Call it a sign of the times.

Three of the four academic degree programs scheduled for approval today at a meeting of the state Board of Governors for Higher Education are online offerings.

"Online programming seems to be a thing folks are interested in these days," said Jonas Zdanys, director of academic affairs for the state Department of Higher Education.
Although all three represent modifications of existing on-campus programs and are expected to be approved, Zdanys expects a board discussion on the new direction this "still-new" mode of delivery is taking higher education in Connecticut. The board meets at noon at its offices in Hartford. "It's becoming a fact of life here, and certainly an indication these programs are here to stay," said Connie Frasier, a state Department of Higher Education spokeswoman.

The online programs up for consideration include:

• An associate degree in general studies offered by the Connecticut Community College consortium.
• A master of library science degree at Southern Connecticut State University.
• A bachelor of science and associate of science degree in management, integrated Business, management information systems and criminal justice at Teikyo Post University in Waterbury.

Board regulations require approval of all online programs. With the approval, there would be 13 associate's, bachelor's or master's degrees offered by colleges and universities in the state that could be earned completely online.

Southern's library program - the only one in New England - was unveiled last year. An on-campus version of the program enrolls 330 students. Officials hope the online version will attract students from as far away as Maine. The community college online program is the combined effort of Manchester, Middlesex, Naugatuck Valley, Northwestern, Quinebaug Valley and Tunxis community colleges. Any student at any of the state's 12 community colleges can sign up.

The idea is to avoid unnecessary duplication of courses and increase chances for students to get courses they need, when they need them. "The idea is to have all 12 colleges contributing courses as they develop them and no one college feeling pressure to offer the entire curriculum," said Karen Grosz, academic officer for the state's community colleges. The projected enrollment for the online program is 200. Already, almost 1,000 students have taken one or more courses online through the consortium. Still, Grosz doubts online offerings will ever overtake on-campus courses.

"I think online courses appeal to a different type of student," she said. Kevin Hoffman, director of evaluation services for eCollege.com, a company that helps run 111 degree programs around the country, agrees. Studies he's done show the average online student is 25 or older, female and working 30 hours a week or more.

"The primary reason they do it is convenience and flexibility," Hoffman said. The demand, he adds, is only going to grow. Currently, 34 percent of colleges surveyed offer entire online degree programs, up from 15 percent a year ago. In all, 72 percent of colleges surveyed have online courses, up from 34 percent just last year. By 2002, that percentage is expected to increase to 85 percent. The number of college students learning online is expected to be 2.2 million by 2002, up from 710,000 in 1998.

Hoffman said the proliferation will not lessen quality. "Face to face matters, but online programs actually reduce social distance between student and teacher," he said.

Zdanys said there is no doubt online programs can be as good as traditional ones. If they weren't, he said he wouldn't recommend their approval. "There is still some, newness to online programs," Zdanys said. "So long as there is a sense that this is not traditional, we are going to continue to think about them in public and talk about them."

Linda Conner Lambeck, who covers regional education issues, can be reached at 330-6218.

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