'Distance Education' Embraces the Web.

You don't have to be a Stanford, Harvard or a Princeton to be in the forefront of education, especially in the evolving world of "distance education," much of it done increasingly online. Small, little-known schools often take on a role far beyond what their name recognition might suggest.

Consider Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Housed in an extended campus that includes Broward Community College and Florida Atlantic University, Nova has been a pioneer in distance education, with programs dating back to 1972. Nova claims to have been the first college in the U.S. to offer graduate programs online and the first to use UNIX technology to host online courses. NSU says it began offering programs with some online component in 1983.

The world of distance education, of course, has been juiced by technology, and the Internet is setting a new standard for interactive instruction, much of it geared to financial management. Companies like BetterManagement.com, an Internet portal, offer courses on scorecarding and activity-based costing and management. And associations like the American Management Association have joined with Web shops like PrimeLearning.com to develop Web-based training featuring the association's content.

Even the Internal Revenue Service is on the Web. Arthur D. Little, the Cambridge, Mass.-based consulting firm, late last year signed a five-year contract with a dozen universities, law and business schools to provide online coursework to IRS employees. Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, for instance, has begun offering online courses in accounting to more than 1,000 IRS workers.

But a clear distinction must be made between online professional training or certification and more extensive (and expensive) degree-based instruction. Online MBA programs, for instance, are still relatively rare, and even online pioneers like Nova Southeastern have been offering Web-based instruction for just three years. Its programs are still somewhat small -- 200 enrolled in an online MBA program and 50 in the "eMACC" program that grants a master's degree in accounting. Still smaller are doctoral programs in subjects like computer science and information systems.

Randolph Pohlman, dean of Nova's Wayne Huizenga Graduate School of Business and Entrepreneurship, says that "my charge to the MBA Director was to do it right, to start slow, then expand. Lots of people think you should reach zillions of students, but our limit is 10 per class."

Why so low? Pohlman said in an interview that with the interactive nature of learning online, students can ask an unlimited number of questions -- but they come in the form of emails, and answering those can be a huge drain on a professor's time.

A key feature of NSU's online degree programs, like the MBA and eMACC, is that they are indeed structured -- it's not a matter of someone clicking on the materials every few weeks. Pohlman notes that the online MBA has 10-week terms with weekly assignments, generally due on Sunday, and at the end of the term, students are required to come to the NSU campus for an intensive week-long workshop.

Not surprisingly, given the global reach of the Internet, Nova has picked up students in a number of foreign countries; the MBA program has attracted people from Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Guam, Jamaica and China. Faculty are drawn both locally and from countries such as Britain, Chile and Canada.

This online instruction isn't cheap by any means, even with minimal requirements for room and board. Pohlman puts the typical cost at $439 a credit hour for the MBA and eMACC programs, and 45 hours are required. Do the math, and an MBA costs out just shy of $20,000. Still, for busy professionals keen on adding graduate degrees in business or accounting -- often tickets to promotions and better jobs -- learning via the Web often makes far more sense than interrupting a career to head to the halls of ivy, where costs are often higher.

Pohlman himself is a big believer in the future of online learning. "As it's beginning to evolve, we've seen more of a blurring between traditional and online instruction. Very traditional courses will have a larger portion online. Finance courses, in particular, should have an online component, given all the tools that are available on the Web."