Monday, February 01, 1999
Online college virtually ready
Kentucky officials to start offering classes in fall
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON — Kentucky plans to take a big step into the world of online education this fall to bring the classroom to more people.
The state's Commonwealth Virtual University (CVU), an $18 million undertaking that involves half the state's public and private colleges, is on a fast track to opening for business.
Online education is a largely untested world that barely existed five years ago. Its main goal is delivering a college education to people whose work and lifestyles keep them from enrolling at a traditional campus.
State officials are banking on the virtual university as a big part of having a more educated population.
“It is clear that too many Kentuckians have too little education beyond high school,” said Gordon Davies, president of the Council on Postsecondary Education.
This fall, the CVU will offer a limited number of classes from the state's public and private colleges and universities using the Internet and interactive television. In some cases, students wouldn't even have to go to a college campus to complete their degrees.
“The virtual university begins to make education accessible to all who want it,” Mr. Davies said.
The CVU was part of Gov. Paul Patton's 1997 higher education reform act, which restructured the state's system of postsecondary education. Lost in the debate of removing the state's community college system from the University of Kentucky, the virtual university idea drew little comment or criticism.
For the past year and a half, the council has been moving at breakneck speed to get the CVU off the ground.
Mary Beth Susman recently was hired as the CVU's chief executive officer. Ms. Susman was president of the Colorado Electronic Community College in Denver.
In December, the council approved the first CVU budget — nearly $18 million over the next two years.
The budget includes money for support staff to help students, for technology upgrades and for training of professors redesigning their classes to work with the technology.
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