Distance learning is no longer the wave of the future. The growth of enrollment in online courses continues to outpace that of higher education overall. It is the current standard in many cases for agency training of federal employees. More than 4.6 million students took at least one online course during the fall 2008 term, a 17 percent increase over the number reported the previous year, according to “Learning on Demand, Online Education in the United States, 2009,” a survey published by the Sloan Consortium. The consortium’s members are dedicated to improving the quality of online education. The 17 percent growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 1.2 percent growth of the overall higher education student population.
via Federal Times http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20100308/BENEFITS07/3080306/