Many educators doubted it. It seemed the lazy man's way of learning. But new research suggests that stigma is not only fading, but transforming into eLearning accolades. Recently, an in-depth study from Sloan Consortium, a group supporting online education, confirmed what advocates of cyber-academics had been saying for years: Online learning can be just as good as -- if not better than -- a classroom degree.

"A majority of academic leaders (57 percent) believe learning outcomes for online education are equal to or superior to those of face-to-face instruction," proclaims the Sloan study.

One of those academic leaders -- James Sherwood, Ph.D., dean of University Extension, the continuing education branch of The University of California at Berkeley -- elaborates. "Coming out of World War II and getting into the '60s and '70s, there was a kind of stigma associated with distance education. That has certainly changed," says Sherwood. "Because of video streaming, chat rooms, and all the other kinds of technological advances, traditional faculty is becoming more comfortable."

One of those academic leaders -- James Sherwood, Ph.D., dean of University Extension, the continuing education branch of The University of California at Berkeley -- elaborates. "Coming out of World War II and getting into the '60s and '70s, there was a kind of stigma associated with distance education. That has certainly changed," says Sherwood. "Because of video streaming, chat rooms, and all the other kinds of technological advances, traditional faculty is becoming more comfortable."

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