Can a person get the same quality of education from online courses as traditional courses? Can those courses be graded and accredited in a way which means somet

Can a person get the same quality of education from online courses as traditional courses? Can those courses be graded and accredited in a way which means something to employers? What about the overall success of http://www.open.ac.uk http://www.open.ac.uk ? Apparently, distance learning is acknowleged by employers.