The United States spends 600billiononeducationofalltypeseachyear,makingitthesecondlargestindustryafterhealthcare.Dunn(2000)estimatesthatthetypicalcitizenwillneedtheequivalentof30semestercreditsofcourseworkevery10yearstostaycurrentwithcomingchangesintheirfieldsandlives.Innovativewaysofprovidingsuchaccesstoeducation,anabsoluteimperativeinthemergingglobalknowledgesociety,arerequired.Distanceeducationprovidesaccessthroughmultipletechnologiesandoftentimesincludessomeonβsiteinstruction(Dunn,2000;LaCost,1998).Networkededucation(inhighereducationoftenreferredtoasavirtualuniversity)furnishesawebofeducationalprovidersthatdistributeservicestotheclientatthetime,place,paceandstyledesiredbytheclient.Inthe1997β98academicyear,postsecondaryinstitutionsreportedthatthemostpopulardeliverytechnologieswereansynchronousInternetinstruction(58Collaborationisarequirementforfutureonβlineeducation.Collaborationprovidesmultiplearrangementsandflexiblealliancesamongparticipants.ThereisnowgreateravailabilityofgrantmoneyforforgingcollaborationsbetweenandamonginstitutionsandaccreditingbodiesForexample,theAndrewW.MellonFoundationisinterestedinfundingcollaborativetechnicalprojects(Young,2000),andtheU.S.DepartmentofEducationhasannounced10 million in awards to higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations to assist in providing access to distance-learning opportunities (Confessore, 1999)