INDEX

ONLINE UNIVERSITIES

USA Today recently included a story entitled, Alumni Return to Cyberspace Campus. "Some Ivy League alumni are coming back to college without ever leaving home.

Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania have begun to offer their graduates courses over the Internet. Brown has had one course each semester since fall 1994, and Penn alumni started their cyberclass last January.

"Electronic communication makes it possible for people who are no longer physically here to still be here," says Penn English professor Al Filreis, who moderated a course on modern American poetry as Penn's first experiment in teaching over the Net.

The universities offer their email classes in similar ways. Alumni subscribe to a mailing list, known as a listserv. The entire course is conducted over the list, so reading your messages is like sitting in a seminar. A professor sends course materials to the "class" and an open discussion follows.

Members can read and reply to the messages at any time of day. Professors at both schools send out new materials every week, but old readings continued to spark discussion throughout the course.

For universities, offering their alumni the opportunity for lifelong learning is an immeasurable boon, says Elsie Sterling Howard, president of Penn's General Alumni Society. "The opportunity to learn from the same source forever is a great thing," she says.

With tuition at elite universities reaching $30,000 annually, a lifetime connection to campus is also a powerful draw for incoming students, she says.

Both programs have enjoyed early success. More than 180 alumni signed up for Penn's course, and BRUIN courses have drawn up to 85 participants per class.

Penn courses are free for now, but Howard says the university is exploring a small fee that would compensate professors. Brown alumni pay $15 for each class, which covers advertising and a small payment to professors, Shaindlin says.

Teaching students almost twice as old as most undergraduates is also a draw, he adds - they bring fascinating experience and maturity to discussions.

And Filreis praises email because everything is recorded - unlike traditional classes, where the best moments can entrance students so much they stop taking notes."

UNIVERSITIES GETTING HOOKED-UP

Stanford University currently has an enrollment of approximately 12,000 students. Each student is assigned an account on the campus network and has access to the network via some 16,000 connections (i.e. PCs, workstations, etc.). The most popular application is email; Gopher and Mosaic are also top runners. About 9,000 students live on campus. Today, 5600 dorm rooms are connected to the Internet. Within the next three years, all on- campus resident facilities will be Internet connected.

Stanford launched their own online degree in Engineering in July, 1998, available from anyplace in the world!

San Jose State University, http://www.sjsu.edu, Distance Education-Continuing Education division, has announced that it has signed an agreement with Convene, http://www.convene.com, to provide the distance education platform that will allow San Jose to begin offering online courses and degrees to professionals in California's Silicon Valley region. Classes will begin online using the Convene system in the 1998-1999 season, with full professional degrees to be added as the system progresses.

The opportunities in distance education are exploding exponentially. Some experts estimate that within ten years, over 25% of all graduate courses will be available over the Net.

The Florida Public Postsecondary Distance Learning Initiative has announced the opening of an online course catalog that makes it possible for Florida residents to complete one-step Web shopping for distance learning courses from all 10 of Florida's state universities as well as its 28 community colleges. According to Executive Director Fred Hurst, (www.state.florida.us/institute), distance learning of all types is very popular in Florida. A reported 50,000 students enrolled in 1,800 Postsecondary courses through Florida's public colleges last academic year.

Through the Internet, teachers and students  gain access to information  and people that can easily be integrated into all areas of the curriculum. Hence, many projects offered on the Internet can be used to enhance a classroom theme or supplement required coursework.

There are many ways to connect to the Internet. A good initial configuration is a single personal computer (PC), a modem, and a connection from a local Internet service provider. Such a configuration allows a single user to use all the functionality of the Internet at a minimal cost.

This is least expensive and most common way for an individual to connect to the Internet from school or home using a Macintosh or PC, a modem, and a telephone line on site. Using these components, you can access the Internet by dialing up an Internet service provider (ISP). If you don't already own a modem, you should buy the best and fastest modem you can afford, preferably a 33.6 KBPS or 56kbps. In addition, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is becoming a popular way for individuals to access the Internet instead of using modems. ADSL phone lines are now being offered by U.S. West in over 40 cities as a cheaper alternative. Cable modems are now being offered in selective markets as well as satellite hook-up with DirecPC.

HELPFUL RESOURCE ADDRESSES

- CollegeNET: The Internet guide to Colleges and Universities, using various criteria including geography, tuition and enrollment http://www.collegenet.com
Can apply to college on-line

-Search for any Community college in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands http://www.yahoo.com/Education/Community_Colleges/

http://www.product.com/top/outlook/outlook.htm (magazine for high school seniors and juniors)

http://www.product.com/cbnet/
College Bound Net magazine for student heading towards college. Interactive, includes college profiles, scholastic info, how to find money for college.

INDEX       CHAPTER 4