IMS Global: Do you see distance learning becoming more global in the future? Will I be able to get a degree from Cambridge or Oxford as easily as from the college down the street?

GP: Absolutely. One of my daughter's friends has just completed a master's degree from the London School of Economics. A question we always get when we go to do an assessment is: "Can you get us an international market?" The answer is there's a huge international market out there, obviously, but the interesting thing is we haven't begun to fully develop the national market yet. There's a huge demand from working professionals for online higher education in this country. We have just scratched the surface.

There's a lot of reasons why institutions want to do online education. It may be to export degrees or reach new audiences, which is what we've primarily focused on. But we also do assessments with universities and colleges who are early into online education or perhaps have tried it and haven't fared as well as they would like. Sometimes online education is based on facilities constraints. The challenge may not be in attracting a new audience, but rather serving the huge audience they already have. The University of Central Florida, for example, has been very successful in doing that. There is a lot of growth opportunity for institutions that are struggling with revenue constraints, maybe their enrollments are flat or they may have some very strong programs they can export.

IMS Global: Any general advice you would offer to colleges and universities that are considering taking some of their courses or programs online?

GP: For degree programs that you want to offer by distance learning, focus on those you do well, find your faculty champions who are your change agents and entrepreneurs, and assess first. Understand your marketplace, your own readiness to serve large numbers of students who are coming to you from a distance and cannot walk on your campus. There are things that you can do without completely overwhelming the institution, but it's important to know what those things are in order to get ready. And then, be sure the curriculum is structured in a way that it can be scalable and there are high levels of retention built into it. I believe this approach will ensure student success, faculty support, and financial reward.