Anthony G. Picciano
Professor, Division of Programs in Education, Department of Curriculum and Teaching,
Hunter College of the City University of New York

Abstract:
In Spring 1997, Hunter College offered the first asynchronous learning course in the City University of New York (CUNY), the largest urban university system in the United States enrolling 200,000 students in undergraduate and graduate programs. This graduate course, entitled Administration and Supervision of the Public Schools - The Principalship, was offered in the Division of Programs in Education. Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this course was intended to serve as a model for other courses at Hunter College and CUNY.

While many colleges have begun to offer asynchronous learning courses, the model presented here may be of special interest since it takes into consideration several variables of importance in large urban environments. First, all of the students in this course were adult, part-time students who delicately balance studies, careers, and families in their daily lives. In this respect, they represented a typical urban commuter population that would benefit from the convenience of asynchronous learning. Second, all of the students were commuter students who participated in the course via equipment located in their homes and offices. As a result, the model had to accept a wide variety of on-line services as the means of participation. Third, these students did not possess extensive technical skills and in terms of expertise could be classified as new to intermediate. This required that the model employ simple software interfaces that would minimize student frustration due to technical difficulties. Lastly, all of these students already had earned masters degrees and were teachers in the New York City metropolitan area. As experienced teachers, they are attuned to pedagogy and could provide valuable insight into an evaluation of the instructional components of the model.

The purpose of this paper is to share the results of a student evaluation of the instructional components of an asynchronous model that might be beneficial to others who are considering using this technology in similar environments.

Eugene F. Heath
Department of Philosophy, SUNY

Abstract:
During the past decade there have been numerous efforts to reinvigorate distance education; some of these have involved video technology, but others have made use of computers and advances in the design of computer software. In 1995, the State University of New York, funded by a major grant from the Sloan Foundation, embarked upon the creation of an "on-line" learning program--a set of asynchronous and distance learning courses delivered solely via computer. In what follows, I detail the genesis and structure of a course in political and social philosophy that I designed (and taught) for this project. After some preliminary comments on the "virtual classroom". I illustrate the design of the course, and then offer a brief qualitative assessment. I close the essay with some cautionary reflections on computer-mediated education. Athough my initial skepticism about such courses has been modified, I still believe that there is something valuable about the direct, face-to-face, encounter of teacher and student that is not easily compensated for in computer-mediated learning.

Rupert Wegerif
Centre for Language and Communication
School of Education
The Open University

Abstract:
This paper argues that the social dimension is important to effectiveness of Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALNs) and needs to be taken into account in the design of courses. Evidence from an ethnographic study of the Teaching and Learning Online (TLO) course offered by the Institute of Education Technology at the Open University is presented in support of this argument. This study found that individual success or failure on the course depended upon the extent to which students were able to cross a threshold from feeling like outsiders to feeling like insiders. Factors affecting the construction of a sense of community are drawn out from interviews with students. The significance of these findings is discussed in relation to a situated model of learning as induction into a community of practice. Finally recommendations are made for the support of community building in the design of courses.

Joanne Eustis
Director, Planning and Program Review, Information Systems
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Gail McMillan
Director, Scholarly Communications Project, University Libraries
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Abstract:
As asynchronous learning becomes the norm throughout academia, changes are taking place in campus information systems. Academic libraries, as the entity responsible for serving the information needs of the university, have little choice but to change dramatically. In fact, academic libraries have a history of being aggressive in adapting state-of-the-art technologies. One can point to decades-long involvement with the development of online catalogs and the use of shared cataloging utilities. Libraries continue to serve academic teaching and learning by taking on new roles, revising traditional services, and time and space constraints.

Libraries have, however, been slower to adjust organizational structures and processes to leverage the potential of technology. Replies to a recent survey of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) indicate that change in the responding libraries at this time is incremental rather than dramatic. Patterns are emerging, however, relative to resource reallocation and the formation of partnerships with other university units that reflect new priorities.

This article describes two examples of innovative information delivery initiatives. VIVA, the Virtual Library of Virginia, was proposed by the state's Library Advisory Council in 1993 to encourage collaboration among the Commonwealth's institutions of higher education and to support the electronic dissemination of information. Academic libraries are also leading the way by providing new and unique sources of online information such as Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), by developing electronic submissions, online archiving, and Web access, as well as bringing to the forefront discussions about issues such as copyright and publishers' control of academic publications. Network-based access to information resources such as these is changing higher education, and the opportunities offered by asynchronous learning networks are challenging libraries to adjust their policies, processes, and services.

Donald E. Hanna, Ph.D.
Professor of Educational Communications
University of Wisconsin-Extension

Abstract:
Growing demand among learners for improved accessibility and convenience, lower costs, and direct application of content to work settings is radically changing the environment for higher education in the United States and globally. In this rapidly changing environment, which is increasingly based within the context of a global, knowledge-based economy, traditional universities are attempting to adapt purposes, structures, and programs, and new organizations are emerging in response. Organizational changes and new developments are being fueled by accelerating advances in digital communications and learning technologies that are sweeping the world. Growing demand for learning combined with these technical advances is in fact a critical pressure point for challenging the dominant assumptions and characteristics of existing traditionally organized universities in the 21st century. This combination of demand, costs, application of content and new technologies is opening the door to emerging competitors and new organizations that will compete directly with traditional universities and with each other for students and learners.

This paper describes and analyzes seven models of higher education organization that are challenging the future preeminence of the traditional model of residential higher education. These models are emerging to meet the new conditions and to take advantage of the new environment that has created both opportunity and risk for all organizations, and which demands experimentation of structure, form, and process.

Each of the seven models discussed offers an alternative to traditional residential higher education. Several models are in their infancy. Several others operate at the margin of organizations with other core businesses or priorities. At least one of the models depends upon extensive collaborations. All of the models incorporate features that are designed to enable universities to better respond to new educational demands and opportunities at a national and international level. Taken together, these organizational models are emerging as significant forces in providing education and training, and as powerful competitors to traditional universities. They offer the prospect of rapidly changing where, when, how and for what purpose education is organized within both the corporate and the higher education communities in the United States and throughout the world. The result is a dynamic competitive environment among traditional universities that are adapting learning processes and administrative procedures, alternative nontraditional universities that are adapting technologies to better serve their existing primarily adult constituencies, and new universities that are being formed around the promise of virtual environments. The thesis of this paper is that growth in worldwide demand for learning is combining with improved learning technologies to force existing universities to rethink their basic assumptions and marketing strategies. This new digital environment is further encouraging and enabling the creation of new and innovative organizational models of that are challenging traditional residential universities to change more quickly and dynamically.