Higher Ed Distance Ed?

[Mark Benno <mbenno@mail.waco.isd.tenet.edu>]

I thought this piece from the TXDLA listserv might interest our 
geographically diverse class.  I commend Drs. Anderson, Perry, and 
Oliveri for their work in making distance coursework available to us.

Mark Benno
Hewitt, TX (Our county, McLennan, has more churces per capita than any 
other county in the US - more than 80 Baptist churches alone.)

__________________

Distance Education Leader Disagrees With Fundamentals of National
Commission Study on the Cost of Higher Education

                                                        Wednesday,
January 21 11:15 AM ET (BUSINESS WIRE) -

   WHO:  Glenn R. Jones, chairman and CEO of Jones Intercable Inc.
and  Jones Education Companies, oversees a communications empire that
includes a Top 10 cable television operator, as well as distance
education enterprises, such as Knowledge TV, International  University
and College Connection.  Jones is the author of the  recently
published "Cyberschools:  An Education Renaissance."  His  pragmatic,
yet visionary approach to meshing alternative education  with the
telecommunications business has earned him a reputation as  "the
entrepreneur's entrepreneur."

   COMMENTS:

         "Although the National Commission on the Cost of Higher
Education  has found that college tuition rates have leveled off in
the last  three years, the study fails to address a critical point:
that  despite the leveling off of tuition rates, the cost for
education is  still much too high and prohibitively expensive for a
majority of  Americans. As the commission noted, tuition rates largely
reflect  universities' expensive infrastructure -- namely, building
maintenance  and pricey faculty salaries.  It is difficult to offset
or reduce  tuition rates within the traditional education model
without  compromising the fundamental quality of education.

   "With alternatives like 'cyberschools,' however, which use
technologies such as the Internet and e-mail to cost-effectively
deliver quality education to anyone who wishes it anywhere they want
it, we can now reach the education 'have-nots' which have been
dropped out of the system.  It is disappointing that the commission
chose to virtually ignore the vital role cyberschools and technology
can play in lowering tuition costs for students, eliminating the
economically cumbersome infrastructure necessary to deliver quality
learning affordably.  Only by lifting barriers to higher education,
rather than sanctioning them, can we give hope to tens of millions  of
Americans that today can only dream of the opportunities that  higher
education and training can bring."