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The following may be of interest to those discussing on-line courses.

>X-Sender: sechols@mail.vt.edu (Unverified)
>Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 05:48:45 +0600
>To: aeechols
>From: Stuart Echols <sechols@vt.edu>
>Subject: on-line courses
>
>>Date: Wed, 22 Oct 1997 23:31:49 -0400 (EDT)
>>X-Sender: pmiller@mail.vt.edu
>>To: johnsonb, drbork, tphipps, wendy.jacobson, tclement, lskab@mail.vt.edu,
>> eran, sechols, mwall, bkaten, rmk@mail.vt.edu
>>From: pmiller@bev.net (Patrick )
>>Subject: on-line courses
>>
>>F.Y.I.
>>
>>See the following article of possible interest online
>>at:
>>http://www.collegedegrees.com/forbes.htm
>>
>>
>>====================================
>>
>>Detroit makes luxury cars and stripped-down economy cars, four-wheel drives
>>and sport convertibles. College Inc. makes only one expensive model-with
>>leather seats and air-conditioning. Technology is changing that. I got my
>>degree through E-mail
>>
>>By Lisa Gubernick and Ashlea Ebeling
>>
>>Wired Degrees Forbes' 20 top Cyber-U.s
>>June 16, 1997 Issue © Forbes Inc. 1997
>>
>>CORNELL UNIVERSITY gave Jonathan Quinn a scholarship in 1972 that covered a
>>little over half his $3,000 tuition at the time. It wasn't enough to keep
>>him in school. "I ran out of money and couldn't see racking up more loans
>>when I was totally dissatisfied," says Quinn, an engineering major. He
>>dropped out in his junior year.
>>
>>Twenty-three years later, Quinn, now a 44-year-old sales manager for an
>>electrical equipment company, is finally getting his degree. But it will be
>>Cyber League, not Ivy League. Quinn is enrolled at the University of
>>Phoenix's on-line B.S. program.
>>
>>Loaded into his traveling laptop is all his course material. He boots up
>>lectures and reading assignments after work, in airport lounges and hotel
>>rooms. "I'll have my B.S. by July 1998," says Quinn. He's majoring in
>>business administration. "The course-work is more meaningful than at
>>Cornell," he adds.
>>
>>Jonathan Quinn is a pioneer in what looks like the start of a big trend.
>>Listen to management philosopher Peter Drucker: "Universities won't
>>survive. The future is outside the traditional campus, outside the
>>traditional classroom. Distance learning is coming on fast."
>>
>>Fast indeed. Just four years ago Peterson's, the venerable college guide,
>>tallied 93 "cyberschools." The 1997 Distance Learning guide includes 762.
>>Robert Tucker, who heads an Arizona-based higher education research firm
>>called InterEd, keeps tabs. He estimates that 55% of the U.S.' 2,215
>>four-year colleges and universities have courses available off-site. Over 1
>>million students are now plugged into the virtual college classroom, which
>>compares with 13 million attending brick-and-mortar schools. That number of
>>cyberstudents will more than triple by the turn of the century.
>>
>>A lot of people have long felt that education is too good to waste on the
>>young, that college should be more than just a rite of passage for
>>Americans. Besides offering the young an alternative means of getting an
>>education, cybercollege is a highly effective means of providing continuing
>>education in a fast changing world. In 1972 just 28% of U.S. college and
>>university students were over 25. By 1980 the proportion of older students
>>mhad risen to 34%. In 1994, the last year for which statistics are
>>mavailable, the proportion of older students reached 41%.
>>
>>The beauty of cyberlearning is that you can pursue it while working at a
>>full-time job and living miles from a college. In an age when many jobs
>>require continuing education, cyberlearning brings it to people who cannot
>>afford to interrupt a career.
>>
>>As the consumption of higher education has spread in the U.S., its economic
>>efficiency has declined. The number of college and university students has
>>grown 24% since 1980, but the money spent has grown three times faster.
>>Adjusted for inflation, the average cost of educating a student for a year
>>at an institution of higher learning has increased from $5,000 to $11,000.
>>
>>In good part this has been because faculty productivity has been in steep
>>decline. According to InterEd's Tucker, professors currently spend less
>>than half the time in the classroom than they did 25 years ago. Many
>>professors delegate teaching to graduate assistants. At a time when
>>American business has been brutally restructuring and raising efficiency,
>>colleges loftily resist change. "Despite the liberalism of their political
>>cultures, these are deeply conservative places that resist change of every
>>sort," says Bruno Manno, a fellow at the Hudson Institute.
>>
>>Nevertheless, change is coming. Though the prestige brand universities are
>>still besieged with applicants, smaller colleges are feeling the pinch as
>>families and students are less willing to go heavily into debt to finance a
>>college education. Over the last ten years, some 200 college campuses have
>>mclosed for good-twice the number that shut down in the decade before.
>>
>>"Market pressure is going to force educators to think about things
>>munconventionally," says Peter McPherson, a former commercial banker who is
>>now president of Michigan State University. "Every sector of business that
>>has gone through this struggle has always said 'we can't do it.' That's
>>what health care said, that's what the automobile companies said. But the
>>markets do work, and change does come." The more colleges that close...
>>
>>In a sense cyberprograms are heirs to the correspondence schools that date
>>back to the turn of the century. Princeton they were not, but they offered
>>ma low-cost education to working people. This away-from-school schooling
>>has been rendered far more effective by television, video-and the Internet,
>>with its interactive capabilities. Modern technology brings education to
>>the students rather than forcing students to subsidize fancy campuses and
>>mfeatherbedding faculties.
>>
>>Not coincidentally, it makes it possible for all students-not just those at
>>mthe fanciest colleges-to have access to the best lecturers and the best
>>mteachers. For a parallel, consider what the movies did for entertainment.
>>Before movies a great entertainer could reach no more people at a time than
>>could be crammed into a theater or concert hall. With movies the potential
>>audience was increased by a factor of thousands and perhaps millions. It is
>>conceivable that in the future we will have celebrity professors with
>>incomes and audiences comparable to those of some entertainers.
>>
>>On-line education makes it possible for students all over the world to
>>study at prestigious U.S. schools without leaving their homes. At Duke
>>University's Fuqua School of Business, almost half the students at its
>>brand-new on-line Global Executive M.B.A. program live outside the U.S.,
>>"commuting" by E-mail from as far away as Switzerland and Hong Kong. These
>>students are willing to pay a premium for the convenience of the remote
>>access and the prestige of a Duke degree: $82,500 (frequently picked up by
>>students' employers), compared with $50,000 for the regular on-campus M.B.A.
>>
>>The University of Maine's Education Network reaches 9,000 students in 107
>>satellite classrooms, often in high schools, university centers or office
>>suites. Sandra Woodcock, a 21-year-old waitress, lives on the island of
>>Vinalhaven, off the coast of Maine. She is taking courses to earn her
>>massociate's degree at the island's brick high school.
>>
>>Woodcock watches her professors on a television screen as they deliver
>>their lectures. Questions are asked via a class phone. Homework assignments
>>are mailed to her professors, and she takes tests at the high school,
>>monitored by local proctors.
>>
>>Tuition for the cybercourses is roughly similar to that charged at the
>>University of Maine, but cyberstudents escape paying for room, board and
>>transportation. The University of Maine charges $119 a credit hour;
>>cyberlearners pay an extra $5 an hour. With 120 credits, a student can get
>>ma cyber bachelor's degree from the University of Maine for a tuition cost
>>mof $14,880-compare that with the $34,000 it costs to attend and live at the
>>\ university's main campus at Orono.
>>
>>Like Duke, the University of Phoenix charges its cyberstudents a premium
>>over what it charges on-campus students. For cyberstudents, Phoenix charges
>>$325 a credit for its B.S. program. With 102 course credits required for
>>graduation, that is $33,150, about one-third the cost of going to Yale for
>>four years. Phoenix students who attend the school's campus programs pay
>>$25,000 for a B.S. degree, or about one year's worth at Harvard.
>>
>>Are conventional educators happy? Hardly. "It goes against what Harvard
>>stands for in terms of the learning process," huffs James Aisner, a
>>spokesman for the Harvard Business School. "Being together, talking to
>>people in the dorms or residence halls, is an essential part of the
>>mlearning process here."
>>
>>Perhaps true, but if the aim is to deliver a basic product at a reasonable
>>mprice, a lot of students will willingly dispense with the beer drinking,
>>dating and fellowship. If education is the goal, cyberstudents get that at
>>a fraction of the cost of attending a traditional Ivy League college.
>>
>>Economist Milton Friedman has long advocated stripped-down college
>>educations. "There are many activities that have very little to do with
>>mhigher education-namely, athletics and research," he says.
>>
>>Friedman doesn't think higher education should be a monopoly of
>>mnot-for-profit institutions. He argues that profitmaking businesses are
>>inclined to be more responsive to the customers. "Institutions," he says,
>>"are run by faculty, and the faculty is interested in its own welfare. The
>>question is why competing institutions have not grown up which are private
>>and for profit."
>>
>>The University of Phoenix is a for-profit enterprise. It costs Phoenix
>>mon-line $237 to provide one credit hour of cybereducation, against $486
>>per hour for conventional education at Arizona State. The big difference:
>>teaching salaries and benefits-$247 per credit hour for Arizona State
>>magainst only $46 for Phoenix.
>>
>>Arizona State professors get an average of $67,000 a year. The typical
>>University of Phoenix on-line faculty member is part time and earns only
>>$2,000 a course, teaching from a standardized curriculum.
>>
>>Is Phoenix then an academic sweatshop where underpaid lumpen intellectuals
>>slave for a pittance? No way. All of the University of Phoenix faculty have
>>master's or doctoral degrees; some do research and publish books and papers.
>>
>>Like their students, most of the profs hold down full-time jobs in the
>>professions they teach, keeping them in touch with current issues and
>>trends in their specialties. Accounting courses, for instance, are taught
>>by practicing CPAs. Finance courses are taught by M.B.A.s. For them,
>>mteaching is a source of extra income or stimulation.
>>
>>In fighting back, the academic establishment has adopted a Luddite
>>mapproach: Stop change by smashing it. Among the establishment's most
>>powerful weapons is accreditation: Without accreditation schools aren't
>>eligible for federal aid. And, of course, conventional educators control
>>the nation's accrediting bodies for higher education.
>>
>>Most of these new cyberschools, though, have done an end-run around the
>>problem because they are part of already existing, already accredited
>>institutions. These schools, instead of fighting change, have decided to
>>embrace it.
>>
>>The University of Maine's faculty revolted three years ago when the people
>>who ran its on-line programs wanted to grant a separate degree. The faculty
>>won. Maine's cyberdegrees are now exactly the same as any degree granted by
>>its seven campuses.
>>
>>How effective are on-line programs? The University of Phoenix recently gave
>>standardized achievement tests to a group of B.S. graduates. It gave the
>>msame test to a group of B.S. graduates from competing on-campus programs
>>at three public Arizona universities.
>>
>>On average, the on-line students scored 5% to 10% higher than their
>>traditionally educated peers and maintained that margin upon completing
>>their coursework. Discount this study as self-serving, but there can be no
>>mdoubt that motivated cyberstudents can learn as well as motivated on-site
>>students.
>>
>>Economics or no, the "college experience" is highly esteemed in the U.S.,
>>and conventional teaching in conventional colleges is not going away. It
>>is, however, about to get some sorely needed competition.
>>
>>Especially so in adult and continuing education. Dr. Raye Bellinger, a
>>cardiologist who manages a seven physician practice in Sacramento, Calif.,
>>mhas gone back to school without abandoning his business. He signed up for
>>a University of Phoenix M.B.A. over the Internet, paying his fees by credit
>>card.
>>
>>Day one he logged on and downloaded the syllabus (textbooks available for
>>purchase over the Internet). He also read his professor's lecture on
>>technology management. A week later he handed in his first assignment-a
>>13-page paper on his practice's patient management system. "They insist
>>that you write about things you are doing in your own job,"says Bellinger.
>>
>>He then posted his paper to a class forum and over the next several days
>>got responses from both classmates and his professor. Think of the system
>>as a time-shifting classroom where students discuss topics as their
>>schedules permit.
>>
>>Take Janet Mize, a 47-year-old liver transplant coordinator taking on-line
>>courses toward a B.S. in nursing from California State University,
>>Dominguez Hills. "We carry on a conversation by computer and voicemail,"
>>she says. "I feel like we're old college classmates." Mize helped form a
>>student nurses society-which has monthly meetings by telephone.
>>
>>Just as it helps adults who need continuing education, so cybereducation
>>helps students who want a college degree at lower cost. The world changes.
>>Education will change with it.
>>
>>Wired Degrees Forbes' 20 top Cyber-U.s
>>
>>This list represents a sampling of the biggest and best known of the
>>degree-granting schools. Our selection is based on a survey of
>>cyberexperts, including Distance Education and Technology Newsletter,
>>InterEd and Peterson's Distance Learning guide. Many of these programs are
>>mbrand-new, so not all degrees are available in all disciplines.
>>
>>Brevard Community College Cocoa, Fla. 407-632-1111, ext. 63480
>>www.brevard.cc.fl.us A.A. and A.S. via videoconference, computer
>>
>>California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, Calif. 310-243-2288
>>www.csudh.edu/dominguezonline B.A., B.S.N., M.B.A., M.A. and M.S. via
>>videoconference, computer
>>
>>Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pa. 800-850-4742 www.gsia.cmu.edu
>>M.B.A. and M.S. via videoconference, computer
>>
>>City University Bellevue, Wash. 800-426-5596 www.cityu.edu A.S., B.A.,
>>B.S., M.B.A., M.P.A. and M.E. via computer
>>
>>Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colo. 800-525-4950
>>www.colostate.edu/Depts/CE/ M.B.A. and M.S. via videotape, computer
>>
>>Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, Global Executive M.B.A. Program
>>Durham, N.C. 919-660-8024 www.fuqua.duke.edu/programs/gemba M.B.A. via
>>mcomputer
>>
>>Education Network of Maine Augusta, Me. 207-621-3404 www.enm.maine.edu
>>A.A., A.S., B.A., B.S. and M.S. via videoconference, computer
>>
>>Indiana University System Bloomington, Ind. 800-334-1011
>>mwww.extend.indiana.edu A.G.S., A.S.L.S., B.G.S. and B.S.L.S. via
>>videoconference, computer
>>
>>Michigan State University East Lansing, Mich. 517-353-1771 www.msu.edu M.A.
>>and M.S. via videoconference, computer
>>
>>National Technological University Fort Collins, Colo. 970-495-6400
>>www.ntu.edu M.S. via videoconference
>>
>>New School for Social Research New York, N.Y. 212-229-5880 www.dialnsa.edu
>>B.A. via computer
>>
>>New York Institute of Technology On-Line Campus Central Islip, N.Y.
>>800-222-6948 www.nyit.edu/olc B.A., B.S. and M.B.A. via computer
>>
>>Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 954-262-7300
>>www.nova.edu M.S., M.A.C.C., M.B.A., M.P.A., Ed.D., Ph.D., D.P.A. and
>>D.B.A. via videoconference, computer
>>
>>Old Dominion University Norfolk, Va. 800-968-2638 www.odu.edu B.S., M.S.
>>and M.B.A. via videoconference
>>
>>Thomas Edison State College Trenton, N.J. 609-984-1150 www.tesc.edu A.A.,
>>A.S., B.A., B.S. and M.S. via computer
>>
>>University of Alaska Southeast at Sitka 907-747-6653 www.jun.alaska.edu
>>A.S., B.S. and M.P.A. via telephone conference, computer
>>
>>University of Colorado at Colorado Springs 800-777-6463 www.jec.edu M.B.A.
>>mvia computer
>>
>>University of Maryland University College CollegePark, Md. 301-985-7000
>>www.umuc.edu B.A., B.S. and M.S. via videoconference, computer
>>
>>University of Phoenix Online Campus Phoenix, Ariz. 800-742-4742
>>mwww.uophx.edu/online B.S., M.A., M.S. and M.B.A. via computer
>>
>>Washington State University Pullman, Wash. 800-222-4978 www.eus.wsu.edu/edp
>>mB.A. via videoconference, computer
>>
>>Compiled by Ashlea Ebeling and Scott Bistayi
>>
>>For-profit U.
>>
>>JOHN SPERLING, president of the for-profit University of Phoenix, views
>>meducation as a service business. The students don't come to Phoenix U.
>>mPhoenix U. comes to the students.
>>
>>Some 2,600 students tune in to Phoenix's virtual classrooms via modem from
>>around the country. For students who prefer a more traditional classroom,
>>mPhoenix has more than 40,000 students enrolled at 51 campuses in 13 states.
>>
>>The "campuses" are usually in office buildings near convenient freeway
>>intersections in cities like Detroit, New Orleans and Orlando.
>>
>>Classes are bunched around lunchtime and after work, catering to the
>>mworking student. This is no-frills education. There are no perks; no
>>mstudent unions; no gyms.
>>
>>Sperling, 76, has impeccable credentials himself. He has an undergraduate
>>mdegree from Reed College and a doctorate in economic history from Kings
>>College at Cambridge University. By the early 1970s he was a fully tenured
>>humanities professor at San Jose State University with a grant to study how
>>to deal with delinquency rates in one of San Jose's rougher neighborhoods.
>>
>>When he was dealing with police and other public officials, Sperling
>>mdiscovered that they had a thirst for education. When San Jose State
>>rejected Sperling's request to support an adult degree program, he quit to
>>start his own for-profit business offering adult, degree-granting programs
>>at colleges and universities.
>>
>>He got his first contract from the University of San Francisco and signed
>>up 500 students in 1973, his first year of operation. By Sperling's third
>>myear he had added two more colleges and 2,000 students, earning some
>>$209,000 on revenues of nearly $2 million.
>>
>>"Needless to say, the existing bureaucracy was put out by the competition,"
>>msays Sperling. "The Western Association of Schools and Colleges was
>>outraged that a for-profit entity was so successful. We were cutting into
>>the markets of competing colleges and universities."
>>
>>The accrediting association told Sperling's three schools that they could
>>either end their contract with him or lose their accreditation. They cut
>>Sperling loose.
>>
>>He leased office space in downtown Phoenix in 1976 with the idea of opening
>>up his own university. "I was getting fed up with the political maintenance
>>of dealing with these schools," he recalls. "I thought, my God, I'm going
>>to spend my whole life in committee meetings."
>>
>>When the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools-Arizona's
>>mregional accreditor-came in to inspect Sperling's operation, they liked
>>mwhat they saw and accredited the program.
>>
>>Phoenix opened its doors to eight students in 1976. Twenty-one years later
>>its revenues could reach $282 million, with net income expected to hit $30
>>million. The holding company that owns the school, Apollo Group, went
>>mpublic at 21/2 (split-adjusted) in 1994. The stock recently traded at 31,
>>putting the value of Sperling's 22% stake at $344 million.
>>
>>
>>Patrick A. Miller, Ph.D., FASLA
>>Professor and Head
>>Landscape Architecture Department
>>
>>
>
>
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Ann Elizabeth Echols
Strategic Studies Program, Department of Management
Pamplin Hall Room 2099, Pamplin College of Business
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0233
(540) 231-4075, aeechols@vt.edu
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