Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, December 31, 1994                   TAG: 9501040035
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Medium

NRCC IS A PIONEER IN DISTANCE LEARNING - OR 'COURSES IN A BAG'

New River is a pioneer in what is technically called distance learning, but is known on campus as "courses in a bag."

The bags students pick up at the start of their distance learning courses contain not only books and written materials, but also lectures on videotape or audiotape. It is called distance learning because students remain away from campus, taking the courses at their convenience.

As informal as it might sound, it works - and for an ever-growing number of students.

``People are, more and more, beginning to expect what they want, where they want it and when they want it,'' said Tom Wilkinson, director of New River's Rural Center for Distance Education.

Such video courses, along with innovations using computers and telecommunications, are changing the face of education, especially in rural areas where students used to have to commute long distances to college classes.

In Virginia, state officials are pushing long-distance learning and other technological strategies in anticipation of soaring student enrollments over the next decade.

At New River, enrollment in distance learning courses has gone from 45 when they were first offered in the early 1980s to 1,065 in the 1993-94 year. Forty-eight percent of the two-year colleges that had no distance education programs in 1991 have them now, Wilkinson said.

People tend to choose distance learning courses because of convenience and availability, he said. An on-campus course might not be offered every semester, or might not have enough students for a class, but in distance learning it is available at the student's convenience.

About half of all distance learners say they would not have taken a particular course as an on-campus offering. Another 25 percent say they at least would have found it more difficult to do so.

A videotaped lecture series can also reach more students than a professor lecturing to one classroom of students at a time. ``One tape or audio will reach thousands of students,'' said Connie Lowe, who earned an associate in business management degree from New River without ever attending a traditional on-campus class.

The average age of distance learners is 34, Wilkinson said. Most have dependents. More than 65 percent have some previous college experience, and 75 percent are enrolled in on-campus courses in addition to their distance learning courses.

Students enrolled in distance learning courses generally do as well as those in corresponding on-campus classes, said Bridget Franklin, assistant director for New River Community College's Rural Center for Distance Education. ``Our experience is that there is no significant difference in grades,'' she said.

Slightly more students drop classes without completing them, she said, but that could be because of the same factors that caused students to choose distance learning in the first place - tight schedules and other demands on their time.

Some matters involving distance learning classes still need to be resolved, such as how instructors are to be paid for preparing a taped course in comparison to teaching it in the classroom.

That question is now being studied by community colleges officials at the state level. But, whatever is decided on that question and others, it appears distance learning courses are here to stay.