Colleges try to verify online learning attendance - Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY

With online courses growing more popular, there's a push to make sure that students who sign up for them are actually taking them. Colleges are ramping up strategies to ensure that the student who gets the grade for taking an online course is the same person who does the homework and completes the exams. The impetus is a federal law, passed in 2008, requiring colleges that are eligible for federal student aid for online programs to take steps to discourage financial aid and academic fraud. Federal regulations require students to have secure log-ins and passwords for online course offerings, but industry experts expect more stringent standards to come. "We don't know when and how, but they're probably going to tighten up," says David Richardson, CEO of Louisville-based Learning House, founded in 2001 to help schools develop online degree programs http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/16/internet-online-classes-security-college-courses/2518175/