Distance Education

What is distance education?

With the constant development of electronic mediums, teaching and learning experiences are no longer confined to traditional classrooms at the University of North Texas. UNT is the largest provider of online credit courses among Texas public universities. At UNT eCampus, you can take classes from locations worldwide, at any time of the day or night. Educators using these technologies find that they are reaching students in new and better ways.

Courses using the latest instructional technologies come alive with graphics, text, animation and video. Whether offered totally online or blended with face-to-face instruction, these courses will provide you with the opportunity to master concepts in areas in which you might otherwise struggle. Many faculty members and students say that web-based courses promote a better student-teacher relationship.

UNT eCampus also delivers courses and programs via videoconference. The University of North Texas Videoconference Network (UNTVN) is a two-way video network that allows students in remote locations to listen to lectures, ask questions and participate in discussions in real time with their instructor and classmates. UNTVN includes on-campus classrooms that connect to more than 300 sites across Texas, including the UNT Dallas Campus and the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth, and many more sites around the world.

Who can use distance education?

Distance education is not for everyone, so you must consider the differences between face-to-face learning and distance learning. A careful assessment of your study habits and preferences is the key to a successful experience. You will need to take responsibility for your learning by having the motivation and organizational skills to participate actively and work independently. In addition, you will need to be resourceful and ask for help when you have problems. You should consider how a distance education will fit into your schedule and whether you have the needed computer skills - typing, editing, file management, knowledge of software and hardware, and Internet navigation.

With more than 700 class sections available each semester, UNT eCampus is available for undergraduate and graduate students. UNT eCampus offers complete degree programs and individual distance education courses.

Distance education courses are available to all students who have been admitted to UNT. You can apply for admission online at www.applytexas.org. Admission requirements for UNT eCampus are the same as for any other UNT campus. Once admitted to UNT, you can complete class registration and payment online.

For an up-to-date listing of all available courses and programs offered, visit www.untecampus.com.

Library system

The UNT libraries contain more than 6 million cataloged items, including printed books, periodicals, electronic databases, maps, documents, microforms and audiovisual materials, as well as a large and growing number of electronic journals and books.

Through the TexShare program, administered by the Texas State Library, UNT has borrowing privileges with academic and public libraries throughout the state. Catalogs for other major research libraries throughout the world can be searched electronically and documents ordered through UNT's interlibrary loan department. UNT libraries also hold membership in the Center for Research Libraries, giving patrons access to unique materials available in other libraries around the country. Electronic resources provided by the UNT libraries can be accessed from any computer with web access through any Internet service provider. If you are off campus, you need only your Enterprise User ID (EUID) and password to use 95 percent of the libraries' many electronic resources. For a small group of products loaded on CD-ROMs, you must use the helper program available as a download. Many of UNT's full-text books and journal articles require you to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer so you can read, save or print the text from pdf files.

Firewalls have sometimes created problems when users have tried to access UNT electronic resources. Home cable modem users or user network administrators may have to configure firewalls specifically to allow access to those resources.

For more information, follow the link to "Library Services for UNT Off-Campus Users" from the UNT libraries home page at www.library.unt.edu.