While hard data is still scant, more than 250 colleges, universities, and training institutes offer upwards of 500 Web-based business courses, according to Peterson's Guide to Distance Learning Programs. Many more classes are also being offered by consulting firms, professional groups, and trade associations. These classes join other forms of distance learning, which in the old days consisted mainly of mail-in correspondence courses. People are always sending me their work at midnight,'' says Ann Delikan, who teaches an online course in grammar for business writing for the New School for Social Research in New York. The student oftentimes has a great widget, but he really needs an appreciation for the steps it takes to sell it,'' explains online instructor Ronald Ormiston, who teaches marketing for the University of California at Berkeley Extension program.
Some professional seminars offered by organizations are free for their members.
Sometimes, you'll have to download special software that's provided. In almost all cases, students receive their readings, assignments, critiques, and ''lectures'' over the Internet. Others, such as Retail Advisors' classes, convene at specific times, to allow for live chat sessions. At Richard Walton's ''Introduction to Management'' class, one of 20 online business courses offered by the New School, students log onto the Web site anytime. In the online classroom, Walton has posted a reading assignment as well as sample problems in strategic planning.