Virtual
Universities
The New Higher Education Paradigm
by
Valerie A. Akuna, Ph.D.
Introduction
Few would dispute that today’s economies require
that people invest in the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and information
throughout their lives. This reality has
converged with the proliferation of the World Wide Web as an information access
medium (Littman, 1999). The result is a
learning revolution. According to Duderstadt (1999) “the next decade will represent
a period of significant transformation for colleges and universities as they
respond to the challenges of serving a changing society.”
Facts
and Figures
Distance learning is the response to that challenge,
and as Albright (1999) observes,
“Distance education is academe’s most prominent growth industry at the
turn of the millennium.” It is perhaps
the concept of “industry” that has caused the culture of many higher education
institutions to remain resistant to this change (Maloney, 1999). Nevertheless,
the effect of the World Wide Web on distance education is well documented. The U.S. National Center for Education
Statistics report that “The percentage of higher education institutions
offering distance education courses has increased by one-third from 33 percent
in 1995 to 44 percent in 1998” (http://nces.ed.gov/commissioner/remarks99/12_17_99.asp).
However, based on data collected for the year 1997-1998 by the
A
Definition of Terms
The term “distance education” is no longer
clear. In fact, it is problematic. In
turn this ambiguity leads to reports that may be capturing only a portion
of “distance education” activities,
leading to inaccurate data. To address
this issue, a new definition for distance education has been proposed in
conjunction with the passage of a 1998 Amendment to the Higher Education Act
which reads: “The term distance
education means a process that is characterized by the separation, in time or
place, between instructor and student.
Such a term may include courses offered principally through the use of
(1) television, audio, or computer transmission, such as open broadcast, closed
circuit, cable, microwave, or satellite transmission; (2) audio or compute
conferencing; (3) video cassettes or discs; or (4) correspondence.” (p. 56).
A virtual university is defined as one that offers
all, or a credible part of its instruction in a cyberspace setting (Freeman et
al, 1998). This research does not support the notion that a virtual university
is merely one that has no campus – the concept is far too complex for this
simple definition.
This asrticle features an introduction to issues
arising from the growth of virtual universities, technology in the virtual
education arena, and profiles of leading cyber- universities both in the
Public Policy Versus Market Forces
Most people generally think of higher education as a
public enterprise, created by public policy and actions to serve a civic
purpose. Yet market forces also act on
colleges and universities. Society seeks
services such as education and research.
Academic institutions must compete for students, faculty, and resources. In the past universities enjoyed a monopoly
over advanced education because of geographical location and their control of
the accreditation of academic programs necessary for awarding degrees. Today,
however, all of these market constraints are being challenged. The growth in the size and complexity of the
postsecondary endeavor is creating an expanding array of students and
educational providers (
For example, the
Virtual Universities: a Contentious Issue
Although
new computer-based storage and communications technologies are making possible
many progressive methods for the creation and delivery of educational
resources, the new virtual university paradigm is still a contentious concept
to many faculty members, particular in the nations universities. They see the
move toward distributed learning as primarily an administrative drive fuelled
by the dollar sign. A host of questions
still remain unanswered, among them are:
·
Is electronic education as effective as
face-to-face, on-campus education?
·
Who chooses which courses to offer? Is
faculty governance affected?
·
Do those who develop a course, teach that
course?
·
Is academic freedom infringed upon in on-line
learning?
·
Who will own online materials? Are academic
standards affected?
·
Are universities involved in distributed
learning overly dependent on adjunct labor?
·
Is it basically only a question of profit
over pedagogy?
·
Is distance education a threat to educational
quality?
Whilst all of the above questions are at the center
of the growth of virtual universities, the following areas have become
critically important.
Ownership
of Courses
A Report published
in the June 5, 2000 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education
demonstrated that there are no clear intellectual property laws in the U.S. or
regulations on university campuses to protect faculty who create courses
delivery online. A few faculty may have come to an agreement with their
respective administrators on the issue of copyright, although overall there is
no comprehensive statues to protect them.
For example, the majority of faculty in the virtual university component
of their operations put courses together themselves. However, the ownership of
those courses belongs to the university. Historically, universities have
protected books and art, but not works of teaching. The AAUP took a stand on
this issue when it adopted a report titled “Distance Education and Intellectual
Property” The report was prepared by the Association’s Special Committee on
Distance Education and Intellectual Property Issues. It set out why the
protection of faculty intellectual property rights is crucial. In fact, at the
University of Hawaii, the issue of ownership of intellectual property has been
the number one issue for the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly (UHPA)
during 1995/1999. Some universities are
now creating intellectual property policies such as the University of Texas (http://utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty
Over
Reliance on Adjunct Labor
Jones University,
which now refers to itself as the University of the Web, as of Spring 1999 employed
fifty-four adjunct professors, and only two full-time faculty. Forty-seven
percent of all instructional faculty in higher education work part-time, and
this figure, whilst unsatisfactory, has not caused the degree of alarm as the
figure emanating from Jones University (Maloney, 1999). The central concern is that as more
institutions offer online programs, will they use adjunct-instructors, rather
than invest in full-time faculty.
The
Question of Quality
The main concern relating to quality
issues are focused, not on private universities who are seen to receive large
endowments, but on public universities. One of the embedded questions in the
quality issue is whether distance and traditional classroom based instruction
differ in terms of learning outcomes. The concern has become known as “What’s
the-difference” debate. In April 1999 a report titled “What’s the Difference? A
Review of Contemporary Research on the Effectiveness of Distance Learning in
Higher Education written by Merisotis and Phipps (http://www.ihep.com/PUB.htm) was
released by the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington D.C. This
report failed to arrive at a definitive answer to the question. Nevertheless, it did state that technology is
playing and will continue to play a critical role in teaching and learning, and
as a pedagogical tool, probably leads to different educational outcomes from
those achieved with traditional classroom-based instruction – some better, some
worse.
Traditional views of quality are
generally regulatory in nature: x-number of contact hours equals credit hours;
x-number of credit hours equal certification or degrees. This type of
indicator, however, does not work particularly well in the virtual university,
consequently there is a movement toward more performance-based assessments.
What skills and knowledge do students possess after the learning experience is
now becoming the way many virtual universities are addressing the quality
issue. According to Matthew Rutledge,
Student Services Manager for Western Governors University (personal
communication, May 18, 2000) this is a tenet of the University in assessing
student
progress.
Virtual Universities
When
Jones International University based in Colorado became the first fully
accredited online university, the American Association of University Professors
expressed its consternation.
Nevertheless, prestigious universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Duke,
Columbia and the University of Chicago are now virtual universities, and the
Harvard Extension School served nearly 60,000 part-time students in 1998,
realizing a credible $150million. The most lucrative of all populations is the
“executive education” market. Perhaps
the most preeminent example being UCLA Extension that enrolls about 70,000
students per year, earning revenues of roughly $42 million (http://www.unex.ucla.edu/index.htm).
Whilst there are no definitive models for virtual
universities, Baker
& Tan (1997) suggest the use of four basic building blocks in the
construction of a virtual university: (a) a virtual library; (b) one or more
virtual laboratories; (c) online lectures that are delivered through a virtual
lecture theatre, and (d) facilities to support teleteaching. Since this publication, however, Baker &
Tan have added administration mechanisms to their initial quartet, citing Clyde
Virtual University in Great Britain which has the above four components, and an
“Administration Office” (Baker, 1999).
Characteristics
of a Virtual University
The following represent some of the
major characteristics of virtual universities:
·
Offer learning any time and any place via
technology
·
Willing to use the most sophisticated information
and telecommunication technologies
·
Provide educational products tailored to the
learner’s needs
·
Offer convenience and flexibility
·
Encourage life-long learning
·
Willing to collaborate with business and
industry
·
Provide just-in-time information and learning
that can be accessed asynchronously
·
Focus on result-oriented learning
·
Require students to accept responsibility for
his/her learning
·
Require persistence and dedication on the
part of the student
What
Audiences are Served?
Jorge Klor De Alva, the president of the University
of Phoenix in his article “Remaking the Academy in the Age of Information”
featured in Issues in Science and Technology, Winter 1999 suggests the
needs of working adult students can be condensed into six basic propositions –
these are:
1.
Need to complete their education while
working full-time
2.
Require a curriculum and faculty that are
relevant to the workplace
3.
Must have a time-efficient education
4.
Want their education to be cost-effective
5.
Expect a high level of customer service
6.
Require a “campus” that is convenient
The For-Profit Virtual University
The market forces unleashed by technology and driven
by increasing demand for higher education are powerful. There has been a dramatic
upheaval in the labor force and in its educational and training needs that has
created an unprecedented focus on human capital as the primary productive asset
of companies. As a result, the new
for-profit, post-secondary institutions, such as the University of Phoenix,
Nova Southeastern University, Walden University, and Jones International
University have created new education models that have molded themselves to fit
the needs of our progressively more knowledge-based economy. These models are also
based on the need to provide learning experiences everywhere and at any time
and to use the most sophisticated information and telecommunications
technologies. These models are also characterized by a desire to provide
educational products custom-made to the learner’s needs (Confessore, 1999).
Competitive Strategies for
Higher Education
Education
watchers, such as Katz (1999) suggest that higher education institutions are
faced with considerable financial pressure in the 21st century, and
that their responses are relatively limited.
According to Katz, the options are: (a) cut costs (with or without
cutting quality), (b) raise prices, (c) exist existing markets, (d) pursue new
markets, (e) create new products, and (f) pursue any combination of these
strategies. Some institutions have aggressively pursued strategies that extend
the reach of their instructional offerings, and have become more economic and
entrepreneurial in their outlook.
Consequently, many universities are beginning to embrace the most
important phenomenon in the evolving information technology era referred to as
“convergence”. Convergence is the “accelerating trend of companies involved in
broadcasting, cable television, computers, entertainment, and retailing
businesses to form various combinations in order to gain competitive
advantage…” (Allen, Ebeling, and Scott,1995).
Clearly, although universities and
colleges tend not to express their policies in competitive terms, the emergence
of technology-based education delivery systems will force competitive thinking,
and we will see more and more alliances with nontraditional partners.
Signs
of Change
In the United
States one of the best examples of a university assimilating business values,
and entering into the virtual university arena is the University of Phoenix
(UOP) which focuses on the educational needs of working adults. UOP is an accredited, degree-granting
institution. It is worth noting that
UOP’s growth in revenues exceeds that of the higher education industry as a whole.
Evidence of change is most notable
in the rise of the independent for-profit corporations such as the Home
Education Network that has acquired the right to distribute the content of UCLA
Extension’s courses via CD-ROM, online services, and direct broadcast
satellite. Motorola University contracts
with colleges and universities around the world to develop and deliver a
curriculum to Motorola Corporation employees.
Elsevier Publishing is working with universities to deliver the full
text of its materials science journals over the Internet. Microsoft Corporation is working with many
colleges and universities to license the distribution and sale of these
institutions’ library holdings. Finally,
as the price-performance ratio of important technologies, particularly
network-based video, continues to improve, nearly every U.S. university will
engage in offering “distance education”.
According to Porter (1998), competitive advantage will accrue to those
who deliver education cheaper, better, and to in a more targeted fashion.
Distance Education Technologies
National
Center for Education Statistics Report
The
1998 report released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
gives details on the state of distance education in the U.S. in higher
education, including the most frequently used distance education
technologies. NCES, in one of it’s
surveys, posed the question “….which types of technology do you use as a
primary mode of instructional delivery for distance education courses.” The results were as follows:
|
58% |
Internet
courses using asynchronous computer-based instruction |
|
54% |
Two-way
interactive video |
|
47% |
one-way
pre-recorded video |
|
19% |
Internet
courses using synchronous computer-based instruction |
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000013
A broad array of virtual universities have appeared
differing greatly in structure. The following
table shows the leading universities in the virtual university environment.
Regional and National
consortia
Consortia Members
|
|
Alaska, Arizona, Colorado,
Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico,
Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming |
|
Southern Regional Electronic Campus |
Alabama, Arkansas,
Delaware, Florida, Georgia Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North
Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West
Virginia |
|
Common Market of Courses and
Institutes |
University of Chicago,
Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern, Pennsylvania State, Purdue, and Ohio
State Universities, Universities of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Iowa,
Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Minnesota – Twin Cities, and Wisconsin at Madison |
|
State Initiatives |
California Virtual
University |
|
|
Indiana College Network
(Ball State, Indiana, Indiana State, Purdue, Vincennes Unversities, the
University of Southern Indiana, Ivy Tech State College, and the Independent
Colleges of Indiana |
|
|
Distance Learning Honors
Courses a pilot project created by
public universities and colleges in Massachusetts to offer four
distance-learning honors courses. |
|
|
Pennsylvania Virtual
University a distance learning
alliance of West Chester, Millersville, and Shippensburg Universities of
Pennsylvania |
|
The Community College Distance
Learning Network |
Cuyahoga Community
College, Dallas Community Colleges, Foothill/De Anza Colleges, Kern Community
College District, Kirkwood Community College District, Miami-Dade Community
College District, Rio Salado College, and Sinclair Community College |
Virtual Universities - Case Studies
California
Polytechnic State University
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis
Obispo (Cal Poly) has transformed the way in which it delivers education. In
the early 1990s plans for an integrated, online administrative system (OASIS)
voice-response registration, online library services, improved telephone
service, a campus-wide fiber optic data network, and instructional access to
UNIX was deployed. This was shortly
followed by is drive to become an electronic campus, and later developed into a
strong virtual university component. The
University provides access to all major resources through its Fiber Distributed
Data Interface (FDDI) backbone network that links thirty-nine campus buildings
and residence halls. Online
administrative systems provide access to student records, class schedules,
financial aid, grades, and other information.
California Polytechnic State University still continues its Mega Server
concept initially begun in the mid 90s with the help of IBM. Initially an IBM ES/9000-743 mainframe was
installed, multimedia development
workstations. The Mega Server currently supports token ring network access, but
most faculty offices and instructional facilities have Fast Ethernet
connections (Baker and Gloster, 1998).
According to Michael Buriss,
Technology Director at Cal Poly, Pomona (personal communication May 4, 2000),
Cal Poly has videotaped and digitized lectures, which are stored on the
MegaServer along with course materials, and can be retrieved “on demand” due to
its ATM network. IBM has provided
optical storage, telecommunications technology, wireless LAN technology, and
other support in order to allow full-motion video over the University’s fiber
optic backbone network. The initial FDDI
hubs have been replaced by ATM hubs capable of using the existing fiber. In order to continue with its growth as a virtual
university, Cal Poly has developed strong partnerships with Hewlett-Packard,
Pacific Bell, AT&T, SP Telecom and IBM.
The University of North Carolina (UNC)
has a virtual university component that is a leader in using high quality video
in its courses. It maintains an advanced
video transmission network that transports high quality video images to its
students in areas such as telemedicine.
It also uses videoconferencing as an integral part of many of its
programs.
UNC’s Academic Technology and
Networks (ATN) group is responsible for developing and maintaining the network
infrastructure that transports these images, enabling different departments to transport
compressed and uncompressed full-motion images.
The University’s backbone transmits images from different sites to the
studios that send them on to the end user.
Departments send the images in a variety of formats. This means the backbone must support
everything from 28.8 modem and compressed video to fully compressed digital and
high-definition video. Martin Johnson,
the University’s IT Director (e-mail communication, April 2, 2000) explained
that the university uses mainstream, standards-based technology that works in a
multi-vendor environment. The University uses Artel Video Systems products that
Johnson feels maximizes their fiber investment.
UNC is an Internet 2 site, and is carrying out research on transporting
video streams over high-speed, packet-based IP networks.
Among the degrees offered through
the virtual university are a Masters of Textiles, a Master of Textile
Chemistry, and a Masters of Engineering.
Stanford
University
According to Harris
and DiPaolo (1996) there have been three major trends in education that have
propelled asynchronous education and advanced the concept of virtual education.
First, education has now become a lifetime pursuit, and retooling a continuous
necessity. Secondly, many longstanding assumptions regarding education have now
become archaic, and thirdly, education has become increasingly expensive.
Stanford University, one of the
early pioneers in the virtual university arena. The Center for
Telecommunications, in partnership with the Stanford Center for Professional
Development, used the Internet and two experimental ATM-based high-speed
network test-beds to deliver courses incorporating multimedia to distance
learners. Stanford took advantage of the enormous strides that were being made
by the PC industry – increasing processing power and improved storage. They also recognized that enormous strides
were being made in the area of distance-education enabling software such as
information management systems (IMS), software to facilitate live and asynchronous
conferencing, and multimedia authoring tools. Above all, they recognized that
bandwidth constraints ware quickly being overcome. ADEPT (Asynchronous Distance
Education Project T) was launched – a collaboration between the Center for
Telecommunications at Stanford and associated industry partners. What distinguished ADEPT was its focus on
education being delivered via high-speed communications networks.
IEEE Transactions on Education, 1998
Personal e-mail communication with
Christopher Kong (May, 4, 2000) Stanford Online Production Supervisor, Stanford
Center for Professional Development (SCPD) revealed that their infrastructure
has basically remained the same to-date, however, he did draw the writer’s
attention to the partnership between SCPD and Compaq. As part of its strategic
partnership with SCPD, Compaq has enabled SCPD’s award-winning Stanford Online program to
deploy breakthrough Internet delivery and audio and video streaming. Kong
explained that while Stanford Online uses powerful compression technology to
allow for the deployment of video over the Internet and corporate intranets,
dealing with video remains an extremely data-intensive task. With an ever-expanding 85 gigabytes of
digitized video and other data such as course outlines and slides, Stanford
Online requires a strong solution for storing and managing huge volumes of
information. To back up its video
servers, back-end systems and growing library of video and multimedia content,
the Stanford Online program uses a Quantum DLT7000 half-inch cartridge tape
drive. In addition to conducting
incremental backups nightly and full backups weekly, Stanford Online uses the
tape drive to archive courseware.
Presently Stanford offers more than 250
continuing education courses in engineering and computer science to more than
6,000 professionals who want to pursue an advanced degree, or need to enhance
their technical knowledge while maintaining career momentum. In l997 Stanford
Online was awarded “Most Significant Advancement in Distance Learning” by the
U.S. Distance Learning Association. In
addition to delivering full-length university courses, Stanford online also
offers a video-on-demand sequence of non-credit courses and lectures made
available to a worldwide audience in a pay-per-view model.
Virginia
Tech and Fixed-Wireless
The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) have agreed to enable last-mile broadband for many
universities, and Virginia Tech (http://www.vt.edu/)
is one university taking full advantage of this to enable their virtual
university component. Although it is not a perfect solution, Local Multipoint
Distribution Service (LDMS) can offer solutions for high-speed campus
connection, without the cost of laying or upgrading wireless
infrastructure.
LMDS is a fixed-wireless last-mile
access technology, competing with both local telephone companies and cable
provides. Because it is a flexible,
two-way broadband pipeline, it can be used for both point-to-point and
point-to-multipoint communication within its range. LMDS is a low-power microwave technology with
a high frequency that can travel only a short distance, usually limited to a
cell radius of about 10 kilometers. It can transmit data to multiple points at
4.5 megabits/sec. It has the ability to
offer two-way full-motion video, Internet Protocol voice and analog
voice, and increased Internet downloading speed -- about 80 times faster than
any dial-up method (http://www.lmds.vt.edu/). Although line-of sight is a major constraint
to this technology, LMDS has great potential, particularly rural areas within a
state. For example, Virginia Tech
University became the first university in the nation to participate in an FCC
spectrum auction, and was awarded four LMDS licenses covering 16,507 square
miles of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The Virtual University component of Virginia
State relies heavily on LMDS technology that now allows it to offer a broad ranch
of courses and programs using this technology. The University also uses LMDS to
remove the bottleneck to New.Work.Virginia and other advanced networks (http://www.lmds/vt.edu/Main/lmds_brochure.htm).
Virginia Tech offers a Masters of
Arts in Political Science (http://www.cyber.vt.edu/psci/olma/the_program.html).
This on-line Masters of Arts program is conducted over the Internet through a
mix of synchronously and asynchronously conducted on-line graduate
courses. The real-time, on-line video
capabilities of NET.WORK.VIRGINIA, a statewide broadband ATM network, is also
used http://www.cyber.vt.edu/psci/olma/the_program.html).
University
of Kansas
The University of
Kansas has entered the virtual university arena. The University of Kansas
Medical Center (KUMC) (http://www.kumc.edu)
chose the Informix (www.informix.com)
Dynamic Server with Universal Data Option and the Web DataBlade Module to power
its core curriculum web site. The new
system runs on Sun Solaris Enterprise 450 running Solaris 2.6. The hard disk
capacity is six 4 gigabyte hard drives.
Informix was selected because the entire web site can be managed within
the database. Also, because the database
stores information as objects, the University was able to define its own data
types such as video, image and sound. The virtual university component of the
University of Kansas Medical Center offer courses in the areas of nursing and
allied health (personal communication with Cheryl Pace, Assistant Director,
KUMC, March 22, 2000).
University
of Wisconsin Extension Virtual University
The University of Wisconsin offers
several full degree programs through its virtual university such as:
·
B.Sc in Nursing
·
M.Sc in Engineering
·
M.A. in Administrative Medicine
·
M.A. in Criminal Justice
·
M.B.A.
(http://www1.uwex.edu/topics/distance.cfm)
According to Sandy Hildebrandt, Program Assistant
Supervisor for ICS (personal communication April 3, 2000 the University’s
Instructional Communications systems (ICS) manages the following array of
technologies that enable the virtual component of the university:
·
ETN - the Educational Teleconference Network,
a statewide audio teleconferencing network;
·
WisLine, an international conference call
service; The system offers 144 phone lines and a new state-of-the-art digital
bridge which gives high quality audio. In the near future, the university will
upgrade to 240 lines.
·
WisView, a statewide audio/data conferencing
network;
·
a
satellite videoconference support service;
·
an
interactive compressed video network;
·
a full motion fiber optic video conference
network;
·
an audio production facility, and an audiotex
information retrieval system.
Eastern
Kentucky University
Creating a virtual
university that offers a frustration free environment is quickly becoming a
critical goal of many institutions. Such articles as “Students’ Frustrations
with a Web-based Distance education Course: A Taboo Topic in the Discourse”
written by Noriko Hara, and Rob Kling (http://www.slis.indiana.edu/CSI/wp99_01.html)
contain disturbing reports of student frustration, and distress due
particularly to ineffective technology.
Addressing this issue, the Eastern Kentucky University’s virtual
university, and virtual library initiatives have selected CacheFlow’s Internet caching appliances
According
to Kevin Wallace, the University’s network manager (personal communication,
February 27, 2000) users are now able to download pages up to 10 times more
quickly. The CashFlow appliances enable the university to make use of more
sophisticated bandwidth-intensive online education applications. To encourage the growth of those
applications, Kentucky’s state government has interconnected its state
universities with asynchronous transfer mode links through the state capital in
Frankfort. According to Wallace, Eastern
Kentucky University’s previous proxy-server system would not have been able to
make efficient use of the additional 10 Mbps of bandwidth supplied by the
state.
Business Partnerships and Virtual Corporate Universities
More and more
alliances are being forged between virtual universities, and businesses such as
OnLineLearning.net, UNext, and Global Education Network to offer graduate
courses to specific audiences, usually vendor certification seekers, graduates
of business programs, and corporations that want to strengthen their staff’s
skills.
OnlineLearning.net (http://www.onlinelearning.net/Index.html?s=127.r010a902t.065m505c80)
is
a private Los Angeles company loosely affiliated with the University of
California at Los Angeles. It holds the
exclusive worldwide electronic rights to classes developed by UCLA Extension
for online delivery. Accredited courses are offered in such areas as Business,
Management, Computer & Information Systems, and Education. OnLineLearning
has also entered the highly lucrative area of vendor technology certification
covering Microsoft Certification, Novel Certification, and Cisco
Certification.
UNext.com (http://www.unext.com/unext-index.jsp)
has created a partnership with the University of Chicago, Stanford University,
Carnegie Mellon University, and the London School of Economics and Political
Science to deliver graduate courses over the Internet. The Virtual University component of the four
universities will develop course materials that make it possible for business
professional to quickly learn advanced material, including economics,
accounting and finance.
Technology
may be driving the new global economy, but organizations have come to realize
that people are steering it. This means
that it is more important than ever for organizations to invest heavily in
training and educating their work force.
New and innovative learning strategies are absolutely crucial for
achieving success in the current economic climate. Corporate universities have emerged,
therefore, as a primary way for companies to link employee education to
business strategy and provide organizations with a competitive advantage in the
global marketplace. Following are
several of the leaders in the corporate university arena:
·
Lufthansa Corporate University
·
Ford Motor Co. Corporate University
·
Intel University
·
Motorola University
·
PeopleSoft University
·
Anheuser-Busch University
·
Duke University and Deutsche Bank University
·
·
Burson-Marsteller University
·
The Corporate University of the Canadian
Foreign Service Institute
·
IBM Global Services University
·
STUniveristy
(Ryan and Lane, 1998)
Some corporate universities take their educational
services to the broader public. Motorola
for instance, estimates that over 20% of its 100,000 students come from outside
their company (Gladieux & Swail, 1999).
Virtual Universities Abroad
University
of Strathclyde, Scotland
Clyde Virtual University
(CVU) was initially a test bed for exploring, developing, and evaluating
techniques for delivering learning materials in a virtual university
environment. CVU is a collaborative project between Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonia,
Paisley, and Strathclyde Universities. It uses a Sun UltraServer 1 model 170,
four 8 GB 44mm DDS2 external UniPack drives, and two 1GB external 7200 rpm F/W
SCI-2 UniPack drives plus Sbus adapters.
In addition, several UNIX servers are used. According to David
Whittington of the Department of Computer Science, University of Strathclyde
(e-mail communication, March 20, 2000) CVU uses ClydeNet Metropolitan Area
Network, a high-speed network to enable course delivery. CVU uses the a six component concept: Lecture
Theatre, Library, Administration Office, Virtual Café, and Assessment Hall (http://www.cvu.strath.ac.uk/)
Bar-Ilan
University in Ram-Gan is Israel’s largest university, and has long been highly
regarded not only in Israel but throughout the world as an institute offering
education at the highest level. The University offers scientific research
institutes in physics, medicinal chemistry, mathematics, brain research,
economics, strategic studies, developmental psychology, musicology,
archaeology, and Jewish law. Bar-Ilan
has now launched the Virtual Jewish University that offers online credit
courses in Jewish studies and funded by Bar-Ilan University's International
Center in Israel. The University has the largest Jewish studies faculty in the
world with over 1,500 courses taught by 300 faculty is three languages (http://www.bar-ilan.edu/about.html).
The
Bar Ilan Computer Center has three high performance servers -- an SGI
Origin2000 machine and two IBM SP machines. The SGI machine has 12 GB of real
memory and 32 processors of 300MHz clock speed. One of the IBM SP machine is
configured with 6 dual processor Sphinx nodes with a total of 3 GB of memory.
The second IBM SP machine is configured with 16 Thin nodes with total of 4 GB
of memory. Bar Ilan’s central Computer Center uses the IBM 9672/16 main-frame
computer that operates all the University's centralized administrative systems
(http://www.biu.ac.il/Computing/about/systems.html).
The University campus communications network is
based on an optical fiber network, and a modern copper/fiber cable network
within buildings. The campus backbone network is currently in phased transition
from an Ethernet based network, to a newer, faster technology - ATM. Bar-Ilan's
network is connected to the Israeli Inter-University network (ILAN) which is
connected to the Internet. This network is currently based on SMDS technology
Migration to ATM technology, at higher speeds, in planned for the near future.
STUniversity,
France
One
of the early pioneers of the corporate university concept, STMicroelectronics,
the
founder of STUniversity based near Rousset, France was recently presented with
the Excellence Award for developing and implementing innovative marketing
techniques to encourage involvement in learning at the STUniversity. STMicroelectronics is a global independent
semiconductor company that designs, develops, manufactures, and markets a broad
range of semiconductor integrated ciruits (Ics) and discrete devices used in a
wide variety of microelectronic applications, including telecommunications
systems, computer systems, consumer products, and automotive products (http://www.st.com).
STU was created in 1994 to enhance the common global
perspective and culture of the Company’s international managers, as well as to
develop and improve their practical skills, knowledge, and methodologies. Since the corporate university began, 8,000
employees, represented by 20 nationalities have received ongoing education
through the university. Other winners of the award in our categories were
Tennessee Valley Authority, IDX Systems, Dell Learning, and IBM.
EuroPACE2000
As single isolated universities and colleges are
being confronted with demands that exceed their options in terms of manpower,
infrastructure capacities, and financial means serious alternative are being
sought. Only the full exploitation of the potential of information and
communication technologies (ICT), combined with inter-institutional networking
(on a regional as well as a European scale) may provide the environment for an
adequate response. This has given rise to the birth, or perhaps more correctly,
the rebirth of EuroPACE 2000.
In its former
life EuroPACE was known as the European Programme for Advanced Continuing
Education (EPACE). This organization was
a joint venture between major ICT multinationals and leading European
universities aiming at professional continuing education of engineers through
satellite broadcasts. this organization
ceased its operations in 1993 and was re-launched as a European university
network to respond to the needs of the knowledge society. The acronym 'PACE 2000' now stands for
P(rofessional and) A(cademic) C(hannel for) E(urope) 2000. The network adopted
the name EuroPACE to demonstrate its roots, but added the suffix '2000' to
express its novelty and orientation towards the future. EuroPACE 2000 profiles
itself as a trans-European network of traditional universities and their
partners in industry and society for telematics-supported education and
training. In other words, EuroPACE 2000, as a trans-European network of
universities for universities that intends to optimally exploit the potential
of ICT for education and training should provide the 'adequate response'.
EuroPACE 2000 is a network of about 60 members, of
which 45 are universities. With one exception (an 'open university'), all these
universities are traditional universities and colleges or networks of
universities. The remaining members are
companies and professional organizations. A number of outside networks,
universities, companies and organizations are also involved as project partners
in operations led by EuroPACE 2000 and are therefore close to its core
activities. The network covers all Western European countries, with a number of
Central and Eastern European countries also involved.
The EuroPACE 2000 virtual university
concept is based upon three models of educational services. Developed and
implemented within the EuroPACE 2000 network, the models are conceptually
different, but overlap in practical applications and are strongly synergetic.
1. Virtual university campus and class
2. Distance education network
3. Network for learning on demand
To
enhance synchronous communication during lectures, the basic technology that is
used for the virtual classes is ISDN multipoint videoconferencing, WWW,
interactive satellite TV, and CD-ROM (http://www.europace.be).
International Tele-Virtual University, Germany
Germany
has been particularly slow in entering the distance-learning, and virtual
university arena. This has been due to
German academics and politicians snubbing the digital campus as what they refer
to as just another version of “McUniversitat”. One unfortunate consequence of
the Kohl government’s attitude to distance education prior to it being voted
out of office, is that many universities in Germany are not prepared for the
digital era. For instance, in the Freie
University (FU) Berlin, 39 students have to share a computer, and their dial-in
nodes are frequently overloaded -- one node per 172 students. In addition, students complain that they have
to wait at least one hour before they can get a slot in the computer room.
Above all, German universities are overcrowded, and many students who are
determined to enjoy the full potential of technology study in the United States
(Meissner, 2000).
The
International Tele-Virtual University (INTUG) is an example of how German
universities are embracing the virtual university concept. It is a join venture of four universities in
the state of Baden-Wurttemberg:
Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Heidelberg, and Mannheim. The Tele-Virtual
University offers programs in medical science, international management,
environmental science, chemistry, engineering, and computer sciences. The working language is English (http://idw.tu-clausthal.de/public/pmid-8356/zeige_pm.html). Participating students are required to attend
certain courses on campus.
The FernUniversitat/Gesamthochschule in Hagen
(University of Hagen) is a purely digital international cyber-institution based
on the British Open University model. It was launched in 1996, and offers all
of its programs entirely online (http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/).
Its working language is English, and its Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science degrees have come to be well respected not only in Germany but abroad.
Ironically,
the pioneers of virtual learning in Germany were institutions that were in,
what was “East Germany”. For instance
the Technical University (TU) of Chemnitz, formerly Karl-Marx Stadt, offers
post-graduate Internet classes for computer scientists in a program called
“Information and Communication Systems.
African Virtual University
In 1997 the World Bank
launched one of the most exciting educational developments in Africa -- the
African Virtual University (AVU) (http://avu.org/).
AVU is a non-profit organization headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, that enables
students in 15 African countries to take courses and seminars taught by professors
from universities around the world.
Professors deliver their lectures in front
of television cameras in their own classrooms, and the video is routed via
fiber optics, ISDN lines, or satellite to an uplink in Washington, DC, which
then beams it via satellite to points in Africa. Students are able to talk with the
instructors in real time using standard phone lines. Currently, the lessons are taught mainly by
European and American faculty, and are beamed to 28 universities in
Africa. The World Bank intends to
broaden the program and use African professors, and transmit courses directly
from African television stations allowing anyone with a television to
participate. The Bank has already made a
digital library of scientific journals and working papers available to
students, and courses are being developed for online teaching.
AVU will offer undergraduate students
degrees in computer science and electrical and computer engineering beginning
in 2001, and in October of 2000, the Business and Technology Channel will
deliver short courses in management and information technology and foreign
languages. The intent is to offer an MBA program shortly after
(Turner,
1999).
The
Virtual University of Instituto technologico y De Estudios
The Monterrey Institute of
Technology and Higher Education was founded in 1943 by a group of Mexican
businessmen. It is a private institution
without political or religious affiliations.
Presently it has 29 campuses in Mexico, and a student enrollment of over
80,000. The Institute has a private communications network linking the
campuses, with 14 EI connections to the Internet, and 4 satellite networks. 15
Masters Degrees are offered by its Virtual University component in:
Administration, Education and Engineering and Technology. Faculty members from universities in the
United States such as the University of Texas in Austin, M.I.T., the University
of California at San Fiego, and the Autonoma de Barcelona give live lectures.
The Virtual University’s satellite telecasting
reaches all of Latin America. There are
1,429 receiving sites – 1,302 in Mexico, and 127 in: Argentina, Chile,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. It has 4 broadcasting channels, 2 transmitting
sites, and 13 video conferencing sites. (http://www.sistema.itesm.mx/english/uv.htm).
Virtual Mega Universities
It has been clearly established that education is an
absolute imperative in our emerging global knowledge society, and virtual
universities are a response to that imperative in that they provide access to
education for a much higher percentage of the population.
The most dramatic examples of access to education,
however, are found in the 11 mega-universities. These universities offer a mixed-mode
educational model that includes a strong virtual component. The largest of
these high enrollment universities is in China, the China Central Radio and
Television University, with more than 3 million students. The English-speaking
world has the British Open University, with 215,000 students, and the
University of South Africa, with 120,000 students. In addition to the
mega-universities, dozens of other national and regional systems are providing
education at all levels to students. The Open University of Hong Kong,
Universidade Aberta (Portugal), the Universidad Nacional de Educacion a
Distancia (Spain), and the recently formed Western Governors University (United
States) are just a few of those providing lower and/or higher education to
eager students (Daniel, 1998). It is predicted by Futurist Samuel Dunn, that by
2025, these institutions, and other virtual universities, will be a web of
educational providers that collectively distribute services to the client at
the time, place, pace, and style desired by the client, with quality determined
by the client and a variety of approving accrediting bodies (Dunn, 2000).
Learning How to Become a
Virtual University
Whilst
many universities have entered the virtual university marketplace, there are
still those that are considering taking this step. For example, the elite liberal-art colleges of Brown University,
Williams College, and Amherst College are presently in negotiations with Global
Education Network. (http://www.chronicle.com/weekly/v46/i21/21a04301.htm).
Because many universities have little or
no experience in creating a virtual university component, William F.Massey, a
Stanford University researcher, has developed a game called Virtual U (http://www.virtual-u-org). Virtual U is a
computer simulation tool for university administrators and faculty who want to
simulate and practice managing a virtual university. The game takes place in
real time. It allows users to hire and
fire faculty, change teaching loads, allocate funds to departments, learn how
to handle common scenarios and problems that virtual university administrators
and faculty face, and create progress evaluations Virtual U provides a
sophisticated financial and managerial model of how a university operates. The simulation mimics actual conditions in
real universities across the United States, and Dr.Massey uses real data
gleaned from successful virtual universities throughout the United States.
Learning “how” to start a virtual
corporate university is also a hot conference theme. Earlier this year, Corporate University
Xchange in association with the Financial Times hosted a two-day conference
titled “Designing a Virtual Corporate University”. Their agenda included:
·
How to launch a virtual corporate university
·
Technology requirements of a successful
virtual university
·
How to form a successful corporate/university
partnership
·
The new skills needed by faculty and staff
·
Methods for a corporate university to become
a profit center
According
to Wanda Merrill, the Conference Coordinator (personal communication, May 12,
2000) the Conference was totally booked two weeks prior to its opening.
The Need for Effective Information Management Systems
Managing
online courses efficiently and effectively is a critical component of a
successful virtual university. The
higher education software market can be broken into two segments: applications
that automate administrative services, and applications that enable the
learning process. The more mature market is administrative applications
supplied by companies such as PeopleSoft,
SCT, and Datatel. These systems primarily manage student registration
record-keeping, financial aid, scheduling, grants management, library systems,
and other administrative functions.
These applications are known as “enterprise” applications (http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/resources/TechForum/Techforum97/Ims-update.html)
The learning management
market, the second of the two software areas, is much more fragmented with products
such as Blackboard CourseInfo (http://www.blackboard.com),
Lotus Learning Space (http://www.talisman.hw.ac.uk/tman-events/paisley/joe/handson/MH.html),
WBT Systems Top-Class (http://www.wbtsystems.com/),
and Oracle Learning Server (http://www.tsicp.com/bighome.html). Typically these tools
enable professors to post course information, house educational resources,
enable synchronous and asynchronous discussion and provide limited assessment
services. (http://www.aln.org/alnweb/magazine/Vol3_issue2/McHenry.htm).
The
IMS Project
The Information Management Systems
Project (IMS) was convened by EDUCAUSE, a higher education membership group
that promotes use of technology in higher education. The goal of the IMS project is two-fold: (1)
to create standards allowing content and student information to be
platform-independent. Such independence will increase standardization and
reusability of educational content; (2) to submit the IMS specifications to
international governing bodies to be established as worldwide standards.
Conclusion
Peter
Drucker, the management guru, has predicted that the residential university
campus, as we know it, will be defunct within thirty years. We shall see.
However, certain questions do beg themselves, even from the most ardent
supporter of virtual education:
·
How will students distinguish among providers
of virtual education?
·
How will students assess the relative quality
of education opportunities offered in cyberspace?
·
How will employers evaluate skills and
credentials acquired in the virtual arena (Barley, 1997)
·
Who will regulate standards and accreditation
in the global arena?
·
Will the new technologies save, or add to
educational costs? (Baer, 1998).
·
The distribution of computers remains highly
stratified by socioeconomic class. Does this not widen the abyss between the
haves and have-notes?
According to Jorge Klor de Alva, the President of
the University of Phoenix, “The evolution of distance education and the virtual
university has not yet reached its Jurassic Age. Consolidation can be expected, but the
behemoths lie unformed, and unimagined”.
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