• The Electronic Campus, the nation’s most successful marketplace of distance learning courses, will expand to more than 2,000 courses and 75 degree programs and will add courses and programs from colleges in Delaware. The Electronic Campus began 18 months ago with 104 courses.

• Electronic library services will be available to students enrolled in courses through the Electronic Campus.

• The new SREB Distance Learning Policy Laboratory will become the focal point for discussing policies, establishing pilot efforts, assessing results and issuing policy guidelines and recommendations for the Electronic Campus.

• A national advertising campaign will be launched to attract new students to the Electronic Campus.

• A corporate sponsor program for the Electronic Campus will be initiated.

The news conference about the Electronic Campus, which featured several other leaders in addition to Underwood, concluded the Southern Regional Education Board’s annual meeting.

"With more than 5 million hits on the Electronic Campus Web site at www.srec.sreb.org, more than 100,000 visitors and 1999 enrollment already exceeding 20,000 students, the Electronic Campus is making a difference. And all of this is while we are still very much in the early stages of development," said Carol Spencer, president of Cedar Valley College in Texas.

She said the course expansion includes an increasing number of courses available over the Internet to fit the lifestyle of today’s working adult.

"Two Delaware institutions — the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical and Community College — will make course offerings this fall. With these additions the Electronic Campus will have courses and programs from all 16 SREB states," she said.

Steve Uhlfelder, former chairman and a member of the Board of Regents for the State University System of Florida, said the SREB Distance Learning Policy Laboratory will work to remove policy barriers that hinder the expansion of distance learning.

"Policies, both at the institutional and state levels, must be evaluated, reconsidered and, when necessary, recast for distance learning," he said.

Out-of-state tuition, financial assistance for distance learners, transfer credit policies and online services will be among the potential barriers addressed, Uhlfelder said.

Dr. Roy McTarnaghan, who recently retired as founding president of Florida Gulf Coast University, will head the Policy Laboratory.

"He is a recognized leader in distance learning, and I know he is enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with SREB and the

Electronic Campus," said Uhlfelder.

University of Georgia President Michael Adams said that, through a contractual arrangement with the Georgia Board of Regents, students taking Electronic Campus courses will have access to the nationally recognized GALILEO "virtual" library.

"What this means is that a student can easily access a database of more than 3,800 publications, with more than 1,500 available in full text. The disciplines are varied and include the social sciences, general sciences, business and education. All of these publications can be easily and quickly searched using GALILEO’s powerful but easy-to-use search engines," Adams said.

He said GALILEO would put "a library at the fingertips" of the working adult in metropolitan Maryland, a homemaker in rural Louisiana or a businessperson traveling around the world.

Adams said the next step will be to "link" the virtual library initiatives across the SREB region.

Bruce Chaloux, director of the Electronic Campus, said that a series of advertisements will appear in July and August to introduce more people to the Electronic Campus and its benefits.

"We hope that many more people will visit our campus — a click of a mouse away," he said. "Our goal is for people of all ages to realize how user-friendly the Electronic Campus is and what it does to take educational opportunities to people anywhere who have an Internet connection."

The ads will be seen in Delta’s Sky magazine, USA Today, and STARS and STRIPES, the military newspaper that goes to U.S. military personnel all over the world.

Chaloux said an announcement will be made soon about a corporate sponsors program for the Electronic Campus.

"We are finalizing an agreement with one major corporate sponsor, and we think others will realize the positive impact that the Electronic Campus can have on the business world," he said.

For release on June 15, 1999
For more information, contact Bracey Campbell at (404) 875-9211, Ext 244.