The Internet has already made keeping in touch easier through e-mail, and the amount of research opportunities are immeasurable. In the past four years, universities have used the World Wide Web to simplify higher education by offering a number of online courses.

Between 2002 and 2005, the number of students who took at least one online class doubled to nearly 3.2 million, according to the Sloan Survey of Online Learning.

Online classes are offered at almost all campuses of more than 15,000 students, and two-thirds of these universities have complete online degree programs.

These numbers are expected to increase in the coming years as is evident in the belief of nearly six in 10 academic officers who think online classes are going to play an important role in the future of universities.

The UW offers online courses in a variety of subjects, ranging from business and math to history and sociology.

Senior Anne Hong took an environmental science course online as a freshman to fulfill her natural world requirement because she wanted an alternative to the typical lecture class.

She believes an online course would be a good option for those who are self-motivated due to the lack of the constant reminder of class. Students in online classes need to be able to stay focused on when assignments are due.

"There's a huge difference in teaching yourself and learning in a classroom, even if there's a 500-to-1 teacher-to-student ratio," Hong said.

The same course was taken by senior Lillian Wong, a friend of Hong's. She wanted to take the class because it was unlike anything she had taken before.

The freedom that online classes allow gives students with busy schedules the opportunity to complete coursework on their own time.

"The workload compared to my other classes was nothing," Wong said. "This class was kind of a fun, non-stressful class to have next to the math and science classes I had."

Reporter Abby Walker: abbywalker@thedaily.washington.edu