Doctoral education from a distance.

This article describes the environmental factors that have contributed to the recent rapid growth of nursing doctoral education at a distance. Early and recent efforts to deliver distance doctoral education are discussed, using The University of Arizona College of Nursing experience as the key exemplar. The Community of Inquiry model is introduced as an appropriate model for doctoral education and then used as a framework to evaluate the current state of the art in distance doctoral nursing education. Successes and challenges in delivering doctoral education from a distance are described.