Why is the public mistrustful of online education?

An excellent educator must be an excellent communicator. In order to communicate, there is a need for student- instructor contact.
The contact with the students should communicate the content to the student. Sometimes with some students this function can be accomplished through reading assignments.

The student should communicate their understanding of the material. This can be accomplished through exams and quizzes.
The above are understood and are practiced by most, if not all, educators both in both classroom and online settings. The distinction between an excellent educator and a mediocre educator lies in the following:

• Is the instructor checking for student understanding on a regular basis?

In a face to face class a confused student can raise their hand, or in the case of a shy student, come up after class to pose their question. An excellent instructor tries to engage the student and clarify the miscommunication. A mediocre instructor blows the student off.

In the online classroom the first should happen through monitored open discussion forums and/or weekly practice quizzes which do not penalize the students. The second happens through email.

In a face to face class an intuitive instructor can check for understanding by looking at the students faces and/or their body language. In an online class the students are spread out over a large geographical area, so the instructor has to rely on other forms of communication to check for student understanding. The following methods can be used to get a feel for student progress in a virtual world.

1. Open discussion board forums where students can complain to or compliment the instructor
2. Weekly practice quizzes
3. Surveys of student satisfaction
4. Tracking student behavior online. (i.e. how often they log onto the course? how long they spend on each portion of the course?)
   

All of the above are a form of contact with students. An instructor who does not reply to students' emails should not teach online. An instructor/educator who loads up a course and leaves it on autopilot is a mediocre online instructor.

The confusion and mistrust among the general public is due to mediocre online instructors. The public at large, based on their past experiences with an excellent educator, likes and respects educators. Thereby the public mistakes flawed online teaching methods for online education being flawed.