Gone are the days of boring classrooms, annoying classmates with inane questions and professors who drone on for hours while your pen moves across paper by itself, your mind in a thousand other, better places. A fresh alternative to the traditional classroom, distance learning (or e-learning) is becoming the Next Big Thing not only for students sick of the same old game, but also for people with other day jobs and students in other countries. In the Complete Book of Distance Learning Schools, Drs. Jerry Ice and Paul Jay Edelson offer advice on how to be a successful distance learner, as well as how (and where) to get started. Some of the stuff they go through will sound familiar—admissions, financial aid, student loans—because all these aspects are absolutely relevant even in distance learning. Just because you’ll be taking classes online instead of in a classroom doesn’t mean you get to forgo writing an admissions essay. And while costs can be, and often are, lower with distance learning, you will still need to consider your finances before you commit to a program. The biggest chunk of this book is dedicated to a listing of schools with distance-learning programs. This is an excellent resource to start your search. You can go through each profile and see, at a glance, what each school has to offer. Each list includes subjects offered, admissions requirements, program delivery, remote sites, on-campus requirements, tuition and fees, financial aid and an e-mail address to contact for more details. Four things to keep in mind if you’re considering distance learning, from chapter nine of the book, are your: learning style comfort level with technology environmental supports degree time frame If you find that distance learning would be a good fit for you, go for it! Be ready to give it your all. This book is a great place to start.
