Members of the Cornell faculty will continue their discussion of e-Cornell, the university's proposed commercial venture into distance learning, at a faculty forum Tuesday, April 25, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Schwartz Auditorium of Rockefeller Hall.
Featured speaker will be Brian L. Hawkins, president of EduCAUSE, an organization devoted to promoting the use of modern technology in education. Hawkins is expected to outline key issues in planning and managing "distributed learning," a term he says acknowledges the reality that so-called "distance" learning could occur right in a university's residence halls. During his visit to Cornell, Hawkins also will speak at Cornell Library's Information Technology Forum April 26 (see related story).
Hawkins' talk at the forum will be followed by presentations from a panel consisting of William Arms, professor of computer science and chair of the Provost's Advisory Committee on Distance Learning, and Barry Carpenter, professor of chemistry and chemical biology and a member of the Provost's Advisory Committee on Distance Learning and the University Faculty Committee.
The questions Hawkins said he will raise may sound familiar to Cornell faculty who have been discussing the issues: What might distributed learning do to a university's overall reputation? What university policies and perhaps state legislation will need modifying? Will credits for distributed courses have the same academic standing as those for traditional courses? Who will be eligible to take distributed courses? Will the two types of courses cost the same, and if not, how will that affect enrollments and financial aid? How will faculty work time be affected?
At its March 10 meeting, the Cornell Board of Trustees approved the creation of e-Cornell, a legally separate but Cornell-controlled for-profit company to create and market distance-learning programs. A for-profit entity is expected to be able to attract capital investment and help provide additional revenue for on-campus programs and compensation for faculty members.
The decision has aroused extensive discussion. At a faculty forum on Feb. 29, many speakers expressed misgivings about the fact that the decision would be made before the faculty had been able to hold extended discussions, although vice provost Mary Sansalone pointed out that the proposal had been presented for discussion in a wide variety of meetings across campus during previous months. Others worried about possible pressures to dilute the content of courses in order to reach a wider audience and increase profits.
The board of trustees resolution provides for continued faculty consultation in the implementation of e-Cornell. In part this has been fulfilled by the creation of the Provost's Advisory Committee on Distance Learning. The committee includes four members nominated by the Faculty Senate: Arms; Carpenter; Donald Greenberg, the J. G. Schurman Professor of Computer Graphics; and Peter Martin, professor of law and co-director of the Legal Information Institute. Also, four members nominated by the provost: Peter Lepage, professor and chair of physics, Deborah Streeter, the B.F. Failing Sr. professor of agricultural resources and managerial economics, David Lipsky, director of the Office of Distance Learning; and Robert Swieringa, the Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean of the Johnson Graduate School of Management. Vice Provost Mary Sansalone is an ex-officio member.
Further information and discussion of the issue may be found on the University Faculty web site at http://www.cornell.edu/UniversityFaculty/forums/Distance%20Learning/main.html.
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