DISTANCE LEARNING - ACCESS
by Jack Johnson

(third in a series of articles concerning Distance Ed issues)

This is the third in a series of articles intended to provide WASFAA membership with a working knowledge of Distance Learning.

In the last article we provided an overview of distance learning, to include the various ways instruction could be delivered, the implications of the reauthorization act, and four types of distance learning providers. It is important to realize the military services, corporations, and unaffiliated providers are significant contributors of technological enhancements and may at time be competitors of post-secondary education.

In this article, I wish to concentrate on the post-secondary education providers. Since this is our arena, I believe we need to know how students can access distance learning courses and programs. Of course there is the traditional hardcopy pamphlets and catalog, but distance learning students are more likely to investigate educational programs through the WEB. One of the big questions is how many students are considering courses delivered from a distance? Dr. Kaye Howe, in her opening address at the Colorado Roundtable on Distance Learning indicated that survey results reflect 45.4 percent of our traditional students indicated in 1997 they would be considering cyber schools. Obviously we should be aware of what students see when they search the WEB for providers, and how our institutions are being viewed during these searches.

With this in mind, lets play "student" and conduct our own short tour of the WEB. Any search engine will work, but if you wish to follow along, I am going to use Yahoo. In the search box, type in "Distance Learning" and click on search. As the page comes in view, we see many of the different categories of Distance Learning Providers we discussed in the last issue. It may be of interest to note the K-12 providers that are listed. Once you are finished checking out this page, click on "Education: Distance Learning". After you have reviewed the information on this page click on "Colleges and Universities (New)". This page lists a number of "sole providers" of courses and programs. I recommend you review some of these colleges and universities. At the next screen, click on "Consortia". This page will provide you courses and programs offered in consortium, to include the California Virtual Universe and the Oregon Community College Distance Education Consortium. From this page if you type into the Search block "Washington Online Inside" you will have available another Community college consortium from the state of Washington. Finally, The address www.wgu.edu will provide you with the home page of The Western Governors University. Of course many of our traditional college and university have distance learning offerings on their respective home pages.

As we can see, students seeking distant learning options are faced with a number of access issues. How are the courses provided? Does the student have the equipment needed to take the course(s)? Is the tuition costs practical? Are financial aid and other student services available? Is the institution accredited?

New initiatives from software vendors, guarantee agencies and other post-secondary "partners" are critical for students in large numbers to access distance learning programs. The new WEB FFEL student loan application and pre/post loan counseling along with WEB registration are examples of new initiatives now in place that are key to distance learning. Our associates deserve our compliments and encouragement to accelerate other key initiatives that will provide greater access for distance learning students.

As financial aid professionals at post-secondary institutions, we are in key positions to assist students who desire access to learning programs from a distance.

Questions regarding distance learning may be addressed to: Johnsonj@eou.edu