Online learning is becoming popular in the United States and in other parts of the world, with many institutions of higher learning embracing it. Notably, the number of students enrolled in different online programs in colleges and universities is increasing throughout the United States of America. Technology has played a big role in this, as students are able to access education anywhere, anytime, using a number of learning tools such as audio conferences, chat rooms, podcasts,wikis, simulations, electronic books, and blogs amongst others. The United States of America is faced with a shortage of nurses, a situation which is anticipated to worsen within the next few years (Janiszewski, 2003). Online learning is being applied to address this shortage, as it is now a national problem. However, there are a number of issues that surround this mode of learning. For instance, student authentication, which will be discussed in this paper, is a one such like issue.
Projected shortages in nursing populations, coupled with increasing workforce demands, have necessitated educational models for the preparation of nurses to work in the healthcare system, which is becoming complex by the day. There is an urgent need to increase the population of nurses by 80% at the bachelor’s level, and by 50% at the doctoral level by 2020 (Lowery & Spector, 2014). Technology has been identified as one key contributor to the realization of this goal, as it enables online learning.
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With the increasing number of online programs, student authentication has become necessary. Going by mainstream media reports, student authentication continues to be one of the major issues with respect to the provision of quality online education. In fact, it has been such a major concern that it has made its way into the Higher Education Opportunities Act (HEQA). It has been noticed that a lack of student authentication leads to cheating, alongside other academic irregularities. To curb this problem, institutions offering online courses are now required to go through a process that ensures that the students who register for particular courses are the same students who participates in the learning process, receiving academic credit that they themselves have earned at the end of it all.
The history of online writing dates back to over 170 years ago. Online learning has its roots in Great Britain, whereby the instructor of a correspondence course used mail to send lessons to students and as well, to receive completed assignments. Today’s online courses are just modern versions of this instructor’s version. The first successful modern form of this process was rolled out in Illinois, where for the first time, students accessed and shared course materials, and recorded lectures through the internet in 1960. More advanced levels of e-learning continued to be invented over the years, from the Lemonade Stand (1979), to the Electronic University Network (1984), to the CAL Campus of 1994, to the California Virtual University and the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (1997) , to the Open Courseware Project of 2002, and on to the latest technologies of today.
The issue of online student authentication is important to different stakeholders. The nursing shortage has led to the adoption of online nursing programs to train more nurses. The authentication of students taking these courses is important to policy makers because it enables them to have clear and genuine records, which in turn, help in the planning for service delivery in the field of medicine. It also ensures that a pool of qualified professionals is provided in the society, seeing as cheating is discouraged, aiding policy makers together with other stakeholders to plan for available resources so as to improve on the shortage.
To the college administrators, authentication is important as it makes them avoid collisions with the home states of the students taking their online courses. Nursing faculties should encourage student authentication, as this will promote their recognition and acknowledgment for the preparation of straightforward and honest nurses who add to the pool of professionals in the nursing industry. Students, as the main focus here, even more of need to identify themselves correctly, since it gives them a sense of belonging and pride as leaders of tomorrow. The society is equally involved in the whole process. Student authentication prevents fraud and promotes integrity, ensuring better nurses. These nurses are sent back to the society to practice whatever it is that they learned, promoting its general health.
Colleges and associations have employed a number of ways to promote integrity, ensuring that knowledgeable professionals are produced to take care of the increasing demand for nurses in the United States of America. For instance, high technology solutions such as iris scanning, speech recognition, fingerprint scanning, handwriting recognition, and keyboard typing cadence are commonly used by online colleges and universities to identify students (Aceves,& Aceves, 2009). This makes it possible to note any form of cheating as well as in ensuring that those who participate in course work and exams are not impersonators.
In addition, non-biometric authentication technologies are also available. These include; web cameras and microphones that record visually the student’s environment in which the exams take place, background noise and movements. Another strategy is verification of the IP addresses of specific computers that are used by the students to take exam. Additionally, students are prohibited from browsing the internet by locking down brewers as well as monitoring the students at their location of exams using onsite remote proctors.
Other organizations have supported this move to promote integrity and honesty in producing nurses. The WCET, for example has been in the forefront in advocating for online student identification to promote better health care services. The American Association of College Nursing and the Tri-Council for nursing also take the position that nurses should advance their capacity to offer services through integrity driven online learning. The organizations are working together with universities and colleges to facilitate proper learning and genuine knowledgeable nurses.
In conclusion, online learning holds the single greatest hope for the mitigation of the constantly degenerating problem in terms of nursing shortages. However, with respect to the assurance of the quality of online learning programs, any of the institutions that provide these programs must ensure strict authentication, as this will dissuade impersonification and academic fraud.
References
Aceves, P. A., & Aceves, R. I. (2009) Student Identity and Authentication in Distance Education: A Primer for Distance Learning Administrators. Continuing Higher Education Review , 73 , 143-152
Janiszewski Goodin, H. (2003). The nursing shortage in the United States of America: an integrative review of the literature. Journal of advanced nursing , 43 (4), 335-343
Lowery, B., & Spector, N. (2014) Regulatory implications and recommendations for distance education in prelicensure nursing programs Journal of Nursing Regulation , 5 (3), 24-33
