Jones International University®, Ltd. (JIU™), the first fully online, accredited university, and the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) have established Online Learning Week, to take place Oct. 20-26, 2003. The week was created to inform the general public about the benefits of online education and provide opportunities to experience it at no cost. Gov. Bill Owens of Colorado even proclaimed Oct. 20-26 Online Learning Week!

Beginning Oct. 20, JIU will open registration for a free, online mini-M.B.A. course that will be offered Nov. 9-16. Anyone who registers for the course will also receive, free of charge, a 400-page companion book, Financial Management, which mirrors the mini-course in its first chapters. Interested individuals may register for the free course and book at the Online Learning Week website at www.onlinelearningweek.com.

The Online Learning Week website was created specifically for this event and will allow participants to:

• Register for the mini-M.B.A. course referenced above and receive a free copy of Financial Management;
  
  
• Participate in the Online Learning Week Survey, which will automatically qualify them to win a Dell desktop computer;
  
  
• Attend a JIU Open House to virtually tour the university and chat with the faculty, enrollment counselors, and current students;
  
  
• Explore the world of online education through a collection of Jones e-global library online resources; and
  
  
• Experiment with some of the interactive elements of several online graduate courses.

Online Learning Week is the perfect time for anyone who is thinking about pursuing a degree to examine all their options," said Pamela S. Pease, Ph.D., president of JIU. "By registering for the free, M.B.A. mini-course in finance, people will get a chance to see its immediate applicability and find out if online education is something they'd like to pursue further."