Kathy Wood

Pufundt's colleague, Kathy Wood, AFSCME coordinator, noted that the development of this asynchronous online curriculum will result in the sort of flexibility that will allow the program to "respond more rapidly to the needs of our workers and to the changing aspects of jobs related to information technology."

Another, more common model for making distance learning accessible to workers is through the process of contracting with vendors to provide a menu of courses study.For many potential distance learning students, the task of choosing a provider is daunting.If the joint program has already contracted with a provider that offers a broad selection, this can be of tremendous help to the student.

"ICD has many isolated sites throughout the country, and distance learning has emerged as one of the most effective ways of expanding learning opportunities for steelworkers," said Harmon Lisnow, Executive Director of the Institute for Career Development, sponsored by the United Steelworkers of America and 13 participating steel companies.The work of delivering education and training, while challenging, is certainly a lot less daunting with distance learning technologies.