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Amazing. Once again, not a single main stream newspaper or network is able to interview or identify "Professor" Strong, except for the distorted info provided by CBS itself. And the blogosphere comes through with the info.

USA Today tracked him down and interviewed him. I think his home phone number is listed.

I wonder if this article in Volume 11, Number 3 of the American Journal of Distance Education (1997) is the REAL Robert Strong's. It seems consistent with what he's teaching --- a sort of research studies/humanities course. If someone could find a copy, we might be able to figure out where he went to school. As best I can tell, a Robert W. Strong obtained some sort of degree from St. Edward's University in 1973. Again, I don't know if this is THE Robert W. Strong.

Online Graduate Degrees: A Review of Three Internet-based Master's Degree Offerings Robert W. Strong and E. Glynn Harmon

This article reviews and contrasts three on-line Master's programs. Two of the programs are in Management and one is the field of Library and Information Science. The following universities are involved in the study: the University of Phoenix's three different management degrees, the Master of Arts in Management conferred by The Graduate School of America, and the Master of Science in Library and Information Science conferred by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Strong and Harmon develop a "Consumer's Guide" that offers important questions for potential students.

Although the article describes briefly differences among the three programs, the focus is general questions to take into account when considering any online university programs. Some of the questions are: does the program meet the needs of the students and help him/her reach their goal, qualifications of faculty, type of interaction between learners and instructors, e.g., synchronous/asynchronous subjects, requirements for on-campus orientation or instruction, and cost. "The evaluation of these offerings (not of the degrees themselves) indicates clear and distinct differences in the aims, the quality of information provided, and the potential benefits of various programs." Strong and Harmon consider their article a initial step to apprise potential student about some specific graduate degree options, but more importantly, how to evaluate them.