OK. Short post that is more of an observation. As I look through the posts on USAJobs I see a trend. The military and other parts of the governmental structure appear to be embracing distance education (and I do use the term fairly loosely) right now.
Contrast this with some of the major universities in CA and a few other places pulling away from DL (or giving lip service without funding) in favor of brick and mortar presence, and it makes for an interesting time to be in this business. Less distance education in public educational institutions makes them less responsive and less able to cater to the needs of non-traditional students. At the same time the military and a few other areas of government are starting to embrace DL for training.
It does make me wonder if the future of distance education may end up somewhere other than academia. I would have never believed this possible up until the last year. In order to be a creative force do I now need to look at something other than Academe? Hmmmm...
