Distance learning in all its various manifestations is growing like the proverbial Topsy. Hundreds of U.S. institutions, public, private, large and small, are getting into the business of online instruction, and are frantically searching for the right match between students and programs.
Distance learning is here to stay.
In February 1998, the Dept of Education released a 2-year survey of higher education distance ed. The report of the National Center for statistics notes that a full third of U.S. post-secondary schools offered DE course in Fall 1995. Tellingly, another quarter planned to offer courses within the next three years. In 1995 most courses offered were designed for undergraduates and graduate students, but the potential audiences targeted for DE were professionals seeking recertification and other workers seeldng skill updating. As with some new ecosystem, in the DE ecology, schools are searching out niches in which they can grow and thrive.