Accelerated degree Guide | Social Outreach | Online Degrees
II. Social Outreach And Online Degrees Considered the "learn at your own speed" (Holzberg, 1997, p. 105) system of education, online degree technology is making the learning process considerably more accessible as well as more enjoyable. Concepts that are currently being utilized on contemporary college campuses incorporate any combination of components, including distance learning, Internet access, video conferencing, mass media, knowledge-based systems and interactive multimedia. Without question, the student of today has a far greater array of learning tools than his counterpart of twenty years ago, the primary benefit of which is how they remove stagnating boundaries that have always existed with regard to exploring further educational horizons (Escobar, 2006).
For example, distance learning is a technique that allows students the opportunity to break "time and distance barriers for people otherwise isolated from campuses" (Greene, 1998, p. A-5). Some students are not able to take advantage of educational programs either because they work during the times such programs are offered, other responsibilities preclude their attendance or because they live in a remote area inaccessible to the campus. The online student is put through the same curricula as his or her traditional counterpart with the primary difference being the location where the lessons and study is completed (Escobar, 2006).
Distance learning - which encompasses several entities including the Internet, video conferencing, videotapes and other electronic technology - is essential to the college student of today. These inventive learning tools are providing an enhanced education not only for those who are attending college for the first time but also for those who never had such extensive opportunities when they attended college decades ago (Ellis, 2002). Washington State University, one such campus implementing distance learning into its curriculum, reported that as of 1995 over seven hundred thousand students were able to reap the benefits and educational enhancement of electronically produced college courses. As Dillon (1994) duly notes, "any technology that can make this acceleration more bearable, that can speed our rates of learning without breaking the bank, will hold great appeal." Now it is just a matter of getting employers onboard with that same understanding.
Mike Marko was one of those seven hundred thousand students who took advantage of the University's distance learning program. Unable to travel several thousands of miles to other colleges that offered the lectures he required in order to complete his degree, Marko simply relied upon a number of videotaped lessons that came to him by way of the Internet. Not only was he able to gain the necessary education by viewing pretaped lectures, but he also was fully able to discuss the material with other students and professors by accessing a toll-free voice mail program. When it came time to take exams or turn in term papers, Marko did so at the local college while under the watchful eye of a designated instructor. Said Marko, "I didn't think it was going to be as difficult as it is, [although] it's the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel" (Greene, 1998, p. A-5).
Online Degree Education On Global Impact
