Reliability and Validity of a Student Scale for Assessing the Quality of Internet-Based Distance Learning

About 85% of all U.S. universities and colleges offer distance education courses, up from 62% since 1998 (National Governors’ Association, 2001). Also since 1998, distance education enrollments in credit-bearing courses have more than doubled, from about 1,364,000 to over 2,870,000 in 2001. (National Center for Education Statistics, 1997; 2003). By 2004, it is expected that distance learners will constitute about 14% of all those enrolled in degree programs (International Data Corporation, 1999). Most of this growth is attributed to the dramatic upsurge in Internet-based education, which now represents the primary means by which colleges and universities provide distance learning (National Center for Education Statistics, 2003).