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An AS engineering degree program via ALN

In the Fall 1997 semester, Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC), through its Extended Learning Institute (ELI), is offering what is to our knowledge the first Associate in Science (AS) engineering degree available via distance education to home-based learners in the US. Funded largely by grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation during the past four years, NVCC/ELI has developed the engineering, mathematics, chemistry and physics courses required to offer a complete AS engineering degree program. This paper describes how NVCC/ELI has incorporated asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) into its math, science, and engineering courses and highlights some of the issues involved in developing ALNs for home-based community college students.