Current interns are attending lectures, submitting papers and other assignments,

discussing problems and concerns, reporting on the progress of their

on-the-job experiences and conferring with their faculty advisers--all via computer.

A resident of a rural area with family responsibilities that keep her close to home. A recent college graduate who wants to save money by living with his parents for a year or two. Another young graduate who wants to try out a couple of different cities in various parts of the country before settling down.

These are the types of students who enroll in UD's dietetics internship program, in which they can complete on-the-job training and academic requirements to earn their registered dietitian credentials from wherever they happen to live. In fact, except for a two-week orientation at the start of the program in August, these interns may never even set foot on the University campus.

The program's flexibility is made possible by technology. To become registered dietitians, students must earn an undergraduate degree and then perform 28 weeks of intensive work, in a variety of settings, under the supervision of professionals called preceptors. During the internship, they also complete several academic requirements.

The College of Health and Nursing Sciences has been offering a dietetics internship since 1995, in collaboration with the Delaware Division of Public Health, but in the past two years has converted it from a traditional, campus-based program to a distance-learning format.

Students now fulfill the same requirements as in the past, but instead of living on or commuting regularly to campus, they attend lectures, submit papers and other assignments, discuss problems and concerns, report on the progress of their on-the-job experiences and confer with their faculty advisers--all via computer.

The program won the 2003 Award for Excellence in Distance Learning Programming-Telehealth from the U.S. Distance Learning Association, which called it "outstanding."

"The program serves as a model for Internet-based programs," the association said in conferring the award. "[It] has received outstanding evaluations from both students and preceptors."

Interns decide where they will live during the program and then, with assistance from UD faculty advisers, arrange for their work locations, hours and preceptors in local hospitals, clinics, schools and other settings specified by the program requirements.

"While they're doing the internship, they take courses," says now-retired Prof. Charlene Hamilton, who initiated the program. "Twice a week, we have lectures in a video-stream format. They can watch the lectures at their own convenience and then, for class time, they get together with one another and the speaker in a chat room. The faculty members use regularly scheduled chat rooms as online office hours."

Faculty also check in regularly with the preceptors to monitor each intern's progress. "We need to keep in contact with everyone," Hamilton says. "But, we don't have to be physically present everywhere."

The distance-learning aspect has attracted interns who don't live near any university that offers an internship program and who are unable to commute to the UD campus because of family or other responsibilities. As a result, Hamilton says, the program has seen significant growth in applications.