Degree Courses Online

If a person completes coursework away from an actual school campus, this is known as distance learning (Littlefield, 2005). The term "distance learning" covers many different types of learning, and includes classes taken online over the internet, Web TV, Cable TV, audio conferencing, CD-ROM, videotape and correspondence courses, or any other mechanism which allows students to take classes outside the classroom (Hedding/Distance, 2005). The Distance Education and Training Council in Washington DC, estimates as many as 2.25 million or more people are studying online currently at US colleges and universities. It estimates the number of students taking degree courses online will grow at a compound rate of 33 percent annually for the near future.

At a meeting in 2001 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize, Nobel laureates were asked to predict the future of education and 92 percent said that inadequate educational opportunities and illiteracy were major problems facing mankind (Nobel, 2001). They believed that in the future, the internet would have a positive effect on improving education, providing greater access to information, libraries, and teachers worldwide, and give more students greater opportunities in learning through virtual classrooms by the year 2020. They also predicted the internet would increase innovation and advance scientific knowledge, improve the quality of life by providing more economic opportunities and improve communications worldw

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be possible to study with them online at no cost. A prime example of distance learning success is the University of Phoenix Online, which is part of the University of Phoenix, was established in 1989 and offers customized corporate training programs and complete degree programs at the associate through doctoral level in business, management, technology, education and nursing (Hedding/Everyone, 2005). It is one of the largest distance learning institutions, and the University of Phoenix is te largest private university in the US. It offers doctoral programs in business administration, management in organizational leadership, education in leadership and health administration (Hedding/Doctoral, 2005). These doctoral programs are designed to be completed in three years, with a flexible format allowing students to work and keep up with personal commitments while studying. Classes are taken sequentially in 8-week modules, with a one-week break between classes. There is a requirement to attend residential workshops lasting 8 days in the first and third year for face-to-face discussion discussions, projects and presentations, and a dissertation is required which must be defended orally, as with traditional universities. Stude

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