Far-Out Studies


	Holding study materials for her master's degree in teacher-librarianship, Christene Capel watches the sun rise on her family's 70,000-acre sheep ranch in the Australian outback -- 1,500 kilometers away from her university in Brisbane. (Photograph by John Marmaras)

he 70,000-acre sheep ranch in the Australian outback where Christene Capel lives with her husband and two children is about as far from an urban university as she could imagine. But the distance hasn't stopped her from completing her graduate degree in teacher-librarianship at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, 1,500 kilometers from her home.

Christene was the first student to electronically submit course materials to the university; now, with the help of occasional teleconferences and constant emailing to discuss assignments with professors, she is working on a master's degree in education. Her subject: remote use of computer-mediated communication.

Christene began logging on last year when Queensland professor Margaret Grace invited her to participate in a trial involving rural women's use of email. "We found that email and other applications have great potential to help overcome some of the social isolation that women in distant parts of this vast state experience," the professor recalls.


	Christene watches one of the sheep leap as her husband, David, opens the gate.(Photograph by John Marmaras)


	Christene and David walk among the sheep. Their nearest neighbor is 11 kilometers away; the nearest town, 100 kilometers. (Photograph by John Marmaras)

Christene agrees. "A lot of rural people are frightened of the Internet," she says, admitting to her own initial trepidation. "I never had any interest in a computer until I discovered it to be a communication tool. If you could picture where I live, you would realize why I am so excited about the prospects."

Eleven kilometers from her nearest neighbor and 100 kilometers from the closest town, Christene uses the Internet not just for course work, but to stay informed about rural women's issues. "We don't get daily papers out here. We only get mail twice a week -- and that's if it doesn't rain."

http://www.qut.edu.au