Students study at University of Utah while living anywhere

Philadelphia, British Columbia, Louisiana and New Zealand — destinations that would be commonplace for an international traveler. But how about a student taking a full credit load at the University of Utah?

Kathy Lung, a 52-year-old nontraditional student, takes advantage of the instant access and convenience that online courses provide and began using them to supplement her regular education last summer. She has a fairly tight daily work schedule, but manages to fit studying in wherever she can.

"Airports and airplanes are godsends for reading," she said in an e-mail conversation.

More and more schools are offering the online option, which U. psychology professor Jeanie Farr says is "ingenious."

"It's a way they can do what they want to do and attend school at the same time," she said. Her department offers nearly the entire positive-psychology course curricula online and she sometimes officiates her classes from various Internet cafes in Mexico. In a "generation of electronic everything," she said, she can't imagine it not being a part of the educational environment.

Many of Farr's students send e-mails from around the world throughout the semester letting her know where they are and what they're up to. She said more people should make themselves aware of the online course options, which sometimes allow students to pay in-state tuition as residents of Utah and live someplace else.

"It takes a lot of creativity to make it work, but with this downturn in the economy, people will be wanting more of this," Farr said.

For Lung, Internet courses during the summer are a must, but she takes regular courses during the school year, trying to finish a degree as soon as possible.

"There is a lot to learn and only 24 hours in a day, so sometimes I think summer plans interfere with classes," she said. "It took me a long time to get to completing my education, so it's a priority."

For some, however, the distractions of daily life make online courses more difficult but still convenient.

"It is much harder for me to focus. I usually do not cover all of the material they give us," said Brooke Palmer, a U. student living in California for the summer. "I try extra hard to stay up on my school work."

She prefers the "real college experience" to online learning, but said it is a "great way to obtain an education and finish up school when life is busy."

The trend, Farr said, "is changing the face of higher education. It is becoming a fashionable thing to live in exotic places and take all the general education courses online … and they are having the time of their lives."

E-MAIL: wleonard@desnews.com