional systems may be required to assess their own outcomes using the tools designed by e-education newbies.

Traditional educators are arguing against the validity of e-education in its most marketable and pure form, not as video conferencing within the context of lectures from historically accredited universities but from e-based systems that they see as handing out degrees to anyone who is willing to pay the fees to enroll. Though this is largely an exaggeration, the fear is still evident....

"Having degrees that rely on students' passing tests reduces higher education to nothing more than job training" (Carnevale, 2001, (http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i31/31a04301.htm) the effectiveness of higher education will of coarse continue to be at the forefront of educational issues within the next twenty years, if not longer and assessment styles will undoubtedly be that which decides their fate, it would then be wise for traditional educators, regardless of their discomfort with outcomes-based testing to begin to design standardized assessments that better meet the need of those institutions, as higher education, as any other marketable service is at the mercy of those who pay for the service.
Works Cited

Carnivale, D. "Assessment Takes Center Stage in Online Learning: Distance educators see the need to prove that they teach effectively" at: http://www.online-degrees- today.com/02.09.04-EducationNews/EDUnews_testobsessed.shtml>.

Marshak, D. "No Child Left Behind: Test-obsessed education won't move us ahead" at http://www.online-degrees-today.com/02.09.04-EducationNews/EDUnews_testobsessed.shtml.