Virtual College

You’ve been an accountant in a large firm for 10 years. You’re worried that your job will be downsized out of existence. You need to upgrade your skills. It’s obvious--you have to go back to school. But who has the time?

That’s become a familiar refrain, so familiar that a new, high-tech industry is springing up to answer it.

Capitalizing on the proliferation of home computers and work force demands for lifelong learning, online education is emerging as a viable alternative to traditional college courses for working adults.

The latest entry: the Home Education Network, a year-old company headed by a former UCLA vice chancellor that already is one of the leading suppliers of virtual courses for the adult education market.

Owning the online rights to UCLA Extension’s 4,200 courses, the Westwood firm in less than a year has signed up 800 students in 42 states and eight countries. So far, cyber versions of only about 30 of the courses--from screenwriting to the popular grammar tutorial--are available, but 20 more are coming online this fall.

Its students are people such as Janice Gallardo, 38, who, after more than a decade in sales, enrolled in a professional chef program, the sort that required her to trek to the UCLA campus. But the cooking courses she wanted weren’t available this summer and she didn’t want to be tied down to a class that would crimp her active lifestyle--she likes to go kayaking, among other things. So last month the South Bay resident logged onto her computer for a class in food and beverage management.

“This,” she said, “is perfect for me.”

Robert Lapiner, UCLA’s dean of continuing education, said the extension moved online last year because the virtual classroom “accommodates increasingly how people organize their lives. [Online] is a potentially extraordinarily powerful medium for teaching and learning.”

Online learning is not for everyone, though. Aside from needing a computer and a modem, you have to know how to use a keyboard--and type.

The Home Education Network, like other online ventures, suffered from technological glitches at first. Some students complained of difficulty logging on and ran into problems of incompatibility between the host system and their home PCs. And the range of course offerings is still rather modest.

But the company does offer a convenient option to people like Gallardo who cannot afford to sacrifice their day jobs to become students again.

Gallardo is typical of the online student, said John Kobara, who directed UCLA’s marketing and public relations before being named president and chief executive of the Home Education Network five months ago. More than 70% of the students are women, and the average age is 43.

“That is almost the exact opposite of the Internet population,” where the average cybernaut is still male and under 40, he said.

In fact, most of the network’s students are not Internet-savvy, although more than 80% have college degrees. Many, Kobara said, plunge in needing basic help operating a computer. Gallardo said she found some of the technological requirements “a little intimidating” at first, and had to buy a more powerful computer and new software.

Yet the fledgling company hopes to more than triple its enrollment next year by tapping into a market that is potentially huge. According to Montgomery Securities, a San Francisco investment firm that tracks the education industry, almost half of the 14 million students enrolled in higher education in the United States are adults over 24 who may be working or supporting a family. That is 4 million more than in 1970.

Business, wary of losing competitiveness in the global marketplace, is feeding the surge by pushing employees to get more education. And workers are motivated by the widening pay gap between those who are college-educated and those who aren’t.

Those trends, coupled with the growing omnipresence of the home computer, “create an explosive growth opportunity” for entrepreneurs who want to serve adult learners, said Michael Moe, a principal analyst at Montgomery.

The Home Education Network was founded by Alan Arkatov, a former Democratic political consultant who has long been interested in education and new media. The company’s major investors include Sylvan Learning Systems, St. Paul Venture Capital and Times Mirror Co., the parent company of the Los Angeles Times.

Many colleges have begun to experiment with online courses. About 18 of the 23 campuses in the California State University system offer such courses now or will by this fall. In a new venture with Simon & Schuster, the CSU system in October will roll out the first in a series of courses for elementary and middle school teachers completing their credentials, relying on online technology to deliver much of the instruction. UC Berkeley has joined with America Online to offer about 40 Internet courses, from hazardous waste management to creative writing. And in the planning stages is the California Virtual University, spearheaded by Gov. Pete Wilson, which will link the state’s 300 public and private higher education institutions with a cyber catalog of courses.

In the for-profit world, the biggest online outfit is the University of Phoenix, which runs its 8-year-old virtual campus for 2,800 students out of San Francisco, concentrating on working professionals who want to earn degrees in business and management.

The Home Education Network mainly targets adults who need a few courses to fulfill job requirements. Elementary and secondary school teachers make up almost a third of its enrollment, attracted by offerings in cross-cultural education such as “Cultural Diversity in the Classroom” and “Applied Methods in Teaching Bilingual and English Language Development,” which they are required to take to maintain their state credentials.

Students can also earn certificates in business and management, online teaching and preparation for MBA programs.

Accessed through software provided by the company, the courses are “asynchronous,” meaning that students can log on at any time of day or night to download the “lecture”--mainly text with graphics--or send notes or files to classmates or the instructor. But most of the classwork is conducted offline, eliminating the need to tie up a phone line for long periods.

Each class is limited to 20 students. That and the need for staff training and technical support are the main reasons why the online courses cost more than traditional ones--between $300 and $600, including a fee for software and other technological help. UCLA’s Lapiner notes that online students save on other costs, such as parking, commuting and child care.

On the first day of class, the instructor posts his or her photo and biographical background. Lectures and assignments are given at least once a week, and students are urged to sign on every day to participate in e-mail discussions. Classes proceed workshop-style, with instructors raising questions to keep the conversation going. Most culminate in a project, such as a finished short story in a fiction writing class or a marketing plan for a new restaurant in a business management course.

David Fox, a former executive in the hotel and restaurant industries, signs on at least twice a day from his home in Santa Clarita to answer mail from his students in the food and beverage management course. Before launching the class, he completed a four-week orientation session, which included training on how to use the software and Internet etiquette. Although most of the classwork is conducted offline, he holds a class meeting every Tuesday evening, staying online from 7 to 10 to answer questions, give homework or participate in a discussion.

Gallardo, who is one of his students, said she was worried at first that she would feel isolated from other students in the online world. But after the first few weeks, she found that she liked the virtual experience more than she expected. “It’s not just a big, boring didactic lecture,” Gallardo said. “There are a lot of discussion groups. It feels personal, even though you’re not in class.”

William Zanghi began his class on language structure and usage last month by posting a description of the course, the reading list, his grading policy and his resume.

“I currently live between Pasadena and Rome,” he wrote, noting that he teaches English at Los Angeles Valley College and at the University of Rome in Italy. Then he asked, what languages do you know? Do you know English grammar well enough to explain subject-verb agreement to a student who speaks a different language? Is there a specific point of grammar that troubles you?

In return, Sharron Dunford offered her brief bio: Grew up in Salt Lake City, married her high school sweetheart and has two sons. Took four years of high school Spanish. And “I don’t have any specific grammar troubles that I know of.”

Dunford, a teacher at a La Crescenta high school, has taken five online courses over the past year, all to fulfill credential requirements. But Dunford, 47, was attracted to the online courses mainly for the convenience. “I didn’t have to drive to UCLA,” she said.

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Online Resources

Some places to look for online education opportunities:

* For UC Berkeley online, check https://www.unex.berkeley.edu:4243

* For UCLA Extension, https://www.unex.ucla.edu/online.htm

* The Home Education Network, https://www.then.com and e-mail at theninfo@then.com or phone (310) 794-8484.

* University of Phoenix, https://www.uophx.edu or (800) 388-5463.

* California State University Dominguez Hills, https://www.csudh.edu

* CSU’s program for new elementary and middle school teachers, https://www.teach.calstate.edu