Taking education out of classrooms, into homes
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"Students enroll at a local host college, but instruction will actually come from another (provider) college online," Thomson said. "In some ways it's sort of like leasing an instructor."
All accredited two-years colleges in the state are members of VCT by default, according to Thomson.
"There are 41 institutions that are eligible to host courses," he said. "Of course, the number doing it at any one time can vary."
VCT is most often sought by students who need to take a course or two to graduate on time, especially in instances when a needed class is full or cannot be offered because of scheduling conflicts. The VCT can step in to offer the course online from a different host institution.
Common core courses such as history, English and government are most often sought by students enrolled in VCT, Thomson said.
"Math and science courses are taught less frequently through distance learning. Labs present a challenge, for example."
But there are ways around those obstacles.
Thomson said he knew of an Anatomy & Physiology instructor who mailed feline cadavers to students to dissect at home for a lab assignment.
"So a student could have dissected a cat on the kitchen table."
Other students opt to take a majority or all of their classes online. The biggest user of VCT is Texas State Technical College in Harlingen.
"There are about four or five colleges that are huge users of VCT, where the program has played a major role in distance learning," Thomson said. "The remainder of the institutions use it as a pick-up program."
Conceived by the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) in 1996, the VCT has expanded the means by which students learn. The program, still governed by TACC, boasts more than 34,000 course enrollments since it became operational in 1998. Host institutions are required to be accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
Other institutions are implementing distance learning to combat Texas' growing nursing shortage.
The University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing has announced an innovative distance education Bachelor of Science Nursing (BSN) program, sure to expand the number of new graduate registered nurses in Texas. Classes are slated to start this fall.
Dr. Beth Mancini, School of Nursing associate dean, said the program addresses "a Texas solution for a Texas problem.
"This new approach to nursing education provides an effective strategy to produce competent new graduate registered nurses at our hospital partner sites across Texas," she said.
Distance learning isn't limited to higher education, however. It's also changing the way elementary and secondary students learn.
Texas Tech University Independent School District (TTUISD) - an accredited elementary, middle and high school diploma/distance learning program - recently celebrated a major milestone with a record number of full-time students enrolled.
Established by the State Board of Education in 1993, TTUISD's current enrollment reached a record high of 1,796 students this year, marking a 29 percent increase from the previous school year. The district comprises 1,447 high school students, 230 middle school students and 119 elementary school students.
So as distance learning increases in stature and scope, it will be sure to serve working students and those with special needs.
"I got a phone call from a student, a single mom, who had completed all but one class she needed to go into the health science field," Thomson said. "She told me there was no way possible she could have graduated on time without VCT.
"She felt like she got a good deal."
