The Coal Miner's Daughter: HDL On-Line

by Chris Cumo HARCOURT LEARNING DIRECT began in 1890, offering courses by mail to coal miners in Scranton, Pennsylvania who hoped to complete high school or train for management. Since then Harcourt has gone on-line, attracting students throughout the U.S. More than 11 million students have taken courses through Harcourt in programs that lead to Associate degrees in business management, accounting, computer repair, child care and the like. Students can complete a program in as little as six months, though they may take as long as two years. Because nearly all students enroll part-time, they usually need at least one year to complete a program. The cost for a program is as little as $499, though others run higher. The accounting program, for example, costs $699 per semester and requires four semesters to complete, for a total expenditure of nearly $2,800. Even this amount is inexpensive considering that a single year of tuition at Bennington College in Vermont costs more than $25,000. Affordability lures students to Harcourt, which now has an enrollment of about 3500 students. Education director Connie Dempsey emphasizes that this figure is an estimate. "We have new students enrolling every day," she said. "It's just not possible to have an accurate number." Students begin and end a program at their own pace. The length of a semester is not fixed; Harcourt calculates it to fit the needs of each student. Students do course work at home using a course packet which lists assignments and exams. Students may take exams on-line and submit assignments by e-mail or fax. Part-time faculty grade exams and assignments. Full-time instructors are available for consultation by phone, fax or e-mail, though students need not consult an instructor at any time during their program. Harcourt has a total of 42 faculty, roughly half full-time and the rest part-time according to Dempsey. Full-time instructors earn $18 per contact hour with students whereas part-timers earn $13 per hour of grading. "Harcourt is the perfect place for busy adult learners," said Dempsey. She estimates that the typical Harcourt student is in her 30s with children and leads too frenetic an existence for the traditional college routine. Indeed Harcourt is nothing like the traditional college. Students do not take courses in English, philosophy, history, anthropology or any of the other staples of a liberal-arts education. The accent is on vocational training. The emphasis on the pragmatic is also evident in the instructors, whom Harcourt hires for their business savvy rather than their education. Instructors need hold only a Bachelor's degree, and a graduate degree is no asset. To be sure Harcourt is not for everyone. "This is not for someone who wants to join a fraternity or be active in campus life," said Dempsey. "There is no resident component here." Despite the differences between Harcourt and the traditional university, Dempsey acknowledges that the two compete for students. She believes that universities offer courses on-line to woo students who might otherwise enroll at Harcourt. However, despite competing in a technology driven marketplace, Harcourt does not require students to learn on-line. They may complete courses by mail, with no on-line interaction with faculty. Students may submit all assignments and exams by mail, just as the first students did in 1890. But the growing number of students who are part of the new cyberculture can find a home at Harcourt, which encourages students to take courses on-line. "The future of higher education is distance learning," said Dempsey, "and we want to be the leader of that future."