If you have a computer strong enough to give you access to the Internet and you have e-mail and are clever with it, the world is open to your education needs.

There is a nitpicking of definitions here, however. Long distance learning has been available for a long time, usually as a correspondence course through the mail.

Computers hooked into the Internet just means information comes through e-mail instead of old-fashioned snail mail.

Going absolutely online to "attend school" is becoming more available, but it is often only part of the overall long distance learning program.

Arctic College is just now getting its fingers warmed up on the keyboard on online education.

It is offering -- for the first time as an online experience -- an "introduction to Northern history" course through Carleton University in Ottawa.

Location means nothing, however. The professor, David Quiring, is in Saskatchewan.

"As it happens, this afternoon I'm going to be a student in this course," says George Lessard on the phone in Arviat.

He is looking forward to the face-to-face -- or computer screen-to-screen -- classroom time he expects from the course that started Feb. 5 and runs until final exams in mid-April.

But this isn't the entire course.

"There's supposed to be an online component, but it's mostly video tapes," he says.

While many colleges and universities have computer-accessed courses, these are usually of the sort that the learner subscribes to, then downloads course segments to her or his home computer.

The difficulty with going 100 per cent online, is the very thing that classrooms enforce: you have to be at a certain place at a certain time.

Online segments, Lessard says, are arranged ahead of time by co-ordinating all the students to be online with the professor at the same time.

This allows a chat room of sorts so students can have a session of questions, answers and comments among all participants and the professor.

Athabasca University in Alberta was created with long distance education in mind. As a student works on each segment, they can call a tutor -- usually toll-free -- for advice or to hand in assignments.

Athabasca University also has some of its courses available online, but only as part of the entire learning experience.

"It's a mix of components," says Patricia Balderston at Athabasca University "You can use the Web to get course materials, or chat online with other students and the professor."

Right now, 93 Nunavut students are hooked into Athabasca University courses.

Located in Athabasca, Alta., the university opened in 1970 and now serves 26,000 students a year, predominantly through independent study.

Anyone 18 years and older is eligible to sign up for a course.

Probably the most popular benefit -- other than never having to leave your home to go to school -- is that this form of education lets the student go at his or her own pace.

Take a full load of courses, or just one. Many people learn as a "part-time" student so they can keep their day jobs while they learn in times that suit them.

It may take longer to get the degree, but you'll get there eventually and within your budget.

It's never too late in life to enhance your education this way, too. Fully one-third of Athabasca's students, for example, are age 25-34, giving an idea of how many are holding down a regular job or maintaining the home as a single parent while they seek higher learning.

Another 15 per cent of the university's students are older than 34.

And the range of courses covers just about anything. In Athabasca University case, it has 500 courses on listed with 919 staff to guide long-distance students through them.

Your decision is where to start.