One of the many advantages of online learning includes accessibility to instructors who are leaders in their fields. While "on the ground" professors are important to many schools online programs, there is an increasing number of institutions that use executives and other highly skilled practitioners as the basis of their online programs.

Profiled below are several teachers that are representative of the high quality professionals teaching online.

Ann Russell is the Distance Learning Chair for Bladen Community College in Dublin, N. C. Ann is a career educator, having received her B.S. from Appalachian State and her M.A.Ed. from Pembroke State. She teaches English, Speech and Drama and loves the online environment. She was one of the developers of a freshman English class for North Carolina online environments.

Ann strives to not only educate her students in the stated subject of the class, but also wants to make her students independent thinkers and learners. Her student's success is her overriding priority; in fact she even teaches an online class entitled "College Student Success."

When not teaching, Ann likes to drive fast and root for Mike Waltrip, her favorite NASCAR driver. A lover of murder mystery books, Ann also spends time with her 4 children and two grandchildren and a farm full of cows, turkeys, dogs and cats!

Some online instructors received their own degrees online!

Earle MacVeigh first received an Associate's degree in Art and
Architecture "on the ground" from Pasadena City College, then went
on to receive his Bachelor's in Business and his Master's in Education
from University of Phoenix and American International University,
respectively.

Earle teaches in the Graphic Design department for Westwood
College Online. When not teaching, Earle also runs a presentation
design company that capitalizes on his long time career in
architecture, graphic design, art direction and set design for television
and Walt Disney.

Marilyn Gettinger turned a career in purchasing and supply chain
management into both a lucrative consulting business as well as
a teaching career that is online and "on the ground." Armed with a deep business background that included a top level product sourcing position for a leading cosmetics firm, Marilyn opened her own consulting firm that specializes in supply chain management, inventory control, negotiations, motivating employees and other key business seminars and consulting.

Holding a C.P.M. and an MBA, as well as a certification in Materials Management, Marilyn is a favorite instructor for ISM's (Institute for Supply Management) online class "Fundamental's of Purchasing."

Marilyn also speaks at ISM and APICS (the Association for Operations Management) meetings and conferences across the country and is an adjunct professor at Bloomfield College and Union County College in their Materials Management programs.

Jaye Hall is an instructor with the University of Phoenix. Her specialty is in Nursing having received her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from Oklahoma University in the early 90's. Graduate school in both business and organizational dynamics followed as Jaye's career progressed from hands on nursing to Director of Nursing roles.

Along with her University of Phoenix classes, Jaye also teaches senior level nursing students at Oklahoma University and is the Organizational Development Consultant/Research Advisor at OU medical center where she provides advice and guidance to staff in conducting research and in other OD programs such as competency assessment and leadership development.

Jaye has made numerous presentations to professional organizations related to leadership and development in the nursing profession.

Visitors to two online art programs, the Art Studio Chalkboard and the Figure Drawing Lab will be viewing the educational work of Ralph Larmann.

Ralph Murrell Larmann is a professional artist and on the faculty of the University of Evansville. Larmann has earned a BFA in painting from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA in painting and drawing from James Madison University. Larmann's professional credits include work as a trompe l'oeil and broken tile muralist in Chicago and a vast amount of web site design work. His works have been displayed at the Greater Lafayette Museum of Art, Southern Indiana Center for the Arts, Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Trumbull Art Gallery, and many other college and university galleries.

Larmann is also a highly published author with articles appearing in FATE in Review, American Artist Magazine and ArtExperience. The Figure Lab is an online education experience that anyone can access. It takes the learner through all the elements of figure drawing, from obtaining the right set of drawing materials through face, body and muscle proportions to constructing and finishing the figure drawing.

All types of professionals share their
knowledge and expertise

These are just a few examples of the professionals that
work in the online environment. You'll find lawyers and
accountants, CEO's, computer programmers, college
professors and psychologists sharing their experiences
and knowledge to the thousands and thousands of
students that go to class online!

View Related Programs:
- Online degrees in Education
- Teacher Assistant programs
- Courses in Teaching Online
- Teacher Education courses