Earn a degree on-line at 'Internet U'

November 29, 1995
Web posted at 6:45 a.m. EST

From Correspondent Lisa Price

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- You want to get your college degree, but you're just too busy to attend classes. Enter the Internet. Now, you can enroll on-line and get your degree at an "Internet University."

Joel Eland has never set foot on the University of Phoenix campus, but he's a business student there. Eland has jumped onto the information superhighway to get his degree. His classroom may be virtual, but the credits he earns via the Internet are real. "It works out very well to be able to stay at home and do my school work, studying as well as attending classes from here at home," he says. (94K AIFF sound or 94K WAV sound)

Some 20 universities are offering not just on-line courses, but actual degree programs. It's estimated that several thousand students are enrolled, and educators say those numbers will increase dramatically. "There will be many other institutions getting into this in the near future, some will do it well, some will probably do it poorly," says Stephen Spangehl of North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. (94K AIFF sound or 94K WAV sound)

While the click of a mouse can provide students access to resources they may otherwise never have had, some educators say that the loss of direct, human contact between professor and student may be too great a sacrifice.

"One of the hallmarks of a good professor is being able to get to the soul of his or her students. That is a difficult thing to do when you're talking to somebody 15,000 miles away," says Georgetown University Professor Phil Wirtz. (221K AIFF sound or 221K WAV sound)

And there are educational barriers that can't be broken, even in cyberspace. Subjects like music, languages, and chemistry can't be taught because they just don't translate.

And the cost of on-line learning can be prohibitive. "That's not only because they're paying for credits, but they're paying for phone connections and that's not even taking into consideration what they've put out for equipment, the modem, the software, other capital investments," says Louise Love of Northwestern University.

But students like Joel Eland say that earning an on-line degree is one electronic investment that will pay off.

Earn a degree on-line at 'Internet U'

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