there were "320 million Internet users worldwide by the end of 2002, up from 97 million at the end of 1998" (About e-learning, 2004). There is also an increased student demand for greater flexibility in course offerings that is likely to continue for the next ten years (Carnevale, 2004). The growing emphasis on life-long learning over the past decade has mandated the development of a delivery system with the capacity to link all segments of society to higher education through the Internet. Distance learning has emerged as a viable alternative to fulfill this need. Distance learning using the internet can be delivered from any region in the world to another, making it convenient to provide facilitated ways of education for those who seek it (MacGregor, 2001).
The acceptance of distance learning programs is already visible. According to Lewis, Snow, Farris, and Levin (1999), the number of students in the US enrolled in distance learning programs has continued to increase each year. In 1997/1998, there were more than 1.3 million enrollments in distance learning programs which is approximately double the almost 745,000 formal enrollments recorded in 1994/95. The growing number of distance learning programs is also evident. A survey by the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that from 1994/95 to 1997/98 the number of distance learning programs increased by 72 percent in the U.S. alone.
Moreover, an additional 20 percent of the institutions surveyed by the NCES plan to establish distance learning programs within the next three years (The institute for higher education policy, April 2000). Consequently, organizations such as the University of Phoenix should explore franchising distance training programs targeting businesses as opposed to degree track students to leverage existing organizational resources and garner new market share.
Webster, et al (2005) pointed ou...