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Title
DegreeFinders - Growing by Degrees
Description
A potential student in Ojai, California is thousands of miles from Canada's Athabasca University. Yet, by instant messenger, fax, phone, e-mail, or online bulletin board, Athabasca University is only seconds away. Miles and kilometers are fast becoming moot in higher education where distance is better measured in units of time.
Institutions of higher education are being challenged to provide high quality learning opportunities in the face of shifting market conditions and declining budgets. Many schools and colleges are coming to the same conclusion: the only way to constructively respond to this challenge is by developing distance education programs that apply technological innovation to the fastest growing market in higher education -- adults. That's the key. University education is no longer the exclusive domain of eighteen year olds. Many students today are middle-aged. They are more goal- and task-oriented. They want and need to learn. They are not looking for an extended adolescence free of the style-cramping constraints of home.
What is distance education anyway? A few decades ago, at least in United States, the only answer was correspondence schools. People "mailed away" for a course and received books and lessons by return mail. After completing the lessons, the student took an examination. Interaction between the student and the "instructor" varied but most often was minimal. The quality of the courses varied widely. A lot has changed since then. Though you can still take correspondence courses, the quality has improved; and there are a lot more options for folks who want more support than offered by the traditional correspondence method.
