Going The Distance - school courses on the Internet

Black Enterprise, April, 1999 by Robyn D. Clarke

Many schools are offering graduate degrees via the World Wide Web.

Here's what to consider before you decide to log on.

WHILE OTHER NIGHT STUDENTS GULPED DOWN fast food en route to their local universities, Cheryl Rowles-Stokes leisurely finished a home-cooked meal with her family and made her way to the PC in her study. As other students tugged at their suits and fought to stay alert during lectures, Rowles-Stokes, clad in comfy old sweats, conversed with her professor and classmates online while her favorite television program droned in the background.

For those professionals who go the traditional route to get an additional degree, this may read like a scene from a sci-fi-book. But for Rowles-Stokes, who graduated in March with an M.A. in business communications, learning via the Internet was the best way to update her skills while juggling career and family obligations.

She's definitely not alone. Approximately 7 million people get a virtual education every year, says Pam Dixon, author of Virtual College.' A Quick Guide to How You Can Get the Degree You Want With Computer, TV, Video, Audio and Other Distance Learning Tools (Peterson's, $9.95). "People want a high-quality education that can fit into their busy lives," she says.

Distance learning is hardly a new phenomenon. For more than a century, it has allowed busy professionals, whose schedules prevented them from taking regular classes, to continue their education. But mainstream access to the World Wide Web has helped transform this largely mail-order pursuit--once relegated to the degree mills of scam artists--into a bona-fide educational option.

About two-thirds of the 3,200 accredited "brick and mortar" four-year colleges and graduate schools in the U.S. now supplement their campus offerings with classes via the Internet, as well as live satellite feeds, cable television and videoconferencing. Further, the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C., has identified nearly 300 distance learning programs offered through various schools, including Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Purdue University.

An online degree can be a great way to stay competitive in today's rapidly changing workplace--if you have what it takes to thrive outside of the traditional classroom structure. Before you trade in that pencil and notepad for a mouse and a computer, you'll need to do some old-fashioned homework. Here's what you can expect.

THE NET BENEFITS

Rowles-Stokes, 38, director of human resources at Riflen & Associates, a cable television management company in Denver, had plenty of reasons to pursue an online degree. For starters, she didn't want the physical strain of her previous educational experience. "For four years, I attended classes from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, in addition to working a 60-plus hour week," says the former accountant. She obtained her bachelor's in human resources from Colorado Christian University and J.D. from the University of Denver's College of Law.

A single mother at the time, Rowles-Stokes also wanted to spend more time with her family. In 1995, she applied to Jones International University (JIU), one of the nation's first virtual universities, and never looked back. "The format allowed me to set my own hours," says the married mother of two daughters. "It really worked around my unpredictable schedule."

Flexibility is just one advantage Web-based learning has over the traditional classroom. "One of the biggest draws of distance education is the time factor," says James Moshinskie, Ph.D., professor of information systems and chair of the Distance Learning Roundtable at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. "It allows professionals, who don't have time to waste, to actually spend it learning instead of fighting rush-hour traffic," he says.

Not only do you learn when you have the time, but you can go as fast or as slow as you need. "The classroom is at your disposal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," says Moshinskie. Most online degree programs utilize bulletin board systems (BBSs), chat rooms and e-mail to hold class, do assignments and communicate with classmates and professors. "You have more control over virtually every aspect of your learning experience when the school comes to you."

Gary Mayo's need to exercise this option while continuing his education led him to pursue a virtual executive M.B.A. from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Mayo, 45, graduated last December and counts access to scholars around the world as another plus. "Over the course of the 19-month program, I had classmates from Moscow, Amsterdam, Brazil, Hong Kong and Toronto," says the global customer service director for Visteon Automotive Systems, a division of Ford Motor Co. in Detroit. "It was great to be able to talk about newsworthy events, such as the financial situation in Asia, as they happen with the people who actually live there."

He did more than just widen his professional network. "I really learned about other cultures and the differences that sometimes separate us," says Mayo, who manages a global staff of 100. "There was a group project in which one of my classmates was struggling. I didn't understand why he wouldn't ask for help," he recalls. Mayo later came to find out that the classmate's culture frowned upon that behavior. "It taught me some valuable lessons about interpersonal communication and overcoming differences to work well with others."