Doctorate Via Satellite

School Administrator, June, 1996

Imagine earning a doctorate without setting foot in a classroom.

That's the experience John C. Settle had as he completed the requirements for his Ed.D. in educational leadership at the University of Kentucky's department of administration and supervision. Settle, superintendent in Bowling Green, Ky., is the first to earn a doctorate through the department's distance learning program using interactive compressed video technology.

Settle participated in interactive satellite learning at a downlink site near his workplace. This enabled him to finish all the coursework in three years and his dissertation two years later. He even met with his adviser via the satellite hookup. Only on a handful of occasions did he set foot on the university campus.