LEARNING EFFECTIVENESS means that learners who complete an online program receive educations that represent the distinctive quality of the institution. The goal is that online learning is equivalent to or better than learning through the institution's other delivery modes, in particular in its traditional face-to-face, classroom-based instruction. The course or program is designed to be at least equivalent in quality to face-to-face courses offered at the same institution. If there is no comparable face-to-face course, then the institution's normative benchmark applies. The learning resources in online courses generally include the same ones to be found in the institution's traditional face-to-face courses-learning media (books, notes, software, CD-ROMs, and so on); faculty who teach the class and are available outside of class; and learners who interact with the faculty and with each other. Because of technology, online courses are usually enhanced by resources available over the Internet and/or designed for computer presentation. Metrics demonstrate that the quality of learning online is at least as good as the institution provides through its traditional programs as measured by several means-by faculty perception; by outcomes assessments; by career, scholastic and professional achievement surveys and records; by feedback from employers; and by institutionally sustained, evidence-based, participatory inquiry into how well online programs achieve learning objectives. Online learning generally parallels the quality of face-to-face learning with equivalent content, standards, and support services. Online curricula are subject to, and thereby receive the same benefits of practice, process and criteria that the institution applies to traditional forms of instruction.