Distance Education Meeting The Needs Of So Many Busy Students!

While in these sitcoms the degrees were always fake, and unfortunately sometimes also in real life, there were institutions offering legitimate courses through the mail that would result in a degree. In 1958 the University of Wisconsin had over 12,000 students taking courses from among the 450 the school offered. These were working men and women, some on the GI Bill or other scholarships and grants, who needed a way to improve their careers and their lives.

It was the ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) and its greatest creation, the Internet, that pushed colleges online. The net was created to pass information from one point to another at the speed of light. The first organizations to jump on board, in fact the ones that did most of the primary research, were universities. Many of these institutes of higher learning had long distance learning wings. With the advent of the personal computer back in the early 80s, it didn't take these ivory tower rocket scientists much to put it all together.

No longer the punch line of comedy routines, the number of those getting a degree online is growing. Currently, women comprise 67% of the student body and a lot of these students are working moms. Because college classes can be taken at a distance, our active duty military men and women are continuing their education while they perform their duties. Those currently in the work force who may have an associate's degree or a bachelor's are returning to school to get the degrees they need to advance in their careers.

Locally through community colleges to the most prestigious institutions, students can engage in online learning. Although the idea of attending a college long distance may have started small with the University of Wisconsin, the list of accredited institutions just continues to grow. Federal and state governments have acknowledged online college since the 1990's and have made funding available to facilitate the participation of more students.

When looking at the benefits of online college programs, it's not hard to see why more and more students are engaging in this form of education. From access to the finest libraries in the world to class textbooks online, your home (or a coffee shop, or even your lunch hour) becomes your own personal learning institution. Students won't be missing that personal attention from an instructor either as e-mail has actually been found to improve response time. Nor will you miss peer interaction as online study groups are very common.

With the advent of devices like the iPhone and iPad and now with the ebook readers such as the Kindle, the field of online education continues to evolve. Apply for a Pell Grant online and once you begin your education you'll find that taking a course "anywhere" has a literal meaning with satellite communications. We may remember snail mail courses fondly, if not with a small bit of frustration at the delay, but what we now experience is lightning fast learning.