The University of Phoenix, set up in 1989 to teach adults through a combination of old-fashioned distance learning and evening classes, is incorporating more and more e-learning into its courses, which are mostly taken by people with full-time jobs.

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Every student performance indicator has improved he says and over the last two years the state has ranked second in the country for achievement on college-level courses taken in high school.

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For the first time, most courses this year were taken in bite-size chunks, although coursework has been cut down and replaced with school-based controlled assessments.

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Once a student has taken six of these free-form courses they can be considered for something more formal.

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But that's the extent of my unpleasant scrapes in a dozen visits that have taken me to home-stay language courses, traditional Mayan markets, mummy museums, cenotes (surreal limestone sinkholes in which you can swim) and even Zapatista zones in the south.

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Her department said later that, of the four million who had taken courses, 31% were aged 16 to 18 - included in the definition of adults.

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However, she added steps had been taken to remind drivers of their obligations about walk-round checks and for employees to attend courses by the end of February.

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