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The purpose of this book is to describe and evaluate the Northern Arizona University (NAU) pilot program for delivering training and continuing-education programs to students at homes and hospitality establishments using a combination of Internet and satellite technologies. The NAU School of Hotel and Restaurant Management (SHRM) launched the pilot program in the spring of 2000 to one hotel and three homes. The evaluation findings indicate that the SHRM pilot program is capable of providing remote hospitality employees with accessible, flexible, affordable, and appropriate educational opportunities for reaching personal and professional goals. The evaluation findings also show that developments in satellite communications offer new possibilities for streamlining and improving the instructional delivery system. Recommendations are made for professionals who intend to implement similar instructional delivery systems to meet the demand for real-time training programs that can be delivered worldwide to a geographically dispersed workforce.

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Galen Collins, Ph.D., Professor at the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management (SHRM) at Northern Arizona University, has been with SHRM since its beginnings as a free-standing school in 1987. He was an early adaptor and advocate of distance learning as a radical tool for bringing SHRM instruction to far-flung locales.

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