Ten years ago the University of Illinois Springfield created an online master's program called Teacher Leadership.
Now the MTL program is being nationally recognized with the 2010 Outstanding Online Program Award. The honor comes from the Sloan Consortium, which is comprised of 1,200 institutions of online higher eduction.
The group praises UIS saying it "provides a high quality program to teachers in rural sections of Illinois who would not otherwise have the opportunity to complete a graduate degree."
But online programs at UIS go far beyond Illinois' borders.
"Here at UIS more than one quarter of our students are online majors, who reside in 47 states and a dozen foreign countries," said Ray Schroeder, director of the Center for Online Learning, Research, and Service (COLRS) at UIS.
The story was featured by WICS-TV 20 in a September 26, 2010, report.
Watch the story on News Channel 20's website