A forecast of technical skills in distance education graduate courses as identified by stakeholders at a selected institution of higher education

Twenty-five years ago, a high school student contemplating going to college would have set his or her sights on a local college or a university within the state. The student would either get information from the high school counselor or write to the college for information. Today, it is possible for the same student to either use the high school counselor or go online to several colleges and universities. Nowadays, high school and adult learners face an overwhelming amount of information. A radically new trend in how education is offered to learners is distance education using electronic media. Such online education programs at regular colleges and universities are still in their infancy.; Learning independently is the way of the future. Regardless of time or place, students can access or download course material, and complete assignments at their leisure using the Internet.; The purpose of this study was to identify the technical skills that are required in distance education graduate courses as identified by stakeholders at a selected institution of higher education. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to identify effects of the changes in the transition from traditional training to training delivered by technological methods, and the skills required by graduate students to use the technology tools.; An important implication drawn from this study is that the technical skill "basic understanding of word processing" ranks as a critical technical skill for graduate students. This means that students will need to demonstrate proficiency in using technology to retrieve, interpret and present information in various formats. This technical skill will probably be acquired during middle school. Being fluent with information technology will be a must for all students in the future.; The list of technologies that are available today continues to grow. These technologies are powerful, exciting, readily available, and increasingly affordable. Because of the rapid development of technology, we need to maintain technical skills at the same pace. With a combination of new technology and lifelong learning, both complementing each other, most citizens can benefit indirectly from new ideas developed by the introduction of the new technology.