Balancing quality and access in online education

The new information communication technologies offer exciting new possibilities for online/Web-based education. Two factors have come to be viewed as central to assuring quality in this type of education, viz the availability of adequate infrastructure and the development of effective mechanisms for evaluating the quality of education. Clear standards can certainly provide a basis for quality practice. The critical issue, however, seems to be the inaccessibility of advanced communication technologies to many potential learners. In these circumstances it is of the utmost importance to achieve a balance between accessibility and quality.