UPFRONT: A major concern among educators and educational administrators is the fear that distance education will replace traditional education. Following are comments that offer a broader perspective, one that views distance education as a means for opening up new possibilities to expand educational opportunities and to enhance educationin the classroom:

"I never understood why people always somehow think that if you propose distance education you are also proposing that traditional classrooms be eliminated. Just because someone comes up with chocolate ice cream does not mean that nobody will ever again eat vanilla. I don't want traditional classrooms to go away. I just don't wantthem to be the only flavor that (we) can consume" (Tom Layton on the DEOS-L ListServ.)

"Distance education (is) a way to extend the reach of instructors across the state through the use of fiber optics, computers, satellites and TV...Most people who benefit from distance learning aren't UW students. They are members of the public taking extension courses, or teachers, business people, nurses and technical-college students seeking additional training...Our focus will not be driven by the technology, but by the needs of students" (David J. Ward, UW System Sr. Vice President for Academic Affairs, Wisconsin State Journal, December 9, 1995.)

"I hope that in the coming years the Lawrence (University) community will take full and imaginative advantage of the power and promise of computing and information technologies and will find ways for those resources to enable us to perform our tasks in liberal education in new and enriching ways. But I hope as well that we will also go back to the future to help us find new ways to make personal engagement with self and others a rich and vital component of a Lawrence education" (Richard Warch, President, Lawrence University, Lawrence Today, Winter, 1995.)

"The book did not render the lecture obsolete, but rather enabled the lecturer to focus and stimulate the students' thoughts instead of having to impart the primary information. Telecommunications technologies ought not be seen as making any form of education/learning obsolete: quite the contrary -- used properly, they should enhance the ability of each form -- and each practitioner -- to work more effectively as part of the learning process" (Michael Goldstein of Dow, Lohnes & Albertson on DEOS-L ListServ.)
_________________________________________________________

Send Comments and Questions by: clicking on "Reply" or the key designated
for "Reply." You may also address your message to:DESIEN-List@uwex.edu
________________________________________________________

DESIEN ISSUE FOCUS:
"DISTANCE EDUCATION ISSUES AND CONCERNS"

This month's issue continues to provide the opportunity for you to comment on the issues and concerns expressed in the 1994 Symposium Participants' Report:

1. Technology availability, dependability, installation time and capacity
2. Distance education costs/affordability
3. Staff cutbacks
4. Pedagogy and faculty attitudes
5. K-12 needs and issues
6. Lack of support and restricted resources
7. Absence of market research
8. Uneven readiness of students for distance education
9. Faculty and staff training
10. Duplication of efforts
11. Turf problems, lack of coordination or system planning, out-of-state competition
12. Results of the "Access to Quality Initiative"
13. Administrative hassles: workload issues, faculty incentives, funding, copyright

INPUT - during the past few weeks, several participants have commented on these issues and concerns:

Dana Nelson noted the efforts underway that will place faculty development in instructional and distance education technology at the forefront of discussion that is related to system-wide efforts.
The most notable effort is the working group on distance education and instructional technology. Faculty development is a key issue in its deliberations. Also significant is the Report on the UW System Strategic Plan for Information Technology's working group on FacultyDevelopment and Tools--see Nov. 28 message.

Bill Tishler directed participants who were interested in learning more about copyright to the Copyright Law WWW site for a greater understanding of what the current laws are--see Dec. 9 message.

A forwarded message from Hal Schlais' s Wislrntec ListServ announced a faculty development collaborative project by UW-Milwaukee, UW-Platteville and UW System - the December 4 videoconference "Perspectives in Planning for Ongoing Faculty Technology Enhancement." This videoconference included presentations by UW-Milwaukee L & S Dean, Marshall Goodman, UW-Platteville Asst. Vice Chancellor for Information Technology, David Hart and UW-System Sr. Vice President for Academic Affairs, David J. Ward--see Nov. 21 message.

AND - here is some additional information:

THE DISTANCE EDUCATION COMMITTEE (DEC) is actively involved in researching, analyzing and bringing together recommendations in a number of areas: 1) ETN scheduling; 2) site support rates for Compressed Video; 3) the development of a Site Support Handbook; 4) the coordination of all information reports for both credit and non-credit distance education courses, to eliminate duplication of efforts and 5) the refinement and expansion of the Distance Education Profile & Inventory. Other areas for future consideration are student services, faculty compensation/rewards and marketing.

With the increasing need for faculty and staff training, ICS's "HANDS-ON/ON-LINE" TRAINING SESSIONS in Audiographics and Compressed Video continue to grow. In addition, individual universities have been or will be coordinating their own training sessions: i.e. UW-Eau Claire, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Platteville, UW-River Falls, UW-Stout, UW-Superior and UW-Whitewater.

Recognizing the need for the professional development of K-12 teachers in using technology in the classroom and the rich resource the UW System institutions can provide, UWEX is developing a statewide TEACHING AND TECHNOLOGY INFUSION INITIATIVE. This Initiative will include partnerships among system universities, K-12 institutions and teachers, educational associations and organizations, the media, business and industry and communities. This Initiative is compatible with CEEC's major initiative "Excellent Schools" and with UW System's current activities related to School-to-Work. More on this Initiative in later issues.

Brief DISTANCE EDUCATION PROPOSALS have been received by the DEC Proposal Committee and have been reviewed. Three have been selected for full proposal development and letters have been sent out. The due date for the full proposals was December 15. The Executive Committee will review the proposals and communicate back in February as part of the formal IIA.

The videotape/print package that highlights the Compressed Video experiences of five UW system faculty members, "BREAKING NEW GROUND: FACULTY PERSPECTIVES," has been purchased by a number of campuses in the university system and by other campuses in Wisconsin, South Dakota, Virginia and Massachusetts.

Rosemary Lehman
Distance Education Specialist
Instructional Communications Systems
University of Wisconsin-Extension

What progress are you aware of on your campus or at the System level? What
comments, questions, recommendations do you have?

CAMPUS UPDATES

(Please insert information about your institution's distance education progress)

UW CENTERS -

UW-EAU CLAIRE -

UW-GREEN BAY - has created a Learning Technology Development Center, located in the Instructional Services Building. Many personnel are associated with this endeavor--see Nov. 21 message - Bob Skorczewski. In addition, ICS will be working with UW-Green Bay on a January workshop to help train several faculty who will be teaching spring and summer courses via Compressed Video - Rosemary Lehman

UW-LA CROSSE - is working with Compressed Video and the WONDER system. Currently 15 faculty have received Continuing Education development grants. La Crosse believes that a concerted effort should be made to pre-market distance education courses. La Crosse is also working diligently on site support service-- see Oct. 26 message - Jim Jorstad.

UW-MADISON - ARC Award - Don Anderson, social work lecturer--see October 14 DESIEN issue; EDUCOM Award - Paul F. Schatz, Director of the Organic Laboratories--see Nov. 10 DESIEN issue. The School of Education has acquired a PictureTel 4000 unit, which is housed in the Instructional Media Development Center (IMDC)--see Oct. 20 message - Scott Rozman; the School of Education has developed a distance education WebSite as a resource for faculty, staff and others who want to do a distance education project with the IMDC--see Dec. 15 message - Scott Rozman.

UW-MILWAUKEE - will be offering a minimum of 5 distance education courses spring of 1996 in the areas of Business, Library and Information Science and the Collaborative Program for Registered Nurses--see Nov. 24 message - Sona Andrews. Two PictureTel 50 units have been ordered for UW-Milwaukee. After 6 months use on an architecture project, they will be housed in the Media department--see Dec. 7 message - John Grozik.

UW-OSHKOSH -

UW-PARKSIDE - ICS and CEE's Dean's Office of UWEX, will hold a Compressed Video planning session with Continuing Education and Women's Studies of UW-Parkside - Rosemary Lehman.

UW-PLATTEVILLE -

UW-RIVER FALLS - Compressed Video (at the Wisconsin Center) was successfully connected to the NWECS fiber-optic network (UW-River Falls) for a K-12 Technology Infusion meeting on November 30 - Rosemary Lehman.

UW-STEVENS POINT - UW-Stevens Point joined UW-Whitewater and ICS for a Compressed Video Orientation Workshop on November 30 - Rosemary Lehman.

UW-STOUT -

UW-SUPERIOR -

UW-WHITEWATER - After three ICS-developed Compressed Video Orientation Workshops for UW-Whitewater, Kathy Gibbs of Continuing Education and Outreach will begin to develop her own workshops. During her 3-4 hour workshops, Kathy will call on ICS for a 1-hour session, to serve as a remote site - Rosemary Lehman.
_____________________________________________________________

FROM THE DISTANCE EDUCATION CLEARINGHOUSE
NETNEWS
Michele Jacques

Distance Education Clearinghouse on the web at: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/home.html or gopher to the server: gopher.uwex.edu for text-only version of the Clearinghouse

The homepage of the web version of the Distance Education Clearinghouse has a new look. We've redesigned it a bit, and added some new features to help make it easier to find information linked within the Clearinghouse.

On the homepage there is both an outlined and an alphabetical index which identify the major sections of the Clearinghouse. At present, the Clearinghouse is made up of over 200 web "pages" of information. That number grows constantly. These indexes should help to pinpoint where the needed information can be found.

We've also added two new sections called NEW ITEMS and FEATURE LINK. As you might suspect, these highlight some of the new material which is being added to the Clearinghouse.
The NEW ITEMS will be a monthly list. At the end of each month the section will be archived. The FEATURE LINK will be a rotating item of particular importance. A few of the new items which we have added in December include:

Collaborative Program in Nursing. This section describes the unique program whereby licensed registered nurses living and working in remote and rural regions of Wisconsin will be able to work toward a bachelor's degree at the five collaborating University of Wisconsin campuses.

Understanding and Using Videoconferencing Standards and Technology. This is a conference which is sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison/Extension College of Engineering Department of Engineering Professional Development. It will be held in Madison on February 20-22, 1996 and is designed to help participants gain an understanding of videoconferencing technology and standards for more effective planning, better purchasing and better use of your system. This is a technical course and those who attend should be familiar with the basic concepts of digital networks and data transmission and the concepts of television.

Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Extension Chancellor's Office. Chancellor Hanna's speech entitled "Mainstreaming Distance Education," given at the recent meeting of NASULGC, (National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges); his testimony before the Joint UW Board of Regents\Educational Communications Board Consolidation Study Committee, and his response to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents Working Group on Mission, Roles, and Synergies have each been added in a new section of the Clearinghouse. Within the Chancellor's NASULGC speech are some fascinating statistics on the growth and use of the internet and world wide web.

As always, please be sure to send me your comments, suggestions, and questions about the Distance Education Clearinghouse. I can be reached at: jacques@ics.uwex.edu or by phone at (608)265-6178. Thank you.

Michele Jacques
Project Coordinator, WWW
Distance Education Clearinghouse
Instructional Communications Systems
University of Wisconsin-Extension

FYI

COPYRIGHT - an effort to draft nationally recognized guidelines on "fair use" of copyrighted works in digital format stalled last week when an Association of American Publishers VP objected to language that would have allowed an educational institution to make limited use of copyrighted material over its computer network without seeking the owner's permission. The VP called for the use only in a real time setting in the classroom (Chronicle of Higher Education, Dec. 15, 1995, A23.)

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS - a call for presentations has been issued for the National Distance Learning Conference sponsored by the Office of Continuing Higher Education and Oregon State University to be held at the Portland Marriott Hotel, March 3-6, 1996 in Portland, Oregon. The title of the conference is "Sharing the Experience III: Beyond the Rhetoric." For proposal submission information contact Dr. Dan Dunham, DLC III Conference Director, 327 Snell Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-1633.

VIDEOCONFERENCE - "Global Education" is an interactive videoconference that will highlight a broad variety of global and community resources and describe how best to take advantage of them. For further information call 1-800-548-4807 or 804-683-5173, Old Dominion University.

NUCEA ANNUAL CONFERENCE - "Technology Revolution: Possibilities and Perils for Higher Education," March 29-April 1, 1996, Boston, MA. For further information call 202-659-3130 or fax to 202-785-0374.

___________________

MID-JANUARY DESIEN ISSUE FOCUS: "The Distance Education Committee (DEC)" - a column co-authored by Rosemary Lehman and Dana Nelson.

ENDNOTES: Have a wonderful, safe and meaningful Holiday Season!!
____________________________________________________________

DESIEN has been created to encourage information exchange and discussion of distance education issues concerned with: 1) Symposium team progress and institution course/program development, 2) faculty/team development, 3) technology, 4) policy, 5) funding and 6) research among participants, presenters and organizers of the 1994 UW-Extension/UW System Distance Education Symposium. Other List members are also welcome to join in for information and discussion.

Each monthly issue will focus on an "area of interest", feature a regular column on the Distance Education Clearinghouse by Michele Jacques, contain an FYI section and list future areas of focus. Your continuous input through updates, features, questions and dialogue will be instrumental in helping DESIEN evolve and grow.

DESIEN is a one-year pilot project, September, 1995 to September, 1996 and will be evaluated at the end of that time. The coordinators of DESIEN are Rosemary Lehman and Pat Takemoto. The owner of DESIEN is Rosemary Lehman, lehman@ics.uwex.edu. Please contact Rosemary
if you have concerns or problems.

ListServ: DESIEN-List@uwex.edu