Today's online students, using computers and high-speed transmission lines to virtually connect with professors and other students from around the world, owe a debt of gratitude to the farmers of the past.

That's because distance learning came about as a way to give rural learners better access to higher education.

In the 1880s, publicly-funded land-grant universities operating in rural areas of the United States decided to help farmers master more scientific and efficient farming techniques. However, it wasn't easy—or in many cases even possible—for farmers to leave their fields to go study.

So, in 1892, Pennsylvania State University became one of the first colleges in the United States to launch an aggressive mail correspondence program. Agricultural workers read textbooks, then mailed their completed assignments back to Penn State faculty for grading.


The World Uses Distance Learning

Penn State’s experiment in distance learning was so successful that the university expanded its educational outreach across the United States.

In 1998, Penn State opened a new online campus, known as the World Campus. The World Campus now offers more than 50 online degrees and certificates at both the graduate and undergraduate level. The World Campus’ distance-learning students live in every corner of the globe.

Penn State’s motto, “A century of commitment to distance learning,” affirms how established and long-standing distance education is in the United States.


It’s All About Access

Students who have trouble getting to traditional schools still use distance learning. Those who are most likely to utilize distance learning today include rural learners; military personnel (who are mobile and require a campus that is equally mobile); and single mothers (average age 36).

Single mothers who work full time have historically relied on distance learning as a way to access education without having to leave their children alone in the evenings or on weekends.

In fact, a 2007-08 survey of distance learners by Primary Research Group found that almost 60 percent of college-level distance learners in the United States are female.

The Distance Learning 'College Kid' - Getting Younger

Since the 1990s, the master’s degree has been the most prevalent degree offered via distance learning in the United States. In 1995, GetEducated.com’s National Survey of Online MBAs tracked three accredited online MBAs (master’s of business administration). Today, GetEducated.com profiles 168 graduate business schools offering almost 400 different distance learning MBAs.

The MBA is the most popular and prevalent online degree earned in the United States.

But, according to the Sloan Foundation’s report, “Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning,” the typical online college kid may be getting younger—and seeking more entry level, career-specific education.

The associate degree is materializing as the prime growth area for online education in the coming decade. More than half the growth in online education in the last five years of the Sloan survey came from two-year colleges, which focus on delivering associate degrees and career certificates in high-demand job areas such as business, IT, justice and healthcare.

The field has clearly shifted from farming for today's online students.


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