**Program Staff Participants**

*Program Director.* Paula, a white female in her early fifties, is the program director of Southwestern ESO. She is married with a young daughter. Her introduction to online learning began when her daughter was three-years old. At the time, she was an instructor at a college in a town about forty minutes from her home. Her eldest son, who taught online at the time, encouraged her to try the new form of teaching because it would eliminate her commuting time and give her some flexibility in her teaching. Paula holds a doctorate in history.

*Program Assistant Director.* Nathan, a Native American male in his early thirties, serves as the assistant director of Southwestern ESO. He's working on a graduate degree in higher education administration. He was introduced to online learning through his work at Southwestern ESO.

*Program Tutor and Student.* Juanita, a 29-year old Hispanic female, is a military spouse with a young daughter. She holds associate degrees in general studies with an emphasis in business administration and in liberal arts. Both degrees were attained at a New Mexico community college while she was working full-time as a bank teller, and both included online courses. She is now a full-time advisor for Southwestern ESO. Her major job functions include performing client intake and providing translation services to program staff and students. She also does all the data processing. Prior to becoming an advisor, she served the organization as a student worker for two years. Before she enrolled in her first online class her computer and Internet experience consisted of playing games on her home computer, which had Internet access. She considered her familiarity with the computer and the Internet as "basic." She is working on her bachelor's degree through on online program at an out-of-state midwestern college.

*Program Tutor and Student.* Len, a 31-year-old Native American male who resides on a reservation about 50 miles from the Southwestern ESO main office, is a full-time student and part-time student worker for the ESO. His primary work location is an office on the reservation, which works well for him since he is the primary caretaker for his 70-year-old mother with whom he resides. He's spent one year in college in Utah and one year in Nevada before dropping out for 8-9 years. Now he is back to finish his degree. His major is business administration with an emphasis in management information systems because he loves working with computers. After he gets his degree, he wants to work on the reservation as the Management Information Systems (MIS) specialist. Presently, that work is handled by companies 50 miles away whose services are expensive and not very timely. He has had a home computer and Internet access for about three years, but he does most of his schoolwork in his office on the reservation. Len has taken a number of online courses at Southwestern County Community College and is now taking online and on-campus courses at Southwestern Flagship University.
