LOS ANGELES - While some continue to debate the quality of non-traditional nationally accredited colleges and universities, distance education degree holder Charles R. Ferrao was named Outstanding Faculty Member at American Intercontinental University. AIU hired Ferrao as an adjunct professor in their criminal justice program four years ago. Despite competing with faculty members whose degrees are from supposedly superior regionally accredited schools, Ferrao was selected for his outstanding performance and given high praise by his department chair.

Professor Ferrao earned a Master of Science in Criminal Justice at Andrew Jackson University, a nationally accredited degree granting institution that transitioned to an all-online format several years ago. He was selected as the Andrew Jackson University Outstanding Graduate in 2006 in recognition of both his scholastic achievements and his contribution to his family and society.

Don Kassner, Andrew Jackson University president, stated that since distance education had long been viewed as a poor cousin to traditional, in-classroom learning, many still hold this outdated view. Kassner, who teaches both online and in a classroom, says that there are greater demands made on the online students. “On average, online students have to be much more dedicated than someone sitting in a classroom. When I have twenty or so students in the classroom, some never participate, but every one of my online students has to engage as the interaction online is one-on-one,” Kassner stated.

Charles Ferrao would likely agree with Kassner’s comments as his distance education degree has paved the way for an adjunct professor position at a regionally accredited university.

Since Ferrao has been out of Andrew Jackson University for several years, he would be surprised at the innovation in online instruction that has occurred. Instructors at Andrew Jackson University now use video to comment on a student’s work or to answer specific questions from that student. Final exams, for years an inconvenience for distance education students as exams had to be taken in the presence of a proctor, are now monitored live online by certified proctors. “Distance education, particularly online, has progressed markedly over the last decade,” said Kassner, “and thousands of dedicated students are earning their degrees from quality online institutions like Andrew Jackson University.”

Andrew Jackson University www.aju.edu is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council, America’s oldest distance education accrediting agency. The University offers eleven degree programs, all online, including three master’s, three bachelor’s and five associate degrees.

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