Following are experts who can discuss distance learning. The popularity of distance education has spread from colleges to earlier grades, as students in more than one-third of U.S. school districts take courses over the Internet or through video conferences, according to the first federal study of the issue:
**1. LINDA GRAETER, Ph.D., department chair of analytical and diagnostic sciences at the UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI College of Allied Health Sciences: "Distance learning is meeting the needs of a busy, mobile population -- one that has created the demand for more options for lifelong learning. Distance learning programs are offering students the chance to work outside the constraints of many other traditional programs. The approaches to distance learning are broad, providing limitless opportunities for exploring multiple learning methods."
**2. NANCY ROHLAND, general manager of the NATIONAL UNIVERSITY VIRTUAL HIGH SCHOOL: "Not everyone grows up in a great school district that can offer all the resources each individual student needs, whether it's a college-level course for the advanced student or a specially tailored class for a student who learns better on her own. If we as a society agree that education is the gateway to success, then increased opportunities and methods to learn become all the more vital. For a student who struggles in a classroom environment, online learning allows for study at a time, pace and place that is more convenient. For the advanced high- school student, it gives the option of jumpstarting life's next phase -- college."
**3. JAMES MYERS, director of the Center for Multidisciplinary Studies at the ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: "Online learning has been a revolution at universities that adopted e-learning as part of core missions. A beauty of online learning is it serves the needs of a wide variety of students. E- learning expands educational access to people constrained by time or geography, has re-invigorated the discussion around quality teaching and learning, and helped force the debate on intellectual property on campus. 'Blended-learning' -- an approach that provides students with the best of both worlds -- will prove be very successful. RIT is adopting a blended-learning model called 'Online OnCampus' that extends the traditional classroom via online technology."
**4. SUSAN J. GOETZ, ED.D., director of the COLLEGE OF ST. CATHERINE's Distance Learning Masters in Education and author of the upcoming book "Science for Girls: Successful Strategies for the Classroom": "Distance education is here to stay. Learners in today's world are consumers, and their needs have evolved with the wide usage of technology. Distance education is now its own entity, and the research has shifted from whether we can teach remotely to how we can do it better in terms of teaching practices, student learning styles, engaging learners remotely and building 'community.'" Goetz has presented at the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education National Conference and addressed technology and distance-learning education issues and opportunities at Oxford and the E-Learn 2002 conference in Montreal.
**5. PAULA O'CALLAGHAN, director of the independent study MBA program at SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY's Whitman School of Management: "In traditional colleges, professors will have full-time, on-campus students and a section of the same class with distance learning part-time students. Students will have access to many more courses than those at their area colleges. Colleges will expand their reach and bring in students they never could have attracted before." O'Callaghan authored the foreword to the upcoming "Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Your MBA Online."
**6. THOMAS P. FAULKNER, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology at OHIO NORTHERN UNIVERSITY: "Does distance learning offer the same results as the traditional classroom? We concluded in a study that online methods were as effective as traditional methods and generally acceptable to the students. Successful academic performance by traditional means and a preference for independent learning were factors related to success." The study by Drs. Thomas Faulkner, Jeffrey Christoff and Marc Sweeney, and Nathan Oliver from the university's IT department, is published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.
**7. SEAN O'DONNELL, director of distance education for VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY's College of Engineering: "To truly succeed in distance education, you have to create a fully online learning experience that exactly replicates the traditional in-class experience, but with the added benefits of anytime/anywhere access. It's an approach that our faculty has embraced because it leverages their core strengths as educators, while providing a sustainable and replicable model for distributing learning content."
**8. DR. CHARI A. LEADER, interim provost and vice president for enrollment management at EXCELSIOR COLLEGE: "Distance education "- the process of learning outside the traditional classroom setting "- will continue to expand. It will not replace campus-based learning, yet many of the nation's leading colleges and universities have embraced distance learning as means to reach a broader audience for their courses and programs. From a workforce perspective, the growth in distance learning means that education can come to the desktop, enabling employees to remain productive while expanding their own horizons."
**9. JAMES A. DIAS, vice president of SONIC FOUNDRY, which produces professional digital audio editing software: "While the percentage of institutions that offer online distance learning is impressive, dig deeper, and you will find that the vast majority only offer 5-10 percent of courses in this manner. The reason for this low penetration rate is traced to the complex and expensive content creation processes, such as studio-based production or e-learning authoring, which create new cost centers in terms of people, time and resources. Many believe that an automated classroom-based rich media approach, which leverages existing classes and infrastructure with fewer technical, economic and emotional hurdles to clear, represents our best hope for reaching online education's tipping point." Sonic Foundry's Mediasite is used by over 100 higher education and K-12 organizations for distance education.
**10. STEVE PEHA, president of TEACHING THAT MAKES SENSE, INC.: "We have to be careful thinking distance learning is just like classroom learning. Distance learning is great if the learning goal is the transfer of knowledge. If you want to get new product information to your sales force, or help high-school kids get ready for the SAT Verbal test, distance learning's fine. It's less effective if the goal involves getting people to change behaviors. You can't, for example, use distance learning effectively to improve how your sales force works with operations. And you can't teach kids to write as well through distance learning as you can through classroom learning because of the social nature of the task."
**11. BILL BENOIT, co-founder of VIDERE CONFERENCING: "Vendors have recognized the potential of conferencing in the education market and have moved aggressively to offer custom solutions that fit their needs. There is a perfect storm happening right now in terms of technology improvements, improved functionality, lower pricing and increasing demand for these solutions. It all adds up to broader deployment of conferencing technology in classrooms ranging from primary to secondary to graduate schools." Videre customers include the University of Massachusetts, UMASS Medical School, Brown University and the University of Vermont.
**12. DR. ROBERT D. STOKES, assistant vice president for academic affairs at VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY: "Benefits of distance learning include flexibility coupled with the quality of an on-campus program. Drawbacks can be the self discipline required by students, and it requires more planning and flexibility on the instructor's part. Distance education will not replace traditional education, but it will allow colleges to attract students who normally would not have considered a distant college."
**13. A. FRANK MAYADAS, program director of THE ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION: "Online learning is entering the mainstream. Previously, we have found that a majority of academic leaders said that online learning was just as good as traditional, face-to-face classroom instruction. We now know that schools that are offering online courses believe their students are at least as satisfied as those actually in the classroom."
**14. LIZ PAPE, president and CEO of VIRTUAL HIGH SCHOOL, which provides online learning for high-school students and online course design for teachers: "To equip students with 21st century learning skills, it is critical that we make online learning widely available to middle- and high-school students, and this is something that must be addressed immediately."
**15. ROGER HANLEY, vice president of academic services at ELLUMINATE, which offers live virtual classroom software for online meeting and training with two-way voice, whiteboard and chat, has a career in public education that spans 20 years, during which he conceived, initiated and began operating the Rocky View Virtual School, which provides full-time education for students in grades 7-12. Hanley has led a number of speaking engagements, including various teachers' conventions and education/technology specialist councils, and went on to become the business area manager of Virtual High Schools at Apex Learning.
**16. RAJEEV ARORA, vice president of strategy and business development at ELLUMINATE, has over 12 years of sales, marketing, and product development experience in the software and Internet industries. Most recently, he was senior vice president of products and strategic marketing at Opnix, an Internet infrastructure software firm based in Tempe, Ariz. Prior to Opnix, Arora served as vice president of product marketing at Viasoft, where he was responsible for launching the company's PC software business unit. Arora has served as president and was part of the founding team for TiE-Arizona. In the past, Arora has served on the Board of Arizona Software Association.
**17. DR. SAM SPERO is a consultant for the Association of Modern Orthodox Day Schools and Yeshiva High Schools (AMODS) at YESHIVA UNIVERSITY, which developed The Distance Learning Project, part of a broad distance-learning initiative. Comprised of a distance-learning video conferencing component and a course management tool called "Angel," the project is currently used at more than 20 schools throughout the U.S. and Canada.
**18. DR. ERNST EUGSTER, distance-learning instructor at the UNIVERSITY OF DENVER, has over 20 years of engineering, marketing, and consulting experience in the computer industry, nationally and internationally. He has written over 100 articles on information technology and has given presentations at industry conferences, including ITU Telecom Asia 2003 held in Hong Kong. He teaches courses in project management and information systems security and has been instrumental in creating the university's distance learning program.
**19. PHILLIP G. KNUTEL, director of Academic Technology, Library, and Research Services at BENTLEY COLLEGE, is an expert on distance learning, technology and teaching, as well as technology in the classroom. Knutel provides strategic direction regarding the use of technology in the curriculum, oversees staff at the Academic Technology Center, and meets with faculty to discuss ideas and coordinate projects and programs related to technology integration.
**20. DR. GARY MILLER, associate vice president for outreach at PENN STATE UNIVERSITY, is an expert in the field of distance education. He has been cited by Inc. Magazine, the Washington Post, Money.com magazine and the Chronicle of Higher Education, and has presented at national and international symposiums and conferences. Miller can help to distinguish different kinds of online education and can also discuss quality issues, funding, demographics, satisfaction and research related to distance education, as well as the broader issues related to this kind of education and its future.
**21. DR. JAMES PAPPAS, vice provost of the UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA OUTREACH, a distance-learning institution, is an expert on this growing trend among all age groups from teens to seniors, and from high-school diplomas to Master's degrees.
**22. JOEL SMITH is the vice provost of computing services at CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY and lead researcher for its Open Learning Initiative, a program to put 12 university courses on the Web.
**23. CANDACE THILLE is the project director for CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY's Open Learning Initiative, a project to put 12 university courses on the Web.
**24. DR. P. HENRY VAN ZYL, vice provost for distance and independent adult learning at THOMAS EDISON STATE COLLEGE, has more than 20 years of experience in the field of distance learning. Van Zyl can speak with authority about distance learning trends, both past and present, and new technology.
**25. CHRISTINE BEISCHEL is dean of the College of Distributed Learning at BELLEVUE UNIVERSITY, which oversees the university's distance learning programs. Beishcel can discuss the evolution and future of distance learning.
**26. STAN POTTS, program coordinator for online certificates in Community Education and Service Learning at the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-RIVER FALLS, can discuss distance learning.
**27. KELLY CAIN, coordinator of the Wildlife Recreation & Nature Tourism (WRNT) Graduate Certificate Online Program at the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN- RIVER FALLS, can discuss distance learning.
ROUND-UP: IMPACT OF SINGLE K-8 FACILITIES (continued)
We've added the following to items posted previously at http://profnet.prnewswire.com/organik/orbital/thewire/lst_leads.jsp?iLRTopicID =3973
**1. MORGAN APPEL, director of education programs at UC IRVINE EXTENSION: "Recent research touts the benefits of K-8 schools with respect to achievement, discipline and attendance. This is true because there is a significant loss of achievement during transition years (moving from fifth to sixth or sixth to seventh grades) and higher dropout rates versus K-8 schools. The K-8 configuration affords unique opportunities for older students to serve as mentors to younger students, proves beneficial to at-risk pupils and has inspired a movement toward K-12 schools in certain communities. It also provides for greater articulation and collaboration by teachers across grades. However, the middle- school model that incorporates grades 6,7, and 8 tends to offer a broader curricular spectrum and prepare pupils for ultimate transition to high school."
_____LEADS
**1. EDUCATION: FIFTH GRADERS REGULARLY EXPERIENCE SLEEPINESS DURING SCHOOL. DENISE AMSCHLER, professor of physiology and health science at BALL STATE UNIVERSITY: "A survey of fifth graders found that the majority of youngsters regularly experience sleep loss and feel sleepy during the day at least two to four times weekly. Nearly half of 199 students admitted to having trouble waking up in the morning on school days. The study also found that when children disrupt their normal sleep patterns over a weekend, they often return to school as if suffering from jet lag."
**2. EDUCATION: CRITICAL THINKING NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS. J. NADINE GELBERG, Ph.D., president and founder of GETCHARGED, which encourages critical thought and discussion about the impact of technology and our lives: "Critical thinking is necessary for success in business, yet the same standard does not hold true in schools. Part of the blame is there are few ways to assess the aptitude. Scores on standardized tests don't typically reflect one's intellectual/thinking ability, creativity and communication skills. Hopefully, the new SAT essay will analyze the ability to critically think and force more emphasis on teaching it. These skills need to be developed from an early age."
**3. SCHOOL SAFETY: RECENT SPIKES IN BUS AND GANG VIOLENCE. KENNETH S. TRUMP, president of NATIONAL SCHOOL SAFETY AND SECURITY SERVICES, can discuss the 37 percent spike in school bus violence and the 65 percent of drivers who don't have security and emergency training in two years: "School safety professionals are competing as much for time as they are money in many school districts, and school safety is losing on both accounts. The focus on meeting mandated test scores, along with decreased school safety budgets and a tendency toward complacency when there is not a crisis, continues to push school safety to the back burner in far too many schools."
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