Distance education is a trend in American higher education that is growing rapidly. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, as of fall 2014, almost 6 million higher education students are enrolled in any distance education course, including almost 1 million graduate students. The National Center for Education Statistics also shows that about 33 percent of graduate students in the United States are involved with online courses and distance education in some form, with 25 percent of graduate students enrolled in fully online programs.1 Though there are now more distance graduate students in higher education, there has long been a trend of distance students feeling isolated from campus. Dropout rates are higher in distance education courses, and students feel isolated due to a lack of physical contact with instructors.2
