Once he finishes his tasks at work, Ball State University junior Nathan Neely typically spends at least four hours of his shift finishing up homework. He's not unlike other college students who struggle to fit class work into their busy schedules -- with one exception, though.

Neely is thousands of miles away from Ball State's campus.

Once he finishes his tasks at work, Ball State University junior Nathan Neely typically spends at least four hours of his shift finishing up homework.
He's not unlike other college students who struggle to fit class work into their busy schedules -- with one exception, though. Neely is thousands of miles away from Ball State's campus.

 The 23-year-old Army reserve sergeant is in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, with the Alpha 138th Signal Battalion, deployed to provide communication for the entire forward operating base there. He was to be released from duty Jan. 13, but military plans have kept him in place for the time being, he said in an e-mail from the base.

To get some of his class requirements out of the way, Neely enrolled in the university's Fast Track program, which currently offers more than 20 eLearning classes online as 10-week courses.

In Iraq, Neely uses a laptop to log on to a low-speed Internet connection. The English literature major and creative writing minor gets his books from a Web site, usually within about two weeks. Having taken History 150 and 151, Religious Studies 151 and Astronomy 100 all from Iraq, he's one of the students who would ordinarily be considered traditional, but he's taking advantage of Ball State's not-so-traditional online eLearning course offerings.

Across the country, universities are broadening their educational offerings and maintaining market share with the increasingly popular method of distance education. Sixty-three percent of schools offering undergraduate face-to-face courses also offer undergraduate eLearning courses online. For graduate programs, that number rises to 65 percent. Experts say the revitalized form of independent learning is growing in popularity because of the flexibility and access of online classes.

Distance education is not a new concept, but the way the courses are taught is evolving as fast as the concept is growing in popularity. Increased faculty and student access to high-speed Internet connections has allowed schools to use programs such as Blackboard and other software to teach classes from far off campus.

The Sloan Consortium, a group that researches online education, reported that online eLearning student enrollment grew nationwide by 18.2 percent between 2004 and 2005.

The Internet popularized distance education by keeping students and faculty in more frequent and accessible contact.

With the hectic schedules so many college students have, distance eLearning courses allow education on demand -- even for students who aren't really at a distance. on-campus students take courses during the regular academic year to avoid scheduling conflicts or to meet degree and graduation requirements more quickly.

And for those off campus, Fast Track courses can be a big help, which Neely discovered when he reached his base in Iraq.