As distance learning continues to grow, it has become a controversial topic with various issues debated from both pro and con positions. Here are some examples from recent issues of the Chronicle for Higher Education. To me, it's important to keep abreast of the issues but with a critical eye and two feet on the middle ground. (Chris Olgren - Distance Education Certificate Program, UW-Madison)

ON ONE HAND -
ANTICIPATING RAPID GROWTH in the demand for college courses, Washington State's Higher Education Coordinating Board is asking the Legislature to increase spending on online education so the state can avoid constructing new buildings or new campuses...(See: http://chronicle.com/free/2000/01/2000012101u.htm)

LAW PROFESSORS TOLD TO EXPECT COMPETITION - The Internet could throw many law professors out of work, and the law school as a physical entity may vanish with the growth of online legal education, according to A. Michael Froomkin, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law...(See: http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i20/20a04501.htm)

ON THE OTHER HAND -
DEAN ON ONLINE LAW SCHOOL DEFENDS APPROACH - Concord University School of Law, the first all-online law school, has aroused strong opinions and emotions since it opened a little more than a year ago. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg weighed in last September, saying she was "uneasy about classes in which students learn entirely from home." (See: http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i20/20a04502.htm)

FACULTY AT U. OF ILLINOIS CASTS SKEPTICAL EYE - Distance education will not be the gold mine that some administrators imagine, predict 16 professors at the University of Illinois, because providing high-quality instruction is more costly and time-consuming on the Internet than in a traditional classroom. A report from the group, to be officially released this week, says good teaching is possible online, but only by lowering student-to-instructor ratios and taking other steps to counteract the disadvantages of teaching at a distance. The report is the result of a unique yearlong study sparked by a complaint that faculty members were not being included in the university's distance-education planning.. (See: http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i19/19a04801.htm)