E-college 'Web-ifying' Higher Ed.

• Author: Peterson, Eric

On May 6, 2000, Joleyn Larson will get decked out in graduation garb to receive a bachelor's degree from Montana State University at Billings. The ceremony marks only the second time that the 25-year-old Larson has set foot on campus.

Instead, she attended classes from her Bismarck, N.D., home at a virtual campus provided by Denver-based eCollege.com Inc. In 1998, when she first registered for online classes, the mother of two lived in Glendive Mont. "There was no four-year college there," she said. "Unless I wanted to commute three hours every day, I had to go online.

The college was founded in 1996, and Larson is among its first graduating class. "We like to say we're web-ifying universities and web-ifying education," said eCollege.com President and CEO Robert Helmick, who compared the Net's impact on education to Gutenberg's impact on the written word. The difference: "You're harnessing the power of the Internet to increase human interaction - you're increasing the amount of student-faculty interaction, and you're increasing the amount of student-student interaction." Another benefit: convenience. eCollege.com's typical student is older, and more likely to have children or work full-time than average undergrads.

To date, eCollege.com has 'web-ified' 192 campuses nationwide, helping educators design, build and manage an audio- and...