Internet college classes getting popular

Students around the state are avoiding the classroom and still getting A’s. The grades are from an explosion in on-line coursework offered by Drake University.In the past three years, enrollment in on-line courses at the private DesMoines university has tripled. Sandra Smeltzer, the director of DrakeUniversity’s Summer Programming, says there are many benefits to taking aclass over the Internet. She says students in Drake’s on-line coursescome from all 50 states — and from 10 other countries.Twelve percent of the students taking on-line Drake courses this summer areNOT enrolled at Drake, but at other colleges which will accept a passinggrade from a Drake Internet course.