Distance learning takes off

EDGEWATER, N.J. -- Jessica Keyes' classroom is an office in a condo directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Her lectern is a Hewlett-Packard laptop. Her students receive their lectures via the Internet, and -- increasingly -- are adult professionals.

"There are people out there who work 80 to 100 hours a week, but they still want a degree," said Keyes, who teaches computer and management courses for the University of Phoenix.

Educators say it is those students, adults taking advantage of Internet technology to wedge undergraduate or graduate degree programs into their lives, who are driving the growing popularity of distance learning.

A study released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education found students enrolled in nearly 2.9 million college-level distance education courses in 2000-01, more than double the enrollment of 1997-98. While distance learning can mean taking courses through audio or video feeds, schools that offer such courses are most likely to use the Internet, the study found.

"When it started, it was basically computer-type people. Now it's everybody," said Sally Stroup, assistant secretary for postsecondary education at the Education Department.

Signs that distance education is gaining acceptance in higher education are everywhere, said John Flores, the president of the 4,000-member United States Distance Learning Association.

For instance, the national and regional accreditation agencies that certify academic quality now recognize many independent distance programs, as well as those attached to established colleges and universities, he said.

John Bailey, who supervised the Education Department report, anticipated the boom. "We always believed that as the Internet became a bigger part of how people live, work and play it would naturally lead them to look for educational opportunities online," he said.

Assisted by an aggressive marketing campaign, the University of Phoenix has used the technology to turn itself into the country's largest private university. Currently, 72,200 of the school's 163,300 students are enrolled online, while the remainder attend classes at learning centers located around the country.

While Phoenix attracts older, nontraditional students, distance learning also is becoming part of traditional colleges.

In 1995, fewer than 50 Virginia Tech students registered for online classes at the Blacksburg, Va., school. In 2001-02, over 10,000 Virginia Tech students -- many of them full time and living on campus -- chose to take classes over the computer, said Sherri Turner, the school's manager for instructional program development.

As with adult learners, the distance education option provides "so-called traditional students" with a more flexibility in scheduling courses, said Jacqueline King, the director of the center for policy analysis for the American Council on Education.

The upsurge in distance learning has also come with growing pains.

In the rush to incorporate online learning into curriculums, educators say, some established schools underestimated the cost and problems implementing the technology.

"It's similar to the experience with e-commerce," King said. "It's still shaking out."

John Bear, a former FBI agent, said the sale of bogus college degrees poses one of the biggest threats to online learning's credibility.

"The Internet, of course, is the dream of all diploma mills come true," said Bear. "It's a way to have a major presence, to be totally anonymous and to collect money in ways that people don't even know where it's going."

But the emergence of online programs at 90 percent of public colleges, universities and technical training schools and 40 percent of all private institutions has helped remove much of the stigma from distance learning.

"One thing that everybody worries about when you start these online courses is that people are going to look at your degree and say, 'You bought that, didn't you?"' said Arline Lisinski, a Northern California court worker who graduated with honors last week from the University of Phoenix with a bachelor's degree in the science of management.

Lisinski, in her mid-40s, said the program challenged her both intellectually and academically. "You don't sit back and twiddle your thumbs, that's for sure," she said.

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On the Net:

The United States Distance Learning Association:

http://www.usdla.org