NEWARK , October 15, 1999 - You don't have to reside miles away to take advantage of a good distance learning program, as Jeremy Carlo, a 20-year-old NJIT junior found out last year when he discovered a conflict in his schedule of classes.

      Jeremy, a native of Staten Island, NY, who resides at NJIT's Newark campus during the school year, needed to squeeze a computer science course on programming into his already packed regular schedule of classes leading to a double major in physics and applied mathematics.

      "It wasn't a question of the class interfering with an outside job," notes Carlo. "I needed it because the programming course built on an earlier one; you took what you learned in the first course and applied it to more complicated programming problems in the second."

      Jeremy, who is interested in optics and material science and hopes to one day teach and do research, let his fingers do the walking to find the answer. "I sat down at my computer, went to the NJIT web site and found the course I needed at NJIT's ACCESS NJIT Distance Learning Program (Virtual Classroom™).

      ACCESS NJIT Distance Learning Program (Virtual Classroom™) is a distance learning program that uses videotaped classroom instruction, electronic conferencing and E-mail to allow students to obtain college degrees without leaving the comfort of their homes, or in Carlo's case, his dormitory room.

      In fact, more than half of the students currently enrolled in the NJIT distance learning program are enrolled in traditional on-campus courses for reasons similar to Carlo's.

      "I could watch the tapes at my convenience, read the chapter in the text book, and then comment on it by way of electronic conferencing and e-mail," notes Jeremy.

      Typically, he watched the tapes and read the chapters at night or on weekends. Then his instructor, Adjunct Professor Maura Deek, had each student write a summary every week of what each had learned in the chapter.

      This was submitted to a "Virtual Classroom," actually, a secure NJIT web site that each student accessed with a password. All students could then access the "Virtual Classroom" and read the posted comments. "Some went on at 6 a.m., others during the day or at lunch, and still others at night; you went on at your convenience," Jeremy notes.

      The students submitted assignments or exams to Professor Deek via E-mail. E-mail also was used by the professor and students as a kind of "chat room" to comment on their own work and that of others.

      The distance learning format made life easier for student and professor alike, Jeremy notes. For example, says Carlo, Professor Deek assigned each student to write programs "to do different things" during the semester, which she was able to correct almost as soon as each student e-mailed them to her.

      "Instead of writing it out and handing it to the professor during class, the professor was able to download the program and check it out immediately to see if it worked," he notes.

      But ACCESS NJIT Distance Learning Program (Virtual Classroom™) may not work for everybody, notes Carlo. "You have to be motivated, you have to be responsible. When you don't have to go to a class it's easy to slack off a week or two, and not do the work, and pretty soon you are four weeks behind," he notes.

      Although many of the students didn't meet until the final exam in a real NJIT classroom, they got to know one another via e-mail. "In some respects, you got to know each other better because your communicating wasn't distracted by other students in a classroom environment."

      Jeremy may have more opportunities to use ACCESS NJIT Distance Learning Program (Virtual Classroom™) after he graduates. He hopes eventually to earn a Ph.D. in physics at the university and the NJIT distance learning program is planning to offer graduate courses as well.

      For more information about ACCESS NJIT Distance Learning Program (Virtual Classroom™), call 800-624-9850 or contact www.njit.edu/dl.

      The university, a statewide leader in distance learning and extension sites, currently offers courses leading to graduate certificates and degrees at several corporations and at Drew University, William Paterson University, Ramapo College, NJIT at Mt. Laurel, Raritan Valley Community College, Mercer County College, and the New Jersey Departments of Environmental Protection and Transportation.

      NJIT is a public research university enrolling nearly 8,200 bachelor's, master's and doctoral students in 76 degree programs through its five colleges: Newark College of Engineering, School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, the School of Management and the Albert Dorman Honors College. Research initiatives include manufacturing, microelectronics, multimedia, transportation, computer science, solar astrophysics, environmental engineering and science, and architecture and building science.

      Yahoo! Internet Life magazine recently ranked NJIT as America's "most wired" public university, and has ranked it one of the top six "most wired" campuses among both public and private universities for three consecutive years. In addition, U.S. News and World Report's 1999 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT among the nation's top universities, and Money magazine's Best College Buys 1998 rated NJIT as the sixth best value among U.S. science and technology schools and among the top 100 overall.