[gu-l] (05/06/02) E-universities
Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D.
utsumi@columbia.edu
Wed, 08 May 2002 07:24:51 -0400
> This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.
--B_3103687492_94442
Content-type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable
<<May 6, 2002>>
Archived distributions can be retrieved by clicking =B3Correspondence=B2 in our
home page at <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/>.
For those after 2/27/01, see or bookmark:
<http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/gu-l/> and click on =B3Date,=B2 for
example. The most recent archives are the bottom line.
Lewis A. Miller <lamiller@intermedica-inc.com>
Dr. Pablo Pulido <pablopulido1@compuserve.com>
Marco Antonio Rodrigues Dias <mardias@wanadoo.fr>
John M. Eger <jeger@mail.sdsu.edu>
Professor Seth G. Neugroschl <SN23@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
Sidney M. Greenfield <egreenf222@aol.com>
Dr. Edward A. Friedman <FRIEDMAN@STEVENS-TECH.EDU>
Dear Dr. Miller:
(1) It was certainly my great pleasure to have met with you at the
telehealth seminar at the Americas Society on 1/24/02 by the introduction o=
f
Pablo Pulido of Venezuera.
(2) I thank you very much for your msg (ATTACHMENT I). Yes, I also noticed
and read it (ATTACHMENT II) at The New York Times on the Web.
(3) This is very interesting article though the analysis of failures is not
clearly stated =8B for example, many of them failed with their attempt of
replicating mere class-room environment with expensive satellite
videoconferencing which has long been outdated. However, this raises
fundamental questions about education. For example,
> (a) Can educational service be commoditized for profit-making? Or, shoul=
d it
> be treated as the =B3right=B2? If the latter, how?
>=20
>> Out of his long-time experiences at UNESCO/Paris, Marco once told me tha=
t
>> education is the =B3right=B2 of everybody, -- especially in underserved
>> rural/remote areas of developing countries.
>>=20
> (b) Is the aim of education only to enhance job skills? Or, should it be=
to
> attain world peace as eradicating poverty which is believed to be one of =
the
> main causes of terrorism?
(4) I questioned these to the executives of Fathom when they presented thei=
r
project at the monthly seminar of =B3Computer, Man and Society=B2 of Columbia
University last year.
(5) Lo behold, a couple of month later that, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology announced that their every courses would be available at their
web (with $200 million investment) free of charge!!
I thought that, in contrast of Fathom going toward yest-year with
proft-making purpose of old industrial age capitalism, the MIT=B9s direction
is toward future to meet with the motto of UNESCO, =B3education for all,=B2 wit=
h
altruism.
> As mentioned in my previous list, thanks to Dr. Paul Baran=B9s invention of
> packet-switching technology (basic of Internet) (who is one of our list
> members and a strong supporter of our project), we can share the use of
> valuable telecom media, thus reducing its costs. Thanks also to the
> proliferation of web, information and knowledge are now available more
> inexpensively.
>=20
(6) As affiliating with the UNESCO/UNITWIN Networking Chair Program, the
mission of our GUS is to attain the same aim of the UNESCO, i.e., the world
peace =8B through global e-learning and e-healthcare via global broadband
Internet in order to promote mutual understanding and trust among peoples
across continents, oceans, and cultures.
> The key to the success of any e-learning ought to have comprehensive user
> (learner) support system, rather than supply-side oriented, as this NY Ti=
mes
> article states and also as exemplified by the success of the National
> Technological University in Fort Collins, CO, which became one of the top=
ten
> engineering universities in the US after only 10 years of its inception. =
(I
> am sorry I haven=B9t heard any user-support system of the MIT=B9s venture yet=
,
> particularly in global scale.)
(7) We are now living in a transitional period from old industrial society
where hard currency prevails, to knowledge age where respect and esteem
prevail. Our GUS is to accelerate the realization of this knowledge age in
global scale.
I am happy to learn a similar movement (ATTACHMENT III) coming up.
> Dear John:
>=20
> Many thanks for the info.
Dear Seth, Sid and Ed:
(8) At our Columbia seminar on 5/8th, after hearing Ed=B9s successful project=
s
on e-learning with large funds from the US National Science Foundation in
New Jersey and other states as well as in Costa Rica and other central
American countries, you may spend some time for discussing the above
mentioned subjects.
Best, Tak
ATTACHMENT I=20
On 5/2/02 6:39 PM, "Lewis A. Miller" <lamiller@intermedica-inc.com> wrote:
> Dear Friends:
>=20
> Please note the lead story in today's Circuits section of the New York
> Times regarding the failure of most virtual university web programs to
> survive. Too far ahead of the curve?
>=20
> Lew Miller=20
ATTACHMENT II=20
Excerpt from
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/02/technology/circuits/02DIST.html?pagewante=
d
=3Dprint&position=3Dtop
=20
May 2, 2002
Lessons Learned at Dot-Com U.
By KATIE HAFNER
GO to Fathom.com and you will encounter a veritable trove of online courses
about Shakespeare. You can enroll in "Modern Film Adaptations of
Shakespeare," offered by the American Film Institute, or "Shakespeare and
Management," taught by a member of the Columbia Business School faculty.
The site is by no means confined to courses on Shakespeare. You can also
treat yourself to a seminar called "Bioacoustics: Cetaceans and Seeing
Sounds," taught by a scientist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution.=20
Or if yours is a more public-policy-minded intellect, you can sign up for
"Capital Punishment in the United States," a seminar with experts from
Cambridge University Press, Columbia University and the University of
Chicago.=20
What's more, all are free.
That part was not always the plan. Fathom, a start-up financed by Columbia,
was founded two years ago with the goal of making a profit by offering
online courses over the Internet. But after spending more than $25 million
on the venture, Columbia has found decidedly little interest among
prospective students in paying for the semester-length courses.
Now Fathom is taking a new approach, one that its chief executive likens to
giving away free samples to entice customers.
Call it the Morning After phenomenon. In the last few years, prestigious
universities rushed to start profit-seeking spinoffs, independent divisions
that were going to develop online courses. The idea, fueled by the belief
that students need not be physically present to receive a high-quality
education, went beyond the mere introduction of online tools into
traditional classes.
The notion was that there were prospective students out there, far beyond
the university's walls, for whom distance education was the answer. Whether
they were 18-year-olds seeking college degrees or 50-year-olds longing to
sound smart at cocktail parties, students would flock to the Web by the ten=
s
of thousands, paying tuitions comparable to those charged in the
bricks-and-mortarboard world =8B or so the thinking went.
"University presidents got dollars in their eyes and figured the way the
university was going to ride the dot-com wave was through distance
learning," said Lev S. Gonick, vice president for information services and
chief information officer at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
"They got swept up."
American universities have spent at least $100 million on Web-based course
offerings, according to Eduventures, an education research firm in Boston.
Now the groves of academe are littered with the detritus of failed e
learning start-ups as those same universities struggle with the question of
how to embrace online education but not hemorrhage money in the process.
New York University recently closed its Internet-based learning venture,
NYUonline. The University of Maryland University College closed its profit
based online arm last October and folded it into the college. Temple
University's company, Virtual Temple, closed last summer. Others have
reinvented themselves.
In the process, the universities have come to understand that there is more
to online learning than simply transferring courses to the Web.
"The truth is that e-learning technology itself, and those of us who
represent the institutional and corporate agents of change in the e learnin=
g
environment, have thus far failed," Dr. Gonick said. "Across U.S. campuses
today, e-learning technology investments are at risk, and many technology
champions are in retreat." Since the mid-1990's, most of the purely virtual
universities that sprang up =8B from Hungry Minds to California Virtual
University =8B have been sold or scaled back or have disappeared altogether.
The same is true for the lavish venture-capital financing for start-ups tha=
t
designed online courses for colleges or put the technology for such courses
in place, for a high fee.
In 2000, some $482 million in venture capital was spent on companies
building online tools aimed at the higher education market. So far this
year, that amount has dropped to $17 million, according to Eduventures.
Kenneth Green, founder of the Campus Computing Project, a research effort
based in Los Angeles that studies information technology in American higher
education, pointed to a combination of reasons that universities have
stumbled in distance education.
Mr. Green said that college campuses and dot-coms had looked at the numbers
and anticipated a rising tide of enrollment based on baby boomers and their
children as both traditional students and those seeking continuing
education. In short, the colleges essentially assumed that if they built it=
,
students would come.
One conspicuous example is Fathom. Last week, Columbia's senate issued a
report saying that the university should cut spending on the venture becaus=
e
it had little return to show for its investment. The report urges better
coordination among the university's digital efforts, notably Columbia
Interactive, a site aimed at scholars seeking academic content.
Fathom started in 2000 by offering elaborate online courses replicating the
Ivy League experience. The company has an impressive roster of a dozen
partners, including the London School of Economics and Political Science,
Cambridge University Press, the British Library, the University of Chicago
and the New York Public Library. Many of Fathom's courses are provided by
its member institutions, and many offer credit toward a degree.
Although Fathom's courses were impressive from the start =8B for example,
"Introduction to Macroeconomics," taught by a University of Washington
professor for $670 =8B the idea that many students would pay $500 or more for
them proved a miscalculation.
"If you listened to some of the conversations going around on campuses, it
was, `Gee, this looks to be easy, inexpensive to develop and highly
profitable =8B throw it up on the Web and people will pay us,' " Mr. Green
said.=20
But business models were flawed, he said, and university administrators did
not fully understand the cost of entering the market. "It's really, really
expensive to do this stuff," he said. "It costs hundreds of thousands of
dollars to build a course well."
There are substantial costs in designing the course, Mr. Green said, like
creating video, securing content rights and paying the faculty member who
teaches it. "This doesn't migrate painlessly from classroom onto the Web,"
he said. "It's more like making a Hollywood movie."
Michael Crow, executive vice provost at Columbia, said that Fathom had yet
to generate significant revenue, let alone turn a profit.
"Right now we're trying to figure out how to make it work intellectually,"
he said, "and we have to figure out later how to make it work financially.
If anyone had asked us how anyone was going to make the university work
financially as the first question asked, it would never have been built."
Now Fathom has decided that instead of students seeking degrees, it will
focus on those looking for courses in professional development and
continuing education. Fathom is also offering courses that are less
expensive to produce and cost less for students, as well as several dozen
others that are free.
"We've broadened the kinds of courses in recognition of the fact that most
people aren't familiar yet with online learning, so they need different
price points," said Ann Kirschner, Fathom's president and chief executive.
"We need to introduce learners to the concept before they will commit
money."=20
Part of the problem, distance learning experts say, has been an emphasis on
technology =8B streaming video, for example =8B at the expense of more careful
thinking about how remote learning might best be conducted. Some critics sa=
y
that university administrators confused tools with education.
"We figured a quick wave of the magic wand and we'd reinvent how people
learned after 900 years of a traditional university mode of instruction,"
Dr. Gonick said.=20
New York University has had a conspicuously difficult experience with
distance education. The university started NYUonline in late 1998 to focus
on corporate education and training, not degree programs. The company sold
the courses as packages to corporate customers.
By the time it opened its virtual doors to students in 2000, NYUonline
employed 45 people and offered online courses with titles like "Train the
Trainer," for human resource managers, and "Management Techniques," aimed a=
t
young managers.=20
The NYUonline courses were not cheap. "Train the Trainer," which included
live Webcasts as well as self-paced online courseware, cost around $1,600.
The tuition for the management techniques course was close to $600.
In two and a half years of operation, NYUonline received nearly $25 million
from the university, but enrollment remained anemic at best: just 500
students at its peak.
After closing NYUonline, the university moved some of the company's
activities into its School of Continuing and Professional Studies, which wa=
s
probably where it belonged in the first place, said Gordon Macomber, the
former chief executive of NYUonline, who is now a consultant on electronic
learning in New Canaan, Conn.
"Along the way it became apparent that a major university that wants to get
into online education can do it without forming a separate for-profit onlin=
e
company," Mr. Macomber said. "If you're going to invest money in anything,
the university might as well invest it within the university instead of
supporting a for-profit company."
There are a few success stories. The technically oriented University of
Phoenix has an online enrollment of more than 37,000, with four-year and
post-graduate degree programs aimed at older students. The university's
success, Mr. Green suggested, comes from its expertise in branding,
marketing and infrastructure.
That could be the combination for success in distance education.
The trick now is finding a way for universities like Columbia, steeped in
academic tradition, to make it work.
"In a way, that is the crux of the matter," said Ms. Kirschner of Fathom.
"Are universities going to grow smaller and marginalized in a world teeming
with sources of information, or are they more important than ever, as peopl=
e
seek to separate fact from fiction, knowledge from data?" Ms. Kirschner sai=
d
she hoped the answer would be the latter.
In the meantime, you can brush up your Shakespeare. And they'll all kowtow.
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information
OTHER RESOURCES =20
CALIFORNIA VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY
Created in 1997 by the University of California, California State
University, and community and independent colleges as a clearinghouse of
existing online course offerings. Abandoned April 1999.
WESTERN GOVERNORS' UNIVERSITY
Created June 1996 by the Western Governors' Association, with funds from
states, the Gates Foundation, I.B.M. and the federal government, as a
clearinghouse of existing American university degree and nondegree programs=
.
Reconceived September 2001 as a teacher-training program.
VIRTUAL TEMPLE=20
Created November 1999 by Temple University as a wholly owned profit-making
corporation, making Temple a "global university." Abandoned July 2001.
ECORNELL=20
Created July 2000 by Cornell University to extend the reach of degree
programs in labor and industrial relations. Reorganized March 2001, and
expanded into continuing medical education and hotel administration (a
nondegree program).
NYUONLINE=20
Created November 1998 by New York University as a wholly owned profit-makin=
g
corporation developing online courses for businesses and other clients from
the university's curriculum. Abandoned December 2001 after investment
exceeding $20 million.
E-MBA=20
Created November 2000 by SUNY Buffalo College of Business as an online
master's program. Abandoned March 2002.
FATHOM CONSORTIUM=20
Created March 2000 by Columbia University, the London School of Economics,
the University of Chicago, the New York Public Library and others to offer
corporate training, continuing education based on existing curriculum, and
specialized lifelong-learning courses. Columbia, the main source of
financing, is reassessing the program after investing more than $25 million=
.
ATTACHMENT III
Subject: fyi
Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 10:53 PM
From: john eger <jeger@mail.sdsu.edu>
To: <utsumi@columbia.edu>
GLOBAL CYBERUNIVERSITY COULD OPEN NEXT YEAR
A group of 19 colleges in 15 countries has agreed to sponsor an
"international cyberuniversity," which could be up and running by next
year. Initial plans for the new university were held at Ewha Womans
University in Seoul, which will be responsible for the technical
operations. The group faces the issue of what language to use for
instruction, as well as many technical challenges, including
compatibility of hardware and bandwidths. Degress from the university
would be jointly awarded by all of the institutions, which include one
U.S. school, Pomona College in Claremont, California.
Chronicle of Higher Education, 23 April 2002
http://chronicle.com/free/2002/04/2002042401u.htm
List of Distribution
Lewis A. Miller
Chairman
Intermedica, Inc.
International Medical Education Services
90 Goodwives River Rd
Darien, CT 06820-5921
(203) 662-9690
Fax (203) 655 2904
lamiller@intermedica-inc.com
www.intermedica-inc.com
Dr. Pablo Pulido
Executive Director
PanAmerican Federation of Associations of Medical Schools
Apartado de Correos 60411
Caracus 1060-A
VENEZUELA
+58-2-945-0857
Fax: +58-2-945-4275
pablopulido1@compuserve.com
or
Sede de la Direccion Ejecutiva
Caracas, VENEZUELA
Calle el Torreon, Quinta FEPAFEM
Urb. Sorocaima, La Trinidad
+58-2-93-0875 / 943-2840 / 93-0857
Fax: +58-2-943-285-40
73000.1447@compuserve.com
http://www.fepafem.org.ve
Marco Antonio Rodrigues Dias, T.C.D. (Third Cycle Diploma)
Vice President, Global University System
Consultant of United Nations University
Former Director, Division of Higher Education of UNESCO
36, Rue Ernest Renan
92.190 Meudon
FRANCE
Tel: +33-1-45 34 3509
+33-1-45-68-3009 (UNU office in Paris)
Fax: +33-1-45 34 3509
mardias@wanadoo.fr
John M. Eger
Executive Director
International Center for Communications
College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-4522
619-594-6933
619-594-6910
Fax: 619-594-4488
jeger@mail.sdsu.edu
http://www.smartcommunities.org/
http://www.smartcommunities.org/guidebook.html
http://www.iicom.org/intermedia/july2001/eger.htm -- His paper on Smart
Communities in InterMedia.
Professor Seth G. Neugroschl
Co-chair Columbia University Seminar on Computers, Man and Society
Columbia University
1349 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10128
212-876-7674
SN23@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu
Sidney M. Greenfield
Professor Emeritus
Department of Anthropology
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
311 West 83rd Street, Apt. 2D
New York, NY 10024
212-501-7083
Fax: 212-787-1457
egreenf222@aol.com
Dr. Edward A. Friedman
Director
Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE)
Professor of Technology Management
Stevens Institute of Technology
Castle Point on Hudson
Hoboken, NJ 07030
201-216-5188
Fax: 201-216-8069
EIES No. 1871
FRIEDMAN@STEVENS-TECH.EDU
http://www.k12science.org
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education) *
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of *
* Global University System (GUS) *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A. *
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676 *
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/ *
**********************************************************************
--B_3103687492_94442
Content-type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>(05/06/02) E-universities</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><<May 6, 2002>><BR>
Archived distributions can be retrieved by clicking “Correspondence&#=
8221; in our<BR>
home page at <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/>.<BR>
For those after 2/27/01, see or bookmark:<BR>
<http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/gu-l/> and click on “=
;Date,” for<BR>
example. The most recent archives are the bottom line.<BR>
<BR>
Lewis A. Miller <lamiller@intermedica-inc.com><BR>
<BR>
Dr. Pablo Pulido <pablopulido1@compuserve.com><BR>
<BR>
Marco Antonio Rodrigues Dias <mardias@wanadoo.fr><BR>
<BR>
John M. Eger <jeger@mail.sdsu.edu><BR>
<BR>
Professor Seth G. Neugroschl <SN23@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu><BR>
<BR>
Sidney M. Greenfield <egreenf222@aol.com><BR>
<BR>
Dr. Edward A. Friedman <FRIEDMAN@STEVENS-TECH.EDU><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<B><U>Dear Dr. Miller:<BR>
</U></B><BR>
(1) It was certainly my great pleasure to have met with you at the teleheal=
th seminar at the Americas Society on 1/24/02 by the introduction of Pablo P=
ulido of Venezuera.<BR>
<BR>
(2) I thank you very much for your msg (<B><U>ATTACHMENT I</U></B>). =
Yes, I also noticed and read it (<B><U>ATTACHMENT II</U></B>) at The New Yor=
k Times on the Web.<BR>
<BR>
(3) This is very interesting article though the analysis of failures is not=
clearly stated — for example, many of them failed with their attempt =
of replicating mere class-room environment with expensive satellite videocon=
ferencing which has long been outdated. However, this raises fundament=
al questions about education. For example,<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Courier">(a) Can educational service be comm=
oditized for profit-making? Or, should it be treated as the “rig=
ht”? If the latter, how?<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Courier">Out of his long-time experiences at=
UNESCO/Paris, Marco once told me that education is the “right” =
of everybody, -- especially in underserved rural/remote areas of developing =
countries.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Courier">(b) Is the aim of education only t=
o enhance job skills? Or, should it be to attain world peace as eradic=
ating poverty which is believed to be one of the main causes of terrorism?<B=
R>
</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><BR>
(4) I questioned these to the executives of Fathom when they presented thei=
r project at the monthly seminar of “Computer, Man and Society” =
of Columbia University last year.<BR>
<BR>
(5) Lo behold, a couple of month later that, Massachusetts Institute of Tec=
hnology announced that their every courses would be available at their web (=
with $200 million investment) free of charge!!<BR>
<BR>
I thought that, in contrast of Fathom going toward yest-year with proft-mak=
ing purpose of old industrial age capitalism, the MIT’s direction is t=
oward future to meet with the motto of UNESCO, “education for all,R=
21; with altruism.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Courier">As mentioned in my previous list, t=
hanks to Dr. Paul Baran’s invention of packet-switching technology (ba=
sic of Internet) (who is one of our list members and a strong supporter of o=
ur project), we can share the use of valuable telecom media, thus reducing i=
ts costs. Thanks also to the proliferation of web, information and kno=
wledge are now available more inexpensively.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Courier">(6) As affiliating with the UNESCO=
/UNITWIN Networking Chair Program, the mission of our GUS is to attain the s=
ame aim of the UNESCO, i.e., the world peace — through global e-learni=
ng and e-healthcare via global broadband Internet in order to promote mutual=
understanding and trust among peoples across continents, oceans, and cultur=
es.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Courier">The key to the success of any e-lea=
rning ought to have comprehensive user (learner) support system, rather than=
supply-side oriented, as this NY Times article states and also as exemplifi=
ed by the success of the National Technological University in Fort Collins, =
CO, which became one of the top ten engineering universities in the US after=
only 10 years of its inception. (I am sorry I haven’t heard any=
user-support system of the MIT’s venture yet, particularly in global =
scale.)<BR>
</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><BR>
(7) We are now living in a transitional period from old industrial society =
where hard currency prevails, to knowledge age where respect and esteem prev=
ail. Our GUS is to accelerate the realization of this knowledge age in=
global scale.<BR>
<BR>
I am happy to learn a similar movement (<B><U>ATTACHMENT III</U></B>) comin=
g up.<BR>
<BR>
</FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><B><U>Dear John:<BR>
</U></B><BR>
Many thanks for the info.<BR>
</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><BR>
<B><U>Dear Seth, Sid and Ed:<BR>
</U></B><BR>
(8) At our Columbia seminar on 5/8th, after hearing Ed’s successful p=
rojects on e-learning with large funds from the US National Science Foundati=
on in New Jersey and other states as well as in Costa Rica and other central=
American countries, you may spend some time for discussing the above mentio=
ned subjects.<BR>
<BR>
Best, Tak<BR>
<HR ALIGN=3DCENTER SIZE=3D"3" WIDTH=3D"95%"></FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana">
</FONT>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>
<FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><B><U>ATTACHMENT I=20
</U></B></FONT>
<P>
<FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><BR>
On 5/2/02 6:39 PM, "Lewis A. Miller" <lamiller@intermedica-inc=
.com> wrote:<BR>
<BR>
> Dear Friends:<BR>
> <BR>
> Please note the lead story in today's Circuits section of the New York=
<BR>
> Times regarding the failure of most virtual university web programs to=
<BR>
> survive. Too far ahead of the curve?<BR>
> <BR>
> Lew Miller=20
</FONT>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>
<FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><HR ALIGN=3DCENTER SIZE=3D"3" WIDTH=3D"95%"><B><U>ATTACHMENT=
II=20
</U></B></FONT>
<P>
<FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><B><U><BR>
</U></B>Excerpt from<BR>
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/02/technology/circuits/02DIST.html?pagewante=
d=3Dprint&position=3Dtop<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
May 2, 2002<BR>
<BR>
Lessons Learned at Dot-Com U.<BR>
<BR>
By KATIE HAFNER<BR>
<BR>
GO to Fathom.com and you will encounter a veritable trove of online courses=
about Shakespeare. You can enroll in "Modern Film Adaptations of Shake=
speare," offered by the American Film Institute, or "Shakespeare a=
nd Management," taught by a member of the Columbia Business School facu=
lty. <BR>
<BR>
The site is by no means confined to courses on Shakespeare. You can also tr=
eat yourself to a seminar called "Bioacoustics: Cetaceans and Seeing So=
unds," taught by a scientist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institut=
ion. <BR>
<BR>
Or if yours is a more public-policy-minded intellect, you can sign up for &=
quot;Capital Punishment in the United States," a seminar with experts f=
rom Cambridge University Press, Columbia University and the University of Ch=
icago. <BR>
<BR>
What's more, all are free. <BR>
<BR>
That part was not always the plan. Fathom, a start-up financed by Columbia,=
was founded two years ago with the goal of making a profit by offering onli=
ne courses over the Internet. But after spending more than $25 million on th=
e venture, Columbia has found decidedly little interest among prospective st=
udents in paying for the semester-length courses. <BR>
<BR>
Now Fathom is taking a new approach, one that its chief executive likens to=
giving away free samples to entice customers. <BR>
<BR>
Call it the Morning After phenomenon. In the last few years, prestigious un=
iversities rushed to start profit-seeking spinoffs, independent divisions th=
at were going to develop online courses. The idea, fueled by the belief that=
students need not be physically present to receive a high-quality education=
, went beyond the mere introduction of online tools into traditional classes=
. <BR>
<BR>
The notion was that there were prospective students out there, far beyond t=
he university's walls, for whom distance education was the answer. Whether t=
hey were 18-year-olds seeking college degrees or 50-year-olds longing to sou=
nd smart at cocktail parties, students would flock to the Web by the tens of=
thousands, paying tuitions comparable to those charged in the bricks-and-mo=
rtarboard world — or so the thinking went. <BR>
<BR>
"University presidents got dollars in their eyes and figured the way t=
he university was going to ride the dot-com wave was through distance learni=
ng," said Lev S. Gonick, vice president for information services and ch=
ief information officer at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. &qu=
ot;They got swept up." <BR>
<BR>
American universities have spent at least $100 million on Web-based course =
offerings, according to Eduventures, an education research firm in Boston. <=
BR>
<BR>
Now the groves of academe are littered with the detritus of failed e learni=
ng start-ups as those same universities struggle with the question of how to=
embrace online education but not hemorrhage money in the process. <BR>
<BR>
New York University recently closed its Internet-based learning venture, NY=
Uonline. The University of Maryland University College closed its profit bas=
ed online arm last October and folded it into the college. Temple University=
's company, Virtual Temple, closed last summer. Others have reinvented thems=
elves. <BR>
<BR>
In the process, the universities have come to understand that there is more=
to online learning than simply transferring courses to the Web. <BR>
<BR>
"The truth is that e-learning technology itself, and those of us who r=
epresent the institutional and corporate agents of change in the e learning =
environment, have thus far failed," Dr. Gonick said. "Across U.S. =
campuses today, e-learning technology investments are at risk, and many tech=
nology champions are in retreat." Since the mid-1990's, most of the pur=
ely virtual universities that sprang up — from Hungry Minds to Califor=
nia Virtual University — have been sold or scaled back or have disappe=
ared altogether. The same is true for the lavish venture-capital financing f=
or start-ups that designed online courses for colleges or put the technology=
for such courses in place, for a high fee. <BR>
<BR>
In 2000, some $482 million in venture capital was spent on companies buildi=
ng online tools aimed at the higher education market. So far this year, that=
amount has dropped to $17 million, according to Eduventures. <BR>
<BR>
Kenneth Green, founder of the Campus Computing Project, a research effort b=
ased in Los Angeles that studies information technology in American higher e=
ducation, pointed to a combination of reasons that universities have stumble=
d in distance education. <BR>
<BR>
Mr. Green said that college campuses and dot-coms had looked at the numbers=
and anticipated a rising tide of enrollment based on baby boomers and their=
children as both traditional students and those seeking continuing educatio=
n. In short, the colleges essentially assumed that if they built it, student=
s would come. <BR>
<BR>
One conspicuous example is Fathom. Last week, Columbia's senate issued a re=
port saying that the university should cut spending on the venture because i=
t had little return to show for its investment. The report urges better coor=
dination among the university's digital efforts, notably Columbia Interactiv=
e, a site aimed at scholars seeking academic content. <BR>
<BR>
Fathom started in 2000 by offering elaborate online courses replicating the=
Ivy League experience. The company has an impressive roster of a dozen part=
ners, including the London School of Economics and Political Science, Cambri=
dge University Press, the British Library, the University of Chicago and the=
New York Public Library. Many of Fathom's courses are provided by its membe=
r institutions, and many offer credit toward a degree. <BR>
<BR>
Although Fathom's courses were impressive from the start — for exampl=
e, "Introduction to Macroeconomics," taught by a University of Was=
hington professor for $670 — the idea that many students would pay $50=
0 or more for them proved a miscalculation. <BR>
<BR>
"If you listened to some of the conversations going around on campuses=
, it was, `Gee, this looks to be easy, inexpensive to develop and highly pro=
fitable — throw it up on the Web and people will pay us,' " Mr. G=
reen said. <BR>
<BR>
But business models were flawed, he said, and university administrators did=
not fully understand the cost of entering the market. "It's really, re=
ally expensive to do this stuff," he said. "It costs hundreds of t=
housands of dollars to build a course well." <BR>
<BR>
There are substantial costs in designing the course, Mr. Green said, like c=
reating video, securing content rights and paying the faculty member who tea=
ches it. "This doesn't migrate painlessly from classroom onto the Web,&=
quot; he said. "It's more like making a Hollywood movie." <BR>
<BR>
Michael Crow, executive vice provost at Columbia, said that Fathom had yet =
to generate significant revenue, let alone turn a profit. <BR>
<BR>
"Right now we're trying to figure out how to make it work intellectual=
ly," he said, "and we have to figure out later how to make it work=
financially. If anyone had asked us how anyone was going to make the univer=
sity work financially as the first question asked, it would never have been =
built." <BR>
<BR>
Now Fathom has decided that instead of students seeking degrees, it will fo=
cus on those looking for courses in professional development and continuing =
education. Fathom is also offering courses that are less expensive to produc=
e and cost less for students, as well as several dozen others that are free.=
<BR>
<BR>
"We've broadened the kinds of courses in recognition of the fact that =
most people aren't familiar yet with online learning, so they need different=
price points," said Ann Kirschner, Fathom's president and chief execut=
ive. "We need to introduce learners to the concept before they will com=
mit money." <BR>
<BR>
Part of the problem, distance learning experts say, has been an emphasis on=
technology — streaming video, for example — at the expense of m=
ore careful thinking about how remote learning might best be conducted. Some=
critics say that university administrators confused tools with education. <=
BR>
<BR>
"We figured a quick wave of the magic wand and we'd reinvent how peopl=
e learned after 900 years of a traditional university mode of instruction,&q=
uot; Dr. Gonick said. <BR>
<BR>
New York University has had a conspicuously difficult experience with dista=
nce education. The university started NYUonline in late 1998 to focus on cor=
porate education and training, not degree programs. The company sold the cou=
rses as packages to corporate customers. <BR>
<BR>
By the time it opened its virtual doors to students in 2000, NYUonline empl=
oyed 45 people and offered online courses with titles like "Train the T=
rainer," for human resource managers, and "Management Techniques,&=
quot; aimed at young managers. <BR>
<BR>
The NYUonline courses were not cheap. "Train the Trainer," which =
included live Webcasts as well as self-paced online courseware, cost around =
$1,600. The tuition for the management techniques course was close to $600. =
<BR>
<BR>
In two and a half years of operation, NYUonline received nearly $25 million=
from the university, but enrollment remained anemic at best: just 500 stude=
nts at its peak. <BR>
<BR>
After closing NYUonline, the university moved some of the company's activit=
ies into its School of Continuing and Professional Studies, which was probab=
ly where it belonged in the first place, said Gordon Macomber, the former ch=
ief executive of NYUonline, who is now a consultant on electronic learning i=
n New Canaan, Conn. <BR>
<BR>
"Along the way it became apparent that a major university that wants t=
o get into online education can do it without forming a separate for-profit =
online company," Mr. Macomber said. "If you're going to invest mon=
ey in anything, the university might as well invest it within the university=
instead of supporting a for-profit company." <BR>
<BR>
There are a few success stories. The technically oriented University of Pho=
enix has an online enrollment of more than 37,000, with four-year and post-g=
raduate degree programs aimed at older students. The university's success, M=
r. Green suggested, comes from its expertise in branding, marketing and infr=
astructure. <BR>
<BR>
That could be the combination for success in distance education. <BR>
<BR>
The trick now is finding a way for universities like Columbia, steeped in a=
cademic tradition, to make it work. <BR>
<BR>
"In a way, that is the crux of the matter," said Ms. Kirschner of=
Fathom. "Are universities going to grow smaller and marginalized in a =
world teeming with sources of information, or are they more important than e=
ver, as people seek to separate fact from fiction, knowledge from data?"=
; Ms. Kirschner said she hoped the answer would be the latter. <BR>
<BR>
In the meantime, you can brush up your Shakespeare. And they'll all kowtow.=
<BR>
<BR>
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information<BR>
<HR ALIGN=3DCENTER SIZE=3D"3" WIDTH=3D"95%"></FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana">
</FONT>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>
<FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><B><U>OTHER RESOURCES</U></B>
</FONT>
<P>
<FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><BR>
CALIFORNIA VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY <BR>
Created in 1997 by the University of California, California State Universit=
y, and community and independent colleges as a clearinghouse of existing onl=
ine course offerings. Abandoned April 1999.<BR>
<BR>
WESTERN GOVERNORS' UNIVERSITY <BR>
Created June 1996 by the Western Governors' Association, with funds from st=
ates, the Gates Foundation, I.B.M. and the federal government, as a clearing=
house of existing American university degree and nondegree programs. Reconce=
ived September 2001 as a teacher-training program.<BR>
<BR>
VIRTUAL TEMPLE <BR>
Created November 1999 by Temple University as a wholly owned profit-making =
corporation, making Temple a "global university." Abandoned July 2=
001.<BR>
<BR>
ECORNELL <BR>
Created July 2000 by Cornell University to extend the reach of degree progr=
ams in labor and industrial relations. Reorganized March 2001, and expanded =
into continuing medical education and hotel administration (a nondegree prog=
ram).<BR>
<BR>
NYUONLINE <BR>
Created November 1998 by New York University as a wholly owned profit-makin=
g corporation developing online courses for businesses and other clients fro=
m the university's curriculum. Abandoned December 2001 after investment exce=
eding $20 million.<BR>
<BR>
E-MBA <BR>
Created November 2000 by SUNY Buffalo College of Business as an online mast=
er's program. Abandoned March 2002.<BR>
<BR>
FATHOM CONSORTIUM <BR>
Created March 2000 by Columbia University, the London School of Economics, =
the University of Chicago, the New York Public Library and others to offer c=
orporate training, continuing education based on existing curriculum, and sp=
ecialized lifelong-learning courses. Columbia, the main source of financing,=
is reassessing the program after investing more than $25 million.<BR>
<HR ALIGN=3DCENTER SIZE=3D"3" WIDTH=3D"95%"></FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana">
</FONT>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>
<FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><B><U>ATTACHMENT III<BR>
</U></B></FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana">
</FONT>
<P>
<FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><B>Subject: </B>fyi<BR>
<B>Date: </B>Wednesday, April 24, 2002 10:53 PM<BR>
<B>From: </B>john eger <jeger@mail.sdsu.edu><BR>
<B>To: </B><utsumi@columbia.edu><BR>
<BR>
GLOBAL CYBERUNIVERSITY COULD OPEN NEXT YEAR<BR>
A group of 19 colleges in 15 countries has agreed to sponsor an<BR>
"international cyberuniversity," which could be up and running by=
next<BR>
year. Initial plans for the new university were held at Ewha Womans<BR>
University in Seoul, which will be responsible for the technical<BR>
operations. The group faces the issue of what language to use for<BR>
instruction, as well as many technical challenges, including<BR>
compatibility of hardware and bandwidths. Degress from the university<BR>
would be jointly awarded by all of the institutions, which include one<BR>
U.S. school, Pomona College in Claremont, California.<BR>
Chronicle of Higher Education, 23 April 2002<BR>
http://chronicle.com/free/2002/04/2002042401u.htm<BR>
<HR ALIGN=3DCENTER SIZE=3D"3" WIDTH=3D"95%"></FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Verdana">
</FONT>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>
<FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><B><U>List of Distribution=20
</U></B></FONT>
<P>
<FONT FACE=3D"Courier"><BR>
Lewis A. Miller<BR>
Chairman<BR>
Intermedica, Inc.<BR>
International Medical Education Services<BR>
90 Goodwives River Rd<BR>
Darien, CT 06820-5921<BR>
(203) 662-9690<BR>
Fax (203) 655 2904<BR>
lamiller@intermedica-inc.com<BR>
www.intermedica-inc.com<BR>
<BR>
Dr. Pablo Pulido<BR>
Executive Director<BR>
PanAmerican Federation of Associations of Medical Schools<BR>
Apartado de Correos 60411<BR>
Caracus 1060-A<BR>
VENEZUELA<BR>
+58-2-945-0857<BR>
Fax: +58-2-945-4275<BR>
pablopulido1@compuserve.com<BR>
or<BR>
Sede de la Direccion Ejecutiva<BR>
Caracas, VENEZUELA<BR>
Calle el Torreon, Quinta FEPAFEM<BR>
Urb. Sorocaima, La Trinidad<BR>
+58-2-93-0875 / 943-2840 / 93-0857<BR>
Fax: +58-2-943-285-40<BR>
73000.1447@compuserve.com<BR>
http://www.fepafem.org.ve<BR>
<BR>
Marco Antonio Rodrigues Dias, T.C.D. (Third Cycle Diploma)<BR>
Vice President, Global University System<BR>
Consultant of United Nations University<BR>
Former Director, Division of Higher Education of UNESCO<BR>
36, Rue Ernest Renan<BR>
92.190 Meudon<BR>
FRANCE<BR>
Tel: +33-1-45 34 3509<BR>
+33-1-45-68-3009 (UNU office in Paris)<BR>
Fax: +33-1-45 34 3509<BR>
mardias@wanadoo.fr<BR>
<BR>
John M. Eger<BR>
Executive Director<BR>
International Center for Communications<BR>
College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts<BR>
San Diego State University<BR>
San Diego, CA 92182-4522<BR>
619-594-6933<BR>
619-594-6910<BR>
Fax: 619-594-4488<BR>
jeger@mail.sdsu.edu<BR>
http://www.smartcommunities.org/<BR>
http://www.smartcommunities.org/guidebook.html<BR>
http://www.iicom.org/intermedia/july2001/eger.htm -- His paper on Smart Com=
munities in InterMedia.<BR>
<BR>
Professor Seth G. Neugroschl<BR>
Co-chair Columbia University Seminar on Computers, Man and Society<BR>
Columbia University<BR>
1349 Lexington Avenue<BR>
New York, NY 10128<BR>
212-876-7674<BR>
SN23@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu<BR>
<BR>
Sidney M. Greenfield<BR>
Professor Emeritus<BR>
Department of Anthropology<BR>
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee<BR>
311 West 83rd Street, Apt. 2D<BR>
New York, NY 10024<BR>
212-501-7083<BR>
Fax: 212-787-1457<BR>
egreenf222@aol.com<BR>
<BR>
Dr. Edward A. Friedman<BR>
Director<BR>
Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE)<BR>
Professor of Technology Management<BR>
Stevens Institute of Technology<BR>
Castle Point on Hudson<BR>
Hoboken, NJ 07030<BR>
201-216-5188<BR>
Fax: 201-216-8069<BR>
EIES No. 1871<BR>
FRIEDMAN@STEVENS-TECH.EDU<BR>
http://www.k12science.org<BR>
<BR>
**********************************************************************<BR>
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA  =
; &nb=
sp;*<BR>
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *<BR>
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *=
<BR>
* Founder of CAADE &n=
bsp; =
&nbs=
p; &n=
bsp; *<BR>
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education)  =
; *<BR>
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of &nbs=
p; *<BR>
* Global University System (GUS) =
&nbs=
p; &n=
bsp; *<BR>
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A. &n=
bsp; *<BR>
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *<BR>
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676 &=
nbsp; *<BR>
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/ &nb=
sp; &=
nbsp; *<BR>
**********************************************************************<BR>
</FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>
--B_3103687492_94442--