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UW-COLLEGES - It's been a busy time for the UW-Colleges. Their new compressed video system has been installed; technical and support staff have received training; fall faculty have completed a three-phase training session and a new CIO, Dick Cleek, has been hired. During the coming year the Colleges will be offering 10 compressed video courses, 6 asynchronous courses online and 8 courses via WisView audiographics.

UW-EAU CLAIRE - For the past eight months, Fred Waedt, Assistant Dean in the College of Business, has been administering the new Chippewa Valley National Technological University (NTU) Community Site at UW-Eau Claire. The site grew out of a regional need by area business leaders for engineering courses. While UW-Eau Claire could not provide an Engineering School to meet these needs, efforts were coordinated to bring similar courses to the area electronically via NTU. More than 40 engineers enrolled in the first semester.

The site is funded by private high tech companies in the region and has an Advisory Board comprised of two partner universities, UW-Stout and Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC), as well as area industrial development corporations. While the educational partners are close geographically, their missions are distinct: CVTC trains people for immediate access to the workforce, UW-Stout emphasizes degree programs that are more technical in nature and UW-Eau Claire focuses more broadly on business and liberal arts.

By the summer of 1999, the classes will become even more convenient for employees of the region's growing roster of high-tech companies, when a building in Eau Claire's Gateway West Business Park will be completed. The Center received a major boost in January when the governor used his State of the State speech to offer a $500,000 grant to help build the facility. UW-Eau Claire is one of more than 500 sites around the world offering NTU courses, which originate from 47 universities, and is the fourth in Wisconsin.
(Contact: Fred A. Waedt, Assistant Dean, School of Business, UW-Eau Claire)

UW-EXTENSION, ICS - WisVIew Audiographics: This summer, ICS replaced its FarSite WisView Audiographics software with MeetingTools, new software that offers increased advantages that are evident when joining conferences, sharing workbooks and scanning materials. To prepare faculty and site coordinator staff for MeetingTools, Bill Whipple installed all sites with the new software and Sue Faust, with the help of Milly Jones, prepared new information for site distribution. In addition, four well-attended orientation sessions were held to introduce faculty to the new enhanced function. This hands-on' approach to the training gave participants an opportunity to experience the collaborative nature of MeetingTools.

Videoconferencing - Two multipoint sessions were held during the past two weeks, to provide UW-Colleges faculty with the opportunity to present a 15-minute course sequence for critique before their classes begin in September. Initial faculty training for the Colleges began in May with a two-day session for technical staff, faculty and other support personnel. This was followed by a one-on-one audioconference with fall faculty to discuss individual course and sequence development. The multipoint sessions were the culmination of the three-phase program for fall faculty. In October, Outreach/Distance Education Specialists Bruce Dewey and Rosemary Lehman will repeat phases two and three for spring faculty.

UW-SUPERIOR - The UW-Superior Extended Degree Program is offering the option to learn via the Internet to its approximately 500 students. The program offers an interdisciplinary major, the diversity of the print-based offerings and the Internet programs listed below, reflecting the interests of its students: Biol 100, Environmental Science; Biol 123, Concepts in Biology; Bus 301, Business Communication; Bus 370, Principles of Marketing; Bus 383, Organization Behavior; Geog 102, Cultural Geography; IDS 298, Portfolio Development; Math 112, Introduction to Contemporary Mathematics; Phys 100, Astronomy; Phys 300, History and Philosophy of Science; PSci 230, U.S. National, State and Local Government; TEd 314, Teaching Elementary Reading.

Thirteen additional courses are being developed for the Internet format with an expected completion date of June 1999: Biol 305, Evolution; Bus 380, Principles of Management; Comm 170, Mass Communications and Society; CIS 108, Business Computer Applications; CSci 101, Introduction to Computer Science; Geog 100, World Regional Geography; Math 104, Intermediate Algebra; PSci 370, Public Policy Analysis; Ted 253, Human Development; Ted 321, Teaching Elementary Science; Ted 464, Developing Literacy, 4-12th Grades; Ted 470, Multicultural, Nonsexist Education; Ted 481, Basic Statistics.
(Contact: Carolyn Petroske, Director-Extended Degree Program, UW Superior)