Many professors recognize that online education is changing the landscape of academe. But faculty members at several colleges are making it clear that they will not be steamrolled. Philosophy professors at San Jose State University last week wrote an open letter saying they refused to use material from an edX course, taught by a famous Harvard…

This article presents an excerpt of the responses of two experts, Gene I. Maeroff, a senior fellow at the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Columbia University's Teachers College and author of "A Classroom of One: How Online Learning Is Changing Our Schools and Colleges," and Robert Zemsky, chairman of the Learning Alliance for…

Describes how the University of the South Pacific has created a satellite-based computer network aimed at greatly expanding its offerings to students on remote islands. (EV)

Explores why the most popular professors on many campuses are comfortable using classroom-based technology but rarely choose to teach via distance education. (EV)

As the concept of earning a higher education degree at home becomes more accepted, diploma mills operating on the Internet proliferate. Students confuse unscrupulous institutions with legitimate distance education. Many use the World Wide Web as their primary marketing tool, with sites similar to those of accredited colleges, and do not appear to…

Describes the online distance education efforts of Salish Kootenai College (Montana) which is using inexpensive software and a staff of three people to provide 50 courses to several hundred students. Emphasis is on traditional values, including service over profit, collaborative learning, spirituality, creative thinking, and problem solving. (DB)

Asserts that while prospective distance educators are flocking to certification programs, some academics question their value. Although certification programs, which can differ significantly in nature and intensity, go well beyond simple technology training, many newly certified distance educators have found that the certification does not…

Small regional colleges are bracing for a battle to protect their profitable continuing-education programs from competition with distance-learning programs at research universities. Concern is particularly for part-time students who may choose distance programs that are less expensive, more convenient, and offer diplomas from better-known…

Increasingly, students enrolled in regular college classes are taking online courses for convenience. Offering students these options raises administrative issues, including how to balance faculty teaching loads and pay for both forms of instruction. Critics say students choosing online courses are not getting the education they pay for, and…

Internet-based master's programs in business administration (M.B.A.s) serve a market that could bring significant revenues to business schools, providing new access to mid- to upper-level managers who want degrees to advance their careers but who cannot take time from work, or to young executives whose bosses offer to pay for the degree but not…

College administrators in computing and institutional planning contend that using computers and other technology for instruction, communication, and distance education is becoming crucial for coping with demands for better undergraduate teaching, reductions in state support, pressures to hold down private college tuition, and growth in…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This April 22, 2005 issue of "Chronicle of Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "A Hypocritical Oath" (Drozdowski, Mark J.); (2) "Becoming A Learner…