I am, for the purpose of this posting, totally neutral on the acceptability of SDA or any other course taught online. While I as an individual prefer book learning as opposed to those new-fangled online thingys, if an online course can be accepted with proper verification of knowledge learned, then in my way of thinking the verification of knowledge is what produces the certification. As an example only, let's say that I produce an online syllabus, which covers every aspect of knowledge necessary to pass any agency's verification process, then why shouldn't I, as an individual, be able to present that knowledge base to anyone. All the while saying that the student must get his understanding verified. I would not issue a c-card. While I think I should be able to do this, I don't see any financial advantage to the student because I would charge and the verifying agency instructor would charge for his time in verifying ability to check tanks and determine MOD and other related acronyms. However, if someone wants to pay the price and learn online from ANY source then I believe their efforts should be recognized and accepted UNTIL such time the student cannot demonstrate the absorption and understanding of the online material.
While I'm not an instructor, I am confident that I could put together a course which would contain all of the information necessary to learn and understand the information surrounding Enriched Air and possibly other courses. It's not rocket science. Granted there would be no "quality" control, but I am not sure that quality control is all that the major agencies are complaining about.
Cheers - M²