Distance education is a great way for the working adult to receive their degree without having to attend a classroom full-time. It is the new future for education, and in my opinion will soon be the only way to obtain a degree for most working adults. It is extremely hard to make it far in a career without having that degree to back you up. Now days, employers are looking for a degree as a complete necessity, and the bare minimum for an interview. People just have to sit down and see that obtaining a degree can be done, and it is possible no matter what situation they may be in. If this era of globalization has proven anything, it is that a growing world economy can create a strong and lasting demand for skilled knowledge workers and a technologically savvy workforce. But we haven't made the connection to education. We must seize the opportunities and complete these connections- technological and human. And we must advance with constant assessment and reflection. There is still much about learning and the impact of technology we do not know. We must continue to research what is not known, analyze what is proposed or in progress, and then examine the results. We also must combine our belief in the great value of these advances with appreciation for the difficulties that we face: the inequality of access and lack of teacher preparedness for web-based learning. In short, the Internet or distance education is not a universal remedy for every problem in education. We need to be realistic. But we also must realize that the Internet is a tool that can help us empower every student and elevate each individual to new levels of intellectual capacity and skill. That is the great opportunity of this new technology. The opportunity is at hand. The power and the promise are here. It is now time to move from promise to practice.…
