For the first time in three years, an educational organization in the United States has been awarded the coveted Baldridge Award. Three different organizations received this award in 2008, and the North Carolina Iredell Statesville School District (I-SS) was among them. The other two organizations that were so honored including a healthcare business and a food industry giant.

The Baldridge Award was developed in 1987. It is given with the intent to honor service and performance excellence, as well as strategic planning and effective implementation, especially with regard to quality control and improvement. This award is designed to recognize the achievement of organizations that have made a serious commitment to quality and productivity.

School Superintendent Holliday believed that the school district’s commitment to distance learning made the organization stand out among the 88 other applicants. I-SS offers distance learning programs for secondary school students throughout the state of North Carolina. In the school’s first year, approximately 500 students participated in this distance degree program, while approximately 1000 students are enrolled in 2008.

Teachers use traditional and distance education degree program technology to interact with and educate their students. This online degree program also uses a variety of technologies, incluing podcasts, videos, and interactive learning methods. In addition, this top online school offers teachers the ability to meet and interact with one another, and to learn from one another, throughout the school year.

Distance degree programs for secondary students are becoming increasingly popular. This trend is underscored by the national recognition offered to I-SS with the Baldridge Award. Find out more about online degree courses and programs for secondary school students today!

As parents, we spend countless hours focused on our children’s education. We make sure they go to bed on time, eat breakfast before school, and do their homework each afternoon. We put our efforts and energy into making sure they get a good education, so that they are ready to enter a college degree program right after graduating from high school.

Do we ever stop to think, though, that the best way to teach is by modeling an example? Our children do what they see us do, not what we tell them to do or encourage them to do. The best way to help your child take interest in learning and value his or her education is to learn while they learn, and show your interest and appreciation for it.

Distance learning can help you get a better job, but it can also teach your children the importance of a college education. With jobs becoming scarcer in today’s economy, earning a competitive salary can be a big challenge. Help your children prepare for challenges like this by teaching them to learn from your behavior. Earn a degree online at a top online college and advance your career while you teach your children!

How can you learn as an adult? Start by taking online degree courses, or if you are sure of your career interests, enroll in an accredited online university degree program. Do your homework while your children are doing their homework, and they will see you learning. This will help to motivate them to learn.

Imagine a 12% return on your investment. In today’s struggling economy, that kind of return is something like financial wizardry. Distance learning degree programs, however, are continuing to experience that kind of phenomenal market growth.

The latest distance learning degree program surveys, conducted by the Sloan Consortium, however, concluded that enrollment in online degree courses throughout the country had in fact increased by 12 percent during the last year. As a result, more than 4 million people nationwide are enrolled in distance learning classes.

Increasing fuel costs, job losses and economic uncertainties have contributed to these rising figures, according to the survey. As more people struggle to replace lost jobs during this recession, they turn to online degree universities to find distance education degree programs to help them gain an educational edge over their competitors.

In addition, many people find themselves working harder, or working more than one job, in order to meet the financial demands of their family members. Graduating from a traditional college degree program is almost impossible for these people, who turn to distance degree programs to help them achieve these objectives. And in the end, those who are motivated and dedicated do find what they are looking for - undergraduate and graduate degree programs that provide family and job security.

Have you wondered how distance degrees really stack up in real life? Does anyone actually take distance learning seriously? Can anyone really earn a college degree at home and find a worthwhile job?

You may be surprised to know that distance learning is not only accepted by most colleges and universities, but it is rapidly gaining popularity among even the most elite American universities. Ivy League schools such as Cornell, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania. In fact, Columbia University now offers more than 60 online degree courses.

More and more majors are being offered online as well. Once, only general programs, such as Bachelor of Arts Degrees, were available through online university degree programs. Today, students can earn a degree online in computer science, management, health careers, or education.

Distance learning degree programs are here to stay, and colleges all over the country are taking note. More than 5 million people are currently enrolled in online degree universities throughout the United States. As transportation costs continue to rise, and the uncertain economy makes a good education more necessary than ever, we can only expect to see this trend continue to increase.

If you’ve decided to go back to school and earn a college degree at home, you may experience a brief culture shock at first. Students who get a degree online often find studying and exams more convenient, but there are challenges unique to distance learning degree programs as well. If you have decided to finish your college degree program through an online university, you should be aware of the unique challenges you may face.

You may often find that deadlines are more flexible than in traditional degree programs. However, you have little recourse if you miss a fixed deadline, such as an online submission or post. Although you can argue that your internet service was down (which can and does occasionally happen), you aren’t going to be able to get away with this excuse very often. So, although the program is flexible, you are expected to take responsibility for your own education.

Furthermore, you are expected to be able to use a computer and email, as well as to take responsibility for learning any other computer applications used by the online degree courses you have chosen. While this may sometimes mean a large learning curve, you must be motivated and determined enough to meet this small challenge, or distance education degree programs aren’t right for you.

Some students also argue that nontraditional education offered by online degree university programs doesn’t offer the “full college experience.” While you can’t play college sports, pledge to a sorority, or go to a homecoming dance, distance learning certainly offers a full range of educational opportunities. Only you can decide which is more important for you; education or socialization.

When you thought about becoming a nurse, did you imagine wearing a white uniform, a stethoscope draped jauntily around your neck, racing down a hospital hallway to rescue a patient from himself? Did you picture yourself standing gravely at a hospital bedside, waiting to see whether your patient would make it through the night? While bedside nurses are indeed very valuable, both traditional and online degree university programs offer many other options to people with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN).

Online college degree programs offer both undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing. Many other online degree courses and continuing education programs are available as well. For example, some top online schools offer certificate programs in forensic nursing. Forensic nurses are specially trained to help victims of assault and to collect physical evidence that will help policemen and attorneys catch a victim’s assailant.

Others decide to become legal nurse consultants, and offer their expert testimony on a wide variety of issues. Like forensic nursing, this is not a graduate degree program, but rather a post-baccalaureate certification program. These certifications can be obtained either through distance degree programs, by attending continuing education seminars, or at a traditional college campus.

Often, nurses become tired of working at the bedside after five to ten years of caregiving. Through nontraditional distant learning programs such as these, however, nurses can seek new interests and challenges in their profession. Rather than relinquish their skills for another career, they find new ways to use these skills within their chosen profession.

Believe it or not, online degree universities  struggle with certain ethical issues that are uniqe to online college degree programs. The ethical concerns voiced by both students and professors alike involve issues related to cheating, privacy, and the publication of educational materials online. Furthermore, top online schools have made the admirable commitment to making their distance education degrees universally accessible to all individuals, including those who are physically or cognitively challenged.

Cheating is often rampant among college students attending a traditional college or university. Students are so anxious to earn their college degrees that they often stoop to plagiarism or cheating on tests. Some online universities have attempted to address this problem through the use of open book testing, while others require students to be monitored. While neither of these suggestions is optimal, a more effective solution remains to be found.

Another difficulty faced by students taking online degree courses is the issue of privacy. Most distance learning degree programs use software that makes course content, such as outlines, student postings, and discussions private. Occasionally, however, information is made available to anyone searching. One of the problems with this is that many employers have taken to searching the internet to “dig up dirt” about prospective employees, and an unfortunate comment made while taking an online course could come back to haunt a student.

One other problem with online learning is the publication of education materials on the Internet. This can lead to copyright issues and disagreements between universities, professors, and students concerning who owns the rights to the information produced during an online degree course. While the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which became law in 1998, has offered some protection, this remains a concern.

Students who plan to earn a college degree at home need to be aware of these issues and be cautious about their use of the internet for sending and receiving information. Academic integrity is still important, and it may fall primarily upon the student to maintain this difficult standard. While universities work to extend their course offerings to meet the needs of a wide variety of challenged students, the students themselves should remain aware of these current ethical issues in distance learning.

Fact and Fantasy: What is Distance Learning?

You have probably watched hundreds of television or internet commercials urging you to get a degree from home. Mail flyers advertise online correspondence courses, claiming that you can get an instant degree with only a quick application and little effort. Do you really know the facts about what online degree completion really requires? Check your information and determine how much of the truth you actually know!

A number of different technologies are used in distance learning degree programs. Online undergraduate degree programs, for example, are held over the Internet. Most online learning experiences take place individually, as the student checks in, receives the assignment, and posts messages on the chatboard or interacts with classmates through email. At least one of these online degree courses, however, was held live in the virtual community of Second Life, a popular online website. Perhaps this will be the future wave of online education!

Other students have worked to earn their degrees by taking classes broadcast over television or pre-recorded on videotape. CD-Rom, cassette tapes, and FM radio have also been used to distribute education information. Before the arrival of the Internet, however, most people who wanted to earn a degree at home used old-fashioned mail to receive and return correspondence course materials. There was, of course, a much longer turnaround time. This process involved mailing the completed assignment to the professor, having it graded and approved, and receiving and completing the next assignment.  Although dated, this option is still available through some universities.

The Internet has made continuing education, as well as earning an undergraduate degree or graduate degree, much more convenient and feasible. Unfortunately, however, it has also resulted in the spread of many unaccredited universities claiming to offer their students fast degree completion with little effort. The degrees from these universities are worthless, and people spend large amounts of money for a meaningless piece of paper.

A number of accredited online university programs offer excellent education to their students. Moreover, employers are beginning to recognize the value of online education. In many cases, they will accept a degree from an online program as readily as one from a traditional college.

If you are interested in obtaining a distance learning degree, do your homework and find an accredited online university. Don’t allow the fantasy of getting a college degree in a few months to cloud your vision. The fact is, a bachelor’s degree takes three to four years to complete, whether you are doing it online or on a college campus. Stay smart, and don’t let a dream of pie in the sky disrupt your educational career.