Excerpt
This guide is designed to help you reach your educational goals. It is about a world of higher education that is new; expanding rapidly; and can be accessed from home, work, or other locations distant from a campus. In other words, it is about what is termed distance learning.
Whereas the traditional college experience takes place on a campus at specific times each week, you, as a distance learner, will access your courses in a "virtual educational world" at times and places convenient to you.
Distance learning has expanded dramatically as a result of amazing developments in computers, telecommunications, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. The merging of these technologies has resulted in an "information technology revolution" and has made possible the rapid expansion of distance learning options. Today, distance learning is a new educational culture with its own distinct characteristics.
As you search for distance learning opportunities, you will find this guide valuable in several important ways.
First, it is designed to help you understand and successfully navigate every avenue of this new "virtual culture" in higher education. Written by experts in distance learning, each chapter is full of detailed information about degree programs and services available at a distance.
Second, it is the first book that provides comprehensive guidance in the areas essential for success in distance learning. It will help you determine which distance education provider is right for you, use a computer for distance learning, access library resources from a distance, and secure a wide range of student services without traveling to a campus.
Finally, it is much more than a book. It is a dynamic learning tool, combining the book with the interactive capabilities of the Internet and the World Wide Web. The website directs you to locations on the Web where there is supplementary material for the chapters. Because the website is routinely updated, the book remains current. The back cover of the first edition of this book included an illustration of Aesop's 2,500-year-old fable "The Hare and the Tortoise." As you will recall, the tortoise and the hare argued about who could run faster. The hare challenged the tortoise to a race. At the beginning of the race, the hare quickly took the lead and became bored. He stopped to rest and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodded along without stopping, focused on her goal. Just as the hare awoke, the tortoise crossed the finish line. The moral of this fable is "slow and steady wins the race." This lesson also applies to education. There are no shortcuts and no instant returns on your educational investment.