CIT names distributed learning services director

Eric Fredericksen has joined Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) as director of distributed learning services. Reporting to Polley McClure, vice president for information technologies, he will oversee efforts to support faculty in their use of contemporary technologies in their courses, including the Academic Technology Center, the Faculty Innovation in Teaching Grants Program, Course Technologies, the Lynx (formerly Student Technology Assistant) program, Instructional Design and Production, and Classroom Technologies.

He will also collaborate with Cornell Library, FABIT (Faculty Advisory Board on Information Technologies), School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions and others to continue crafting Cornell's presence in distributed learning. "Distributed learning" refers to the use of the Internet and other modern technologies to support teaching and learning both in and out of the classroom.

"Fredericksen brings with him a wealth of distributed learning experience that has been acknowledged and honored nationally. The Cornell faculty will surely benefit from his high-energy leadership as we identify and implement the most productive uses for this emerging technology to serve Cornell," said J. Robert Cooke, dean of the faculty. "I am truly delighted that Eric has joined us and pleased that I'll have an opportunity to work with him."

Most recently, Fredericksen served as assistant provost for advanced learning technology for the State University of New York (SUNY), where he provided leadership and direction for the nationally recognized SUNY Learning Network, the SUNY Teaching and Learning Technology program and SUNY's involvement in the MERLOT project. All three use technology to enhance instruction and learning, in and out of the traditional classroom.

To begin with, Fredericksen said, "There are have been some very positive and good things going on here, so the first part of my job is to support those efforts. In general, I have three priorities: supporting faculty, supporting faculty and supporting faculty."

Technologies such as "smart classrooms" and the use of the web to provide course materials are more commonplace now, and faculty have become familiar with them and ready to use them, he said. Moreover, he added, "We have very bright and resourceful students, and we need to help faculty meet their expectations for the most effective learning experiences."

"Multimedia technologies and high-speed networking are at a stage where they can truly enable some important improvements in the way we teach and learn. All higher education institutions are trying to understand how to take advantage of these tools," said McClure. "Fredericksen understands both how to use them to improve learning and how to facilitate their exploration and adoption by university faculty. He understands how to lead in the kind of highly distributed environment we have here at Cornell. He demonstrated that through the phenomenal success of the SUNY Learning Network," she said.

Fredericksen has worked with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which provided more than $4.3 million in grant funding to the SUNY Learning Network, which in seven years expanded from two campuses offering eight online courses to 119 students to 53 campuses offering 2,500 online courses to more than 40,000 students.

Among the professional organizations for which Fredericksen has provided leadership are EDUCAUSE, the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative and the Sloan Consortium.

He has a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Hobart College (1982), a master of business administration degree from the University of Rochester (1984) and a master's degree in education from the University at Albany, SUNY (2000). He is currently working on a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction at the University at Albany. Course work for the second master's degree was completed entirely online through the SUNY Learning Network.