POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- This spring semester Three Rivers Community College will launch an online degree for the first time, over a decade after offering its first Web-based course.

A general education degree plus the environment/occupational safety and health technology certificate will be fully attainable through the Internet come January. Shortly thereafter, plans are in place to launch the business administration and information systems technology programs online, community college officials announced.

"I've looked into [transferring to] the University of Phoenix, which is completely online, so I guess it's safe to say nothing about taking courses online at Three Rivers has scared me off from doing it again in the future," said Aaron Smothers, 20, who resides outside of Doniphan, Mo.

A business administration major, Smothers is currently enrolled in 'American history since 1877' online, and earned an A in microeconomics via the Internet last year. He has also taken hybrid classes that incorporate classroom lecture with a Web component through the delivery system Blackboard, he noted.

"In my research, one of the biggest things community colleges are juggling is finding ways to reach a lot of non-traditional students coming from different walks of life," Smothers said, "and the online element widens that potential beyond the 15 counties ours serves."

Dustin Birdwell, 25, of Poplar Bluff, an information systems technology student with plans to transfer to Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, estimated he has taken 15-20 credit hours online, including public speaking, through which he had to submit videos of speeches he delivered before external audiences.

"It's convenient in that you can work your classes around any schedule," said Birdwell who, besides taking a full courseload, works 30 hours per week at Buffalo Wild Wings. "You do have to be self-driven."

A Three Rivers English faculty member among the first to make her instruction available online, Dr. Carol Swain Lewis said in some respects teaching online classes is as much of a challenge for instructors as it is for the student enrolled.

"We need to help students understand how to use technology intelligently and efficiently, and receive all the information and opportunities they would receive in the classroom," Swain Lewis said. "When we're writing a study guide, our goal is the same as in class: to keep the student from falling asleep."

Swain Lewis has had military stationed in Afghanistan and people living abroad who have enrolled in her courses. She once had a student from China who needed credit hours in world literature within a particular time frame.

"He did a search and discovered Three Rivers, the only college in the world to offer the class at that moment," Swain Lewis exclaimed. "The possibilities with the degree launch really are incredible, when you think about it, and it will be a wonderful strong point for our region."

Three Rivers received its authorization from the Higher Learning Commission to offer online degrees in June, according to Dr. Wes Payne, vice president for learning.

When Payne was hired last year, one of his standout qualifications discussed was his work as interim director of distance learning and instructional technology at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, where he moved the program from 67 online courses to more than 500, when the institution was affected by the destruction of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

More than 20 percent of the total credits delivered at Three Rivers are taken online, according to the most recent statistics. In the first quarter of 2011, Payne will lead the charge of opening public computing centers at the community college's Southeast Missouri sites in Poplar Bluff, Sikeston, Malden and Kennett with $560,000 in federal stimulus funds through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

"Some students cannot be here face to face because they are place or time bound, due to family or work commitments," Payne said. "Part of our mission is to provide students access to high quality education, and that includes making it convenient for them to achieve their dreams close to, if not from, home."