By Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed
The federal government’s long-awaited data on the students enrolled in distance education courses nationwide provide a dubious baseline, a new study suggests, as confusing instructions, inflexible design and a lack of coordination have led colleges and universities to under- or overreport thousands of students. The study, conducted by the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies and the higher education consultant Phil Hill, raises serious questions about the integrity of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, or IPEDS, the higher education data collection program operated by the Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics.
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