Continuing my studies…

I have been a little lax on the updates at the moment. This is not because there is nothing to report, but instead it is due to the workload. I will try and keep this brief!

Introduction to Education Theory

In all honesty, I did not enjoy this course. That is not to say it was bad, and it has given me a sound understanding of education theory. The course was well planned on the instructors part, but the main reading was a textbook (provided at no additional cost), and I have never been a fan of textbooks. Am I glad I took the course? Yes! Would I like to take it again? NO!

The course reading, as tedious as it was, was obviously intended as a springboard for further research, and in that respect it was successful. I found myself paying little attention to the course reading once I had fulfilled my obligation to digest it, and my assignments were mostly based around additional readings I had found myself.

The group assignment was fantastic, and I really enjoyed working on that piece. In fact, I would go so far as to say it was probably one of the best pieces I have written thus far.

All in all, it was a good course, and it did what was intended and provided me with knowledge that I am sure will be of use in the future. I just wish the subject matter was a little less tedious!

Effective Classroom Practices

As a direct counterbalance to the Education Theory course, this was FANATSTIC on every level. The readings were superb, and provided almost instant utility. My own classrooms are much better managed now, and that is a direct consequence of taking this course. This course, much like the RE course, was based around current articles and academic research. As a result, the content seemed much more alive, and thus held my attention more.

I was able to adapt what I was learning to my own classroom within 2 weeks of starting! This course alone has made my investment worthwhile, though I am sure it will be surpassed in the near future.

The Future (for me)

My next two courses will be in “Applied Linguistics” and “Child Psychology”. I am sure these will also provide me with some real utility in the near future.

The Future (for KEISIE)

The KEISIE website has received a makeover in the past few weeks, and I expect that more changes will happen in the near future. I have it on good authority that the school is actively working towards accreditation in the UK and the US, and it is hoped that they will receive full recognition in the first half of the new year.

I have also been informed that the school is working on payment options to make the school even more affordable, more accessible, and better equipped to provide access to students who want to take individual courses for credit-transfer purposes, or in order to satisfy their own professional development needs.

I will of course try to keep you posted!

More changes for KEISIE

I recently received some interesting news from the graduate school that will hopefully provide more utility for me in the future. A decision was made to move the base of operations for the school from Korea to the US. The school is now incorporated in Arkansas, and it is hoped that US accreditation will be approved in the near future.

The ultimate goal is to gain accreditation that would give teacher certificate approval to the courses, so that any person taking them could swiftly move into teaching in the US. This aspect doesn’t appeal to me so much as the opportunities it would provide me with international schools in Korea.

Dr. Bottiger is confident that full accreditation can be gained before my course of study is finished. This is a nice touch, and is much more than I had hoped for when I signed up for the course.

Dr. Bottiger is committed to keeping fees low even after US accreditation has been awarded, though looking at the costs for accreditation I am not sure if this is feasible. Whilst he seems confident that there will be no increases in cost, I would suggest that anybody considering the course sign up now, and beat any increase though could come from the additional expense of accreditation. Even at double the current prices, the cost of studying at the school would be much cheaper than the alternatives!

Even if accreditation is not achieved before the end of my course, I would suspect that the school would be willing to transfer in most of their old credits to allow an accredited degree to be awarded with minimal fuss.

An Opportunity for Self-Reflection!

I am not the ‘typical’ student for an M.Ed. I made the move into teaching when I was 30 years old, and had very little knowledge of the profession when I made the switch from my former life. I came to Korea with little in the way of teaching qualifications, and I survived on sheer enthusiasm for some time, and it was only after getting married that I knew I would be here long-term, and that teaching would be my living until I can no longer do it.

The KEISIE M.Ed has already proven to be a worthwhile investment. Just 4 weeks into 2 of the education modules and I have already become familiar with theory that has real application in the classroom, and this has been true of both of the courses I am enrolled on at the moment: “Introduction to Education Theory” and “Effective Classroom Practices“.

The first of these courses, the one about Education Theory, is giving me a hard time. The course reading is an old textbook, one that is pivotal to current education thinking, and yet it is one written so long ago that the language is at times unfamiliar to me. The vocabulary is not a problem, but the prose is such that I need to be in the correct frame of mind to be able to read it comfortably, and that frame of mind is difficult to get into with a 16 week old baby in the house.

I find that I am reading “guerilla” style, and am having to snatch a few pages when the opportunity arises. This makes the task quite a difficult one, and to be honest, not very enjoyable.

The material itself is fascinating, and despite its age, has already got me thinking about (and changing) my teaching habits. I feel that, as difficult as I find it, the course will probably be one of the most important ones that help me become a more student-centred teacher, and this can only be good news for the students! The fact that the work is so important in current education theory also means that it is easy to find related pieces when researching for my papers.

The second course, dealing with classroom management, has been fantastic reading on both the first and second units. Not only have I been able to adopt some new techniques, but it has also allowed me to consider my own role as a student, especially in its relation to my roles as a teacher, husband and father, all of which are competing for my precious time!

Over the next week I need to concentrate on 2 group assignments, and I have decided to work on these before tackling any of the research for the third units. Come this week, I will be half way into the courses. I have a feeling there is much to cover before I am done though!

The new session!

The new session at KEISIE Graduate School started 2 weeks ago. Thanks to the preview module I have already taken, I am able to sit just 2 courses this session. This is useful, as the increase in workload coincides with the increased demands of my 3 month old daughter. She is ‘talkative’ and likes to hear herself scream, and that is not helpful when I need to study. Taking 2 courses together has proven difficult when I am only free to study when she is sleeping, though I have managed well enough.

The courses I am taking are “Effective Classroom Practices” and “Introduction to Educational Theory”. The descriptions, as given in the course catalogue, are as follows:

EDU 6030. EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM PRACTICES. (3) This  course focuses  on the management theories, methods  and  approaches  used  in  educational classroom  settings.  Students  enrolled in this  course  will be  challenged to develop an understanding  of  the  relationship between theory and practice as it relates to classroom management.

EDU  6700.  INTRODUCTION TO  EDUCATIONAL  THEORY. (3)  This  course  examines  the  foundational  theories  used  in  education.  Students will explore the  various  models and  theoretical perspectives  used in  education  and determine  their best  use  for  global  educational needs.

I have already submitted the first assignment for each of these courses. The course on “Effective Classroom Practices” is essentially a classroom management course, as you would expect in any education course. The readings were varied, and the first assignment was a simple paper to check my understanding of what classroom management is. Since completing my TEFL course last year, I have continued reading up on TEFL, and so I was familiar with the ideas and concepts. This piece posed no real problems to me.

The second course, “Introduction to Educational Theory” was different! First of all, the readings included a textbook instead of the academic papers that previous courses have relied on. To make matters appear worse, the textbook was old. Very old!

My understanding of ‘theory’ has always been from the perspective of the EFL teacher, and this course deals with educational theory as it relates to all subjects. Any information I already had was marginally useful at best! Being of curious mind, I did some research into why this particular text was chosen. The book was old and the language was almost alien to me, so it was not an easy read. If I could just figure out why I was reading it, I may be able to get through it!

The research into the author answered all of my questions. The book is the foundation for all modern educational theory. The discussion questions that were suggested for the class forums were all about relating the theory to modern issues and determining just how relevant (or irrelevant) the book is today. Once I knew where the reading was going (and that I was only expected to comment on 5 select chapters for now), I was able to muster on and make sense of the book. Thankfully, this book is quoted in many of the theories being published today, so researching the theory was not as impossible as I first imagined. Indeed, the book is of such importance that journals and textbooks are still discussing it today, and many bricks and mortar institutions are also using it as the basis for their educational courses.

The first 2 weeks were difficult, thanks to the newness of the theory subject matter and the increased workload took some getting used to. Still, I feel better for completing it and I look forward to the next few weeks. I already have the next 4 assignments to start working on and I expect they will provide plenty of food for thought over the next few weeks.

 

Rumbled!

I had an interesting conversation with Dr. Bottiger recently. It seems he has stumbled across this blog and figured out (with little difficulty as Mike is my real name) who the author is. Whilst this was to be expected, I am still surprised that he came across it whilst the blog is so young.

Thankfully he is not annoyed and is quite happy for me to continue with what I am doing. Libel laws being what they are in Korea, he could have easily requested that I close down the site, just for mentioning his name! He considers an independent evaluation of the course to be useful for any students who wish to gather information from informed sources, especially with all of the negative, uninformed information currently floating about.

Hopefully, as readership increases, we can work on getting any news out on this site as soon as it becomes available. I know that Dr. Bottiger is working with some US accreditation agencies at the moment so that KEISIE can become a better choice for people looking to work towards credit to be applied at other institutions, as well as to offer the degrees more utility outside of Korea (where they are Government recognised) and India (where ICAATS provide accreditation).

Perhaps we can invite Dr. Bottiger to make contributions in the future, and to clarify any incorrect information that I may post. Whatever he decides is best for this blog, I would like to welcome him to the audience, and I hope he has a happy stay here.

Changes

I recently finished up the first module of the KEISIE M.Ed program, and have feeling quite pleased with myself. The grades were good, and the content had given me a lot to consider. Despite my initial reservations about the religious content, I finished the module satisfied that I had just completed a module about education, rather than a module about religion.

After completing the final assignment and exam, I spent some time reflecting on what I had accomplished in 10 weeks…

• 20 course readings
• 50+ additional readings
• 5 short assignments of 1-2,000 words
• 1 large Group assignment
• 1 large individual assignment
• 2 exams

The real question is, did it feel like more or less than I would expect from a quality course of instruction? At first it felt like more. A lot more! With the new baby in the house, and the new job, I was worried that I had taken on too much. As this was really just a ’sample’ of the course, I really should have thanked Dr. Bottiger and re-enrolled when I was better prepared to do the work, but I have never been one to give up so easily!

Whilst these outside pressures did undoubtedly make the workload seem increased, I have since come to the conclusion that my perceptions were reality. The work was indeed more than I would have expected. At first! The content was structured so that there was a clear progression. At first, I was doing a lot of additional reading, yet by the mid-way point (when the first large assignment was introduced), my reading had dropped significantly as I was able to call upon past readings to supplement my arguments. New readings were reduced to around 4 or 5 per assignments, and most of my citations were pulled from older course readings, or works I had already used.

So, in the first few weeks, the readings were significant, and coursework was light. Towards the end, readings were lighter and coursework was increased. As a result, the course was well balanced and very well structured. I can only guess that the same could be true when I am sitting 2 or 3 courses together – I would expect significant overlap between courses that would allow me to complete courses with less reading, which will then enable me to concentrate on the increase in assignments.

So what does this have to do with change? Well, the time has come for me to officially enrol as a student. Dr. Bottiger sent me out a copy of the course catalogue (which you can now download from the front page of the KEISIE website), and I have noticed a LOT of change! Whilst you can often expect some changes with a new organisation, (and indeed I was told to expect some by Dr. Bottiger) the amount of change to the programs on offer is much higher than I could have anticipated.

For the M.Ed course, there are not numerous options available. The choice between the Department of Educational Administration and the Department of Teaching and Instruction decides the core courses (either admin or teaching based).

When I enrolled on the course, I expected to be completing 3 religious modules, 1 of which dealt with religious content, and the other 2 on Religion in Education. For the M.Ed from the Dept. of Teaching and Instruction, the requirement has been dropped to 1 religious courses, and that is the course I have already completed, the one dealing explicitly with education. As I have already completed one of these, it leaves me just 1 to complete. As much as I enjoyed the previous course, I am looking forward to focusing on the educational courses, as I am an educator looking to become better at his job!

So, the core courses I must complete are:

• SOC 6525 Culture and Education
• EDU 6250 Comparative Issues in Education
• EDU 6700 Introduction to Educational Theory
• REL 6601 Philosophy of Religious Education (completed)

Now I must choose my Major. I wish to study International Language, and so I must study two courses that are considered the core of my selected area:

• EDU 6005 Principles of Teaching
• EDU 6020 Curriculum Theory and Design

Then I get to supplement my area of concentration with and 2 of the following(bold indicates my my likely choices):

• EDU 6400 The Teaching of Language
• EDU 6405 Applied Linguistics
• EDU 6410 Second Language Teaching Strategies
• EDU 6415  Strategies for Teaching Reading
• EDU 6440  The  Adolescent L earner

And then there are 2 course electives.

• PSY 6800 Educational Psychology
• EDU 5350 Educational Interaction with Parents and Officials
• EDU 6030  Effective Classroom Practices
• EDU 5910 Problem Solving in Education

The catalogue indicates that it is possible to take any one of a number of courses from the School of Psychology, so I am tempted to change to Child Psychology, to help me better understand my daughter, or perhaps social psychology.

After all of that, I will be writing a These. Ouch! To be honest, I am afraid of this, but I do have some good ideas for research, and I have a few contacts who could help me out.

The previous incarnation of the Graduate School, whilst offering good value, was limited and there was some course content that I was settling for in order to get access to the courses I really wanted to study. The new catalogue shows that there is a much greater vision for the school, and allows Students to personalise their degree to their needs.

A quick summary of the courses offered (this was a quick count, so I may have missed one or 2 from the Education courses):

• 3 Business courses
• 70 Education courses
• 5 Information Technology courses
• 9 Psychology courses
• 10 Religion courses
• 7 Humanities courses

Impressive!

Unit 3 (and 4) completed!

Thanks to my PC troubles, I did not post the unit 3 update upon completion. I managed to hand in the assignment on time, but the difficulties with the old PC meant that I could not bear to spend the time updating this site. Instead, I wrote most of it as a draft which I have adapted for this larger post.

The deadline 2 weeks ago was a busy one. I had 2 assignments to hand in at this time – a typical unit assignment, and a larger group assignment.

The unit assignment (Unit 3)dealt with issues of choice in the context of Religious Education. The course readings dealt with a number of issues including different interpretations of Christianity (and the conflicts that arise from this), and the issue of ‘forcing’ a particular religion upon people as experienced by the Native Indians of the US through the boarding school experience.

There were also a number of readings dealing with the legalities of including religion in the classroom, and these were based upon court cases in the US and the UK. Finally, there was a piece that considered the merits and pitfalls of home-schooling as a choice for parents.

All in, there were some long readings that pulled together a number of issues relating to the difficulties of introducing religion in the classroom, and my paper dealt with these issues and more in finding a way to introduce religion into the classroom in a way that would not alienate students or parents.

The group assignment was a holdover from the previous unit (Unit 2), but due to the fact that it involved a lot more work than a typical assignment, a 4 week deadline is given. This is an exercise in co-operation and so it is different from the typical assignment.

The KEISIE class software automatically allocates students a group, and gives them have a reading to download. (My reading was about a successful Christian school in the US that manages to draw enough private funding to be able to offer an excellent package to students in the area, and can afford to charge fees based on ability). The assignment involved writing a large proposal for a system of RE that would be implemented in the public school system.

The assignment had a lot of overlap with previous assignments, yet obviously required further research. I ended up doing a lot more research into the UK and Irish models for religious education before making my submission, and I completed over 3,500 words for this piece.

Despite what some may think, this course is still not pushing a particular (Christian) agenda. My Unit 3 and Group assignment work concerned inclusive religious education that gave equal rights to atheists, Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Jews alike. Needless to say, I was not penalised in any way for this and I was actually commended on my inclusive approach in private correspondence with Dr. Bottiger.

August 11th-13th was Mid-Term time. During this time, students are required to access an exam online and complete it within a set time. My exam comprised of 5 questions geared to ensure that I understood the course content so far. It took a few hours to complete, but due to their nature, were a lot less labour intensive than the regular assignments. (An exam does not offer time for research!)

The next week was when my PC decided to finally give up on me, and so I ordered some parts and waited for the delivery of my new unit. It took over a week for the parts to be delivered, and once the setup was completed, I already had a looming deadline! The upcoming Unit 4 included 5 readings, though this time there were just 40 pages in total.

The issues dealt with included religious institutions working with government, and indoctrination within religious schools. A paper was to be submitted dealing with Christian principles in the classroom. Once again, I adopted an inclusive approach that focused on similarities between the world’s religions and was not penalised for this. My research led me to look up a number of books and articles that show just how much governments and educational institutes in the US and Canada rely on Christian principles, yet do not actually label them as such. The teaching of morals, or principles for life was long the domain of religion as it does not fall within the mandate for any other subject in the school curriculum, yet we are now at a point where schools are neglecting to teach students to care about world issues, simply because educators do not want to enter the domain of religion.

As an aside, one of the biggest problems I am having with the course is keeping my assignment lengths down. The guideline is just 1,000-2,000 words, yet I find that I always have too much to say. In the end, I cut down a lot of my content in order to meet the guidelines, and also to ensure that my wife and child are not sidelined. I am sure that I could submit radically different assignments and still get good grades, thanks to the depth of material that is covered within each unit.

Unit 4 also contains an individual project that is larger than the regular assignments, and I will be honest here and say I have not had time to give it much thought. I will be working diligently towards completion for the next week, and will post my thoughts on the content in the next week or so.

Following that, I will have one more assignment to complete (the deadline is 2 weeks from today), and then my final exam. In 2 or 3 weeks I will be finished with this first unit of the Masters of Education program, and I will be able to spend some time to reflect on everything that has been covered.

Is your PC good enough to study for an advanced degree by distance?

My PC has finally quit on me. It is lasted me 6 years (with basic upgrades along the way), but now the processor has decided to give up the ghost, and so I need a new system. The Processor is first generation P4, released long before all these nice new dual-core models that are available. I should have upgraded long ago, but I have not really had any need to. I have ordered all the pieces I need to build a new system, but one of the websites I have ordered from is managed by incompetents, so there has been a delay in building the machine.

So… what has all this got to do with my degree course? First of all, it goes some way to explaining the lack of postings I have made. Things have been too frustrating. The PC likes to shut down after anywhere between 20 minutes and 2 hours of use, and I have had a hard enough time with assignments and work (my school have been running intensive summer classes which means I have been working longer hours). More relevant to you, the reader, it got me thinking about just how much PC Power I would need to complete the KEISIE degree course.

I am confident in saying that the degree would run perfectly on any PC that is stable. You do not need a top of the range PC or laptop, and indeed any entry level model will suffice. As a minimum, you need to be able to run the following software:

An Operating System

Most PC’s come with Windows installed, but if you do not have a copy, or if you do not want to use it, you can run Linux software which is free (MS Windows is not free). Some builds of Linux will run on old 486 machines and need just 16mb of RAM! I bought a second hand 486 machine back in 1994 to help me with my bachelors, so that should tell you just how old a machine it can run on!

I should warn you now. Linux is not always easy to use, and if you are a PC beginner, you should probably use the MS Windows that came on your PC or pay for a copy. It is the easiest OS to use out of the box. Whatever you may think of Microsoft, there is a good reason for their popularity!

If you choose an Apple computer, their OSX software is also more than adequate.

A Word Processor

Open Office is a free office suite that will suffice. It is capable of running on Linux as long as you have 128Mb of RAM, and 200Mb of disk space. If you are using a Windows machine, the disk space requirement goes up to 800Mb for the install, and then drops down to around 440Mb after the temporary files have been deleted. This may sound like a lot, but when you consider that a CD holds 800Mb of data, you should realise that it is a very small program.

There is also a version of Open Office for the Mac, should you require it.

A PDF Reader

The KEISIE course readings are all provided as PDF files, and so you will need PDF reader software in order to view them. Basic reader software is almost always free. You can go with the trusted Adobe Acrobat reader, but this is considered bloatware. It uses a lot of your system resources, and is quite a large download, but it is good, free, and runs on Windows, Linux or MAC without problems.

I prefer to use STDU Viewer, which opens a number of other formats. Whilst STDU uses less space, and installs fewer unnecessary components, it does use more RAM (512Mb). This is largely down to the fact that it can open a number of documents in one window, and allows functionality that other programs do not.

If you are truly limited by your system, Cool PDF Reader requires just 626Kb of disk space (half of a floppy disk!) and does not need installation. 32Mb of RAM is enough to run it, so it will run on any PC built in the past 10 years without any problems.

A PDF Writer

Assignments for the course are submitted as PDF documents. There is no need to print out and mail them in as there are with many other distance courses. PDF format cannot be easily edited, and so it is a secure way to submit documents. They are uploaded to the course website and submitted directly to the faculty in that manner.

The commercial PDF creation software is expensive. Adobe Acrobat will cost you $299!!! Thankfully, there are many free solutions available. A lot of these are intended as a free trial, and so they will often add a watermark indicating along the lines of “created with… software”. Whilst the KEISIE faculty does not frown upon this, I do. Especially where there is an excellent alternative!

PrimoPDF is a free, lightweight piece of software that installs itself as a virtual printer. Whenever you “print” a file using PrimoPDF, it will create a PDF file of your document. They support over 300 different file formats, and a nifty feature is the ability to append to PDF files. If you need to print from 3 different files and make 1 PDF, it is possible with this software!

Whilst the software (and append capability) only works with windows, they do allow you to submit Mac or Linux files to the website and you PDF can be mailed to you. I have not used this feature, but if it is anything like the software version it will be great.

Zip software

Most Operating Systems now include the capability to open Zip archives. If you download more than one file from the KEISIE website, they arrive as a Zip archive. Whilst the ability to open these files is not necessary (you could simply do individual downloads), it helps streamline the process of downloading the unit readings every 2 weeks. If for some reason you cannot open these files, you can download the excellent WINRAR, and use it on just about any OS. The trial version is free, and is not time limited. You can use it to extract files with no problems for as long as you need to.

People often assume that a top of the range PC is required to study online, but it is not required for the KEISIE course. Any internet ready PC will suffice! You can buy new PC’s for $300 these days, and an old second hand one will cost even less. This will be enough to see that you can complete your studies, and even without any software included you can easily download free alternatives that will more than suffice!

Unit 2 assignment completed!!!

The second unit of the course had a lot more weight that the substantial unit 1. As well as dealing with some of the issues facing school administrators, we were prompted to look at the issue of R.E. in liberal societies that often promote the rights of the individual NOT to do something over the rights of others. (In this case, it was the rights of people to NOT to hear views on subjects such as homosexuality, over the rights of other who wish their views to be heard).

The content demonstrated implications for all branches of education, and not just for R.E. My research took me to a look at the Northern Ireland state schools, as well as into the secular and religious schools of the US and Canada.

It was a substantial project, and in addition to the 5 course readings (over 100 pages of text), I did additional research that led to me doubling the reading required. In 2 weeks! My assignment weighed in just a little over the recommended word count of 1000-2000 words, and try as I might, I just could not keep it down!

The next unit is still locked to me, and I have only just downloaded the course readings. This time there are 6 articles, totaling 74 pages of reading. Once again, the topics appear to be diverse. One paper discusses the forced religious indoctrination of Native Americans; another is from a History Journal and deals with the experiences in Ethiopia. There is a paper dealing with Christian support groups outside of education, and two that deal with the legalities of 2 seemingly innocent topics – graduation speeches and school uniforms, and a final paper on homeschooling.

It appears, at first glance, that this unit will be delving further into the debate about parental choice, though I will have a better idea when the instruction for the course is open to me (28 hours or so from now).

I will once again have an assignment to complete within 2 weeks, but this time things are complicated by the looming deadline for a group exercise in which an assignment should be submitted that outlines a theoretical outline for Religious Education in State Schools. My plan will be to complete the course readings for Unit 3 this week, and also complete the group assignment, giving me a free week to complete the research for the Unit 3 assignment. Thankfully, the research from the previous units means that most of the research for the group assignment is complete, so it should not be too difficult.

I recognise that I need to refine my methodology before the course starts properly, or I will quickly be overwhelmed by the workload. Right now it is 7:30pm and I have to do some work preparing for the classes I will teach tomorrow, and I need to find some quality time for my wife. At the same time, my mind is racing with ideas for the group assignment, and the readings for the next unit look somewhat intriguing!

KEISIE and ICAATS

If you exercise due diligence (and do a quick Google search), you will quickly discover that there is some controversy about the validity of ICAATS accreditation. Unfortunately, many people are involved are arguing from a position of opinion rather than fact. There are some people who are vehemently against any education system that does not follow the western model, and they are under the mistaken belief that ALL western education models are identical.

The people who do argue from a position of fact are those from India. Unfortunately, they appear to be connected to ICAATS in some manner. The most vocal defenders of ICAATS accreditation are those working for a university that is accredited by ICAATS.

Until very recently, I was not connected to ICAATS and I had no real interest in defending their position. I am not working towards an ICAATS accredited M.Ed, and whilst that could put my compromise my beliefs this is not the case. I will now try to outline my position.

Who are ICAATS?

ICAATS are The International Council For Accrediting Alternate And Theological Studies. They are an accrediting agency set up to accredit theological courses since 1954, and do so as an NGO. They received recognition from the Indian government in 2003 and now hold a license to accredit courses.

ICAATS are an NGO. In India, most degree courses are completed in Government approved institutions, and accreditation comes from the ministry of education. These institutions only teach and practice the national religion, Hinduism. 80% of the population is Hindi.

In order to preserve the rights of minority religions, the Government established a system whereby “All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.” This is written into the Indian constitution, and was signed into law in 1950, just 3 years after they gained independence. It was never necessary to seek accreditation, yet ICAATS was set up to offer a system of checks to ensure some level of academic integrity. Many religious institutions in India are self-accredited and their degrees are considered valid within India.

An amusing thing to note is that the Indian system of accreditation for institutes of higher education, and that of allowing religious schools to self-accredit (or seek the accreditation of an NGO) is reflected almost identically in the US education model, yet the US model followed a decade later. US Education was unaccredited until the late 1960’s. Nowadays, US educational institutes can seek accreditation from national or local organisations. As there is strict separation of state and religion, religious institutions in the US are either self accredited, or accredited by an NGO.

What is accreditation?

Accreditation is a third party verification of academic integrity. In the US, it is required to secure funding for students. In the UK, it is never required as the government grants a license to issue degrees to Universities and colleges whose quality they are satisfied with.

In the UK, the government license is required in order to secure funding for your college or university. In the US, national, state, or religious NGO accreditation is required. Essentially, accreditation is only sought so that that institutes can get funding. This funding is only available for domestic (or in the case of the US, state resident) students and so international students do not benefit from accreditation in any way. The UK Universities are not formally recognised in the US, and the UK will not formally recognise US education. That being said, both countries will recognise that the degrees granted by both countries are of a high quality and a US degree will be recognised by UK universities and UK employers, despite its unaccredited status in the UK. The opposite holds true in the US.

The Indian system is a mix of the UK and US system (though it came before the US system), yet people are unwilling to consider it genuine because, dare I say it, the standards are Indian! The Indian education system is first rate. Indian people are, for the most part, bi-lingual, and they are taking jobs every day from the UK and the US in a number of important sectors. These are not people who are receiving a substandard education!

Should an International School seek accreditation?

My honest opinion here? I do not think that an international school such as KEISIE requires accreditation. They are approved by the Korean government to grant degrees and so they are able to qualify their existence with that simple fact.

I know from speaking with Dr. Bottiger, and from my research into one-day opening a language school of my own, that the Korean Ministry of Education impose a very stringent series of checks to ensure the academic credentials of any licensed educational institution. When I provided feedback for the TEFL course that I conducted through KEI, I was told that the government actually verified the system of testing that was in place to ensure that standards for a simple TEFL certification were high, and this is despite there being any standard in place.

To date, KEISIE is the only licensed virtual school in Korea. The MOE actually invented a new series of balances (and by all accounts a new tax code) for them. They are government approved, and so they do not really need any other accreditation.

That said, most of their students will be from outside of Korea and I applaud their willingness to seek external accreditation. US accreditation gives comfort to people who are unable to take a global view of education. As most US accreditation agencies require some history before they grant accreditation, KEISIE will have to be in operation for a few years before they can realise this goal. Like many US schools, they will have to operate as an unaccredited institute before they can be considered valid.

Is an unaccredited degree a fake degree?

NO! Absolutely not! Many unaccredited colleges within the US are of a high standard. In California, people from selected unaccredited institutes are eligible to take the bar exam and practice law! This does not indicate a lack of validity when a degree is unaccredited. (Whilst relatively few people pass the bar exam when they come from an unaccredited institution, this is more a reflection on the quality of applicant who are likely to be unable to study at an accredited college. Most people studying will be from a poor economic background and so opt for the lower fees of an unaccredited college, and likely to be working as well as studying).

A fake degree, such as those you read about in the newspapers, is one that is a forgery or one where you “earn” your degree by signing a cheque. A degree that is earned through study and hard work is NOT a fake degree. As long as you are honest about where you earned the degree, your degree is not considered fake.

I personally believe that a program of educational study is as valid as you, the student, make it. If you receive good quality instruction and are willing to work towards your goals, you will come out of the program with a greater knowledge of your given subject. How much greater the knowledge is depends on the work you invest. Essentially, you are paying for an education, and that education should be your measure of satisfaction, NOT the accredited status.

With KEISIE, I will receive my M.Ed and I will be happy about both the education I received, and the price I paid. After discussions with friends who are studying distance MA’s, MBA’s and M.Ed’s, I know that I am doing as much work as they are, and that I am receiving an education as valid as they are. In the end, that is all anybody should care about.