Last week's terrorist activity has temporarily delayed plans for the proposal of a new virtual university in Virginia. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia was supposed to vote Sept. 11 whether to recommend the plan for the 2002 General Assembly, but voting will now take place Oct. 16.
One of the key features of the proposed Virginia Virtual University is "educational brokering," said John H. Milam Jr., who is the virtual university's original architect and a professor at the University's Center for the Study of Higher Education.
At the proposed institution, students would be able to create personalized curriculums, which could include taking online courses at in-state and out-of state institutions and working with many businesses.
State officials are particularly interested in the plan because it would help them deal with a projected 38,000 student increase in enrollment at Virginia colleges by 2010, SCHEV Communications Director G. Paul Nardo said.
The creation of the virtual university would be easier than constructing new buildings to accommodate the increase, especially because the number of students enrolled in Virginia colleges is expected to drop off after 2010, Nardo said.
Although the virtual university is "not going to be the institution for everyone," it is supposed to "fill an existing gap in Virginia higher education by creating an umbrella institution by which students can create an individualized study degree," Nardo said.
If the SCHEV proposal passes, the virtual university would cost approximately $400,000 for about the first five years, then costs would go down, Milam said.
In addition to creating personalized learning plans, students could compose electronic portfolios - compilations of various pieces of work they have done, including papers, artwork, and Web sites they have created.
Interaction with other students and mentoring with instructors would take place as well. Students would be able to communicate online with each other in "learning teams," Milam said.
The proposed virtual university would also "[break] apart the whole notion of what a faculty member does," he said.
Students would communicate with "faculty generalists," specialists in education who do not focus on research as much as many traditional professors.
Rather than competing with other institutions for funding and resources, Milam expects the virtual university to provide enrollment increases for traditional institutions because the program would attract students who might not otherwise attend college.
Others were more skeptical about aspects of the program. J. Thomas Hennessey, chief of staff at George Mason University, said he did not know how large the population is that the virtual university "will be appealing to."
Also, though the proposed plan may allow for great flexibility, "with that flexibility you give up some things" like personal relationships with other students and professors, Hennessey said.
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