Both online and traditional college catalogs are customarily organized by department, division, or school, and reflect the distribution of faculty within the college or university. A subject index may also indicate whether a particular curriculum is offered. Still, these "text" methods are incomplete and inadequate because many colleges and universities will allow students to shape, at least in part, their own programs. It is a rare program indeed that is entirely prescribed. When this is the case, it is usually owing to some professionally required course of study, and even then, once the minimal criteria are achieved students can add additional concentrations. For example, within "teaching foreign languages" a student might add a specialization in technology.

For many people, it may be helpful to think of the specialization and then create an appropriate field of study around it. You should feel free to make contact with academic advisors at the schools you are considering and seek answers to all your questions. Document and keep responses, because without the necessary paper trail you will have a difficult time if problems emerge.

Remember that advisors speak to scores of students and, like all of us, can and do forget things. If you have retained the email, fax, catalog page, or copy of the Web page, you will have an easier time buttressing your case than someone else who can allude only to "a phone conversation last April or May."

The Building-Block Approach to Curriculum Development
It may be useful to think of the curriculum development as a large edifice constructed out of individual building blocks arranged on the following levels: (1) courses, (2) specializations, (3) certificates, and (4) degrees. For your own benefit, it is important to ensure that your school is committed to explaining these elements completely. Schools understand your need to fully comprehend the curriculum development. In fact, they see it as a way of enticing and then locking in students for a longer, more complex, and therefore more expensive program. It's a win-win situation for student and school as long as the arrangements are clear to all parties.

Another factor to consider in building your course of study is the ability to transfer courses or larger program segments from one institution to another. Not all schools will allow you to transfer all of your credits into their program. Often there are ceilings-six credits or two courses are typical at the graduate level. For undergraduates the allowances are more liberal and can be as much as 75 percent of a bachelor's degree program. As in all other areas of life, though, exceptions and flexible approaches may be possible, so it pays to speak to academic advisors and to ask questions about anything that is not to your liking. In our new era of student-focused education, the student, as the consumer, has greater leverage than ever before. As online choices continue to expand, institutions are competing with each other in many dimensions of service.

Special Issues for Programs from a Distance
Factors For Your Consideration: When choosing a distance learning program, you need to look at many of the traditional criteria, including the nature and type of program, the quality, cost, and its fit with your personal and professional goals. You should also investigate important personal criteria, such as its convenience, the ability to control your own study schedule, and the time to degree completion. When you have narrowed your choices, you can review the important issues specific to distance learning programs.

School's Track Record: Although online and asynchronous education have made distance learning available at many respected schools, pay specific attention to the institution's track record in serving students away from campus. Assess the strength of both the academic and student support systems by asking questions about academic advising, consultations with faculty, and whether the help desk is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Academic Environment: A quality program should operate in an academic environment that provides you with easy access to the tools of learning: the faculty, a bookstore, and a library. Faculty may be asked to sign on two or more times a week--perhaps even daily. Easy electronic access can give you the chance to interact with faculty even more than you would in a traditional classroom. Find out whether faculty members are easily available through online office hours, telephone, or fax, and whether you can meet with them in person-if your location permits.

You also should investigate whether the books will be available through an online outlet. Some programs may direct you to their own electronic bookstores or to one of the online mega-bookstores, such as Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.

While a local university, workplace, or community library may meet your basic needs for supplemental resources, you should also have access to a library that offers additional research facilities and the privilege of checking out books. Often individual institutions will belong to a library consortium in which a number of schools across the country pool their resources, thereby expanding users' choices. Students may request these materials through interlibrary loan.

You should also ask what combination of media will be used. Will you use just Internet? Text? Video? Audio? Or will it be a mix of media and methodologies?

Student Services: The resources that engage you in learning are critical, but you will also want to investigate what student services the institution provides. In addition to knowing how to access the main programs, you should have a place to get any additional questions answered. What will happen, for example, if everything doesn't go as expected? Find out whom you will contact. You should have access to academic support processes such as registration and getting grade reports and transcripts. This may be done online or via telephone. You may also wish to investigate whether there are easy ways for you to contact other students from a distance if you choose to do so.

Tech Support: Having access to technical help is important for any online program. Technical problems seem to occur most often at startup, so you may wish to find out beforehand whether you'll get email responses or be able to get a person on the telephone. Some institutions offer a service around the clock seven days a week, but such systems may rely heavily on email solutions. Other institutions offer responses in one or two days.

The Faculty: More important than the combination of media is the role of the faculty in assisting students to complete the course. Distance education courses are designed to allow students to learn on their own. Faculty are there to act as mentors and are assigned to specific courses based on their academic expertise, current teaching experience, and commitment to students taking courses through distance education. The faculty member's role changes from traditional classroom instructor to a mentor who determines the student's academic progress through written assignments and proctored examinations. You need to determine whether the faculty are prepared and trained to help you learn from a distance. They should have the appropriate academic credentials and degrees from accredited institutions.

Student Interaction:It's equally important to determine what sort of interaction you will have with other students. Just as colleagues can help you learn in a traditional class, they can be instrumental in courses from a distance. You should ask how you will relate to other students and whether you will be asked to work with them in your distance learning program.

Prospective distance education students need to evaluate many aspects of an institution's program carefully before reaching a final decision. If it's possible, a good strategy may be to begin by taking a single course at the school without first matriculating for a degree. Then you can decide whether distance learning and the institution are right for you.

This article was excerpted from Complete Book of Distance Learning Schools by Dr. Jerry Ice and Dr. Paul Edelson