Electronic
Campus
"It's great
to take courses
when you want to
...where you want to."
Quality, Ky. — Stacia Washer never had been on the Internet until
May.
Now she is taking an electronically delivered course
through the Southern Regional Electronic Campus from her home in
Quality, about 30 miles from Bowling Green in central Kentucky.
“It’s great. It’s accessible. And I wish I
could take all my courses this way,” said Washer, who works full time at
a hospital and is a wife and mother of a 3-year-old son. “The Internet
allows me to work ahead on my courses. I can do more than a week’s work
on the weekends.
“In fact, when I finish one more assignment next
weekend, I will have done all the assignments for this course. I have had
four or five questions that I needed to ask my professor about, and I have
sent her e-mails. She has answered my question each time within an
hour.”
"The Internet allows me
to work ahead on my courses.
I can do more than a week's
work on the weekends."
Washer said taking a class electronically has
increased her computer skills. “It was a challenge at first, but I have
learned how to do what I need to do.”
Washer learned about the Electronic Campus
from an associate at Western Kentucky University, where she had been
taking classes for more than a year. She plans to take more electronically
delivered courses en route to her degree in nursing.
Washer has told a lot of her friends about the Electronic
Campus. “It’s great to take courses when you want to ... where you
want to.” Stacia Washer was the kind of student the founders of the
Electronic Campus had in mind when the marketplace of electronic courses
went online with about 50 courses in early 1998.
The Electronic Campus, expected to grow to
thousands of credit courses and dozens of degree programs at the
associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s levels, is recognized as the
leader in this field of education.
West Virginia Gov. Cecil Underwood, chairman of the
SREB, said the Electronic Campus particularly will meet the needs
of working adults — those who want more education and more skills but
don’t have the time to return to a college campus.
"It's great. It's
accessible.
And I wish I could take
all my courses this way."
“The Electronic Campus allows students in
my state of West Virginia to benefit from the hundreds of great colleges
and universities throughout the 16-state SREB region without leaving West
Virginia. It helps remove the boundaries that have always limited higher
education,” said Underwood. “It will be a plus for economic
development in every SREB state.”
He called the Electronic Campus a winner for
students, for states and for colleges and universities. “It greatly
increases the pool of students without requiring the construction of
another classroom, parking space or dormitory room.”
Underwood said the Electronic Campus differs
from other distance-learning programs because of its solid foundation in
the Principles of Good Practice, a set of quality standards adopted
by the Southern Regional Education Board for each course and degree
program.
The Electronic Campus will continue to expand
as courses from independent colleges and universities in the 16 SREB
states are added through a carefully planned process.
Prospective students can reach the Electronic
Campus at www.electroniccampus.org.
They can get basic information about the available courses
and certificate and degree programs — including subjects, levels,
requirements and costs — and then move by a “hot link” to the
college or university offering the course or program. There they will get
further information about the courses and enrollment procedures.
To learn more about the Southern Regional Education
Board or the Electronic Campus, visit the SREB Web site at www.electroniccampus.org;
call Bracey Campbell at (404) 875-9211, Ext. 244; or e-mail
electroniccampus@sreb.org.
The SREB, the nation’s oldest compact for
education, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1998. Its member states are
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
Southern Regional Education Board
592 10th St. N.W.
Atlanta, GA 30318-57796
(404) 875-9211
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