What is taught in universities and the required number of credit hours aren’t the only major changes in engineering education today — the “classroom” has changed significantly as well. Based on feedback from 47 educators at civil engineering schools across the country, The graph below is a snapshot of the types of online learning options available for students.

As busy professionals who might be interested in furthering your formal education, consider some of the following distance learning education options for master’s degrees. Many offer a specific focus or areas of concentration from which to cater a degree. Additionally, these and other universities offer numerous certificate programs through online learning.

Colorado State University (www.learn.colostate.edu/degrees/civil-engineering) — Focus on water resources

Kansas State University (www.ce.ksu.edu)

Mississippi State University (www.cee.msstate.edu)

Missouri University of Science and Technology Distance and Continuing Education (dce.mst.edu) — Concentrate on environmental, geotechnical, or structural engineering

North Carolina State University (distance.ncsu.edu/programs/master-programs.php) — Areas of concentration include construction management, environmental engineering, geotechnical, structures and mechanics, transportation systems, and water resources

Norwich University (www.norwich.edu) — Concentrations available in structural, geotechnical, or environmental/water resources engineering

University of Idaho (www.outreach.uidaho.edu/eo/ViewPage.aspx?pid=31) — Seven areas of specialization: structures and structural mechanics, highway and pavement materials, soil mechanics, transportation, hydraulics and water resources, geological engineering, sanitary engineering

University of Washington (constructionengineering.washington.edu/cengr/about.asp) — Focus on construction management for major infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and ports

University of Wisconsin-Platteville Distance Learning (www.uwplatt.edu/disted) — Three relevant technical areas of emphasis: engineering design, applications of engineering management, and structural/geotechnical engineering.

Villanova University (www.villanova.edu/engineering/departments/civil) — Focus on water resources and environmental engineering

Helpful online resources: www.geteducated.com and www.worldwidelearn.com