SAN FRANCISCO “”mdash; The University of California took a step toward online education, as the Board of Regents informally endorsed a proposal for an undergraduate Internet-based degree program.
Despite the ongoing budget crisis, Christopher Edley Jr., dean of UC Berkeley’s law school, presented the proposal in hopes that the university eventually might become the first premiere system to grant such bachelor degrees.
If implemented, the pilot program will offer 25 to 40 credited online courses, including the most heavily enrolled general education courses system-wide.
The program also could allow students in the community college system to take courses for transfer credit.
Already the university’s Extension programs offered approximately 1,250 online classes during the last 2009-2010 academic year, according to released statistics at the regents’ meeting in San Francisco last week
UCLA Extension offered 471 online courses, including 23 with UC credit, surpassing the other nine undergraduate campuses’ offerings.
Also, UCLA saw over 19,000 students enroll in Extension online courses last year, UC San Diego following behind with half the number of enrolled students.
“The (existing) courses have taught us a lot,” Edley said, “and we could build on those, take the best of them and push them further.”
A majority of regents, including Student Regent Jesse Cheng, and UC President Mark G. Yudof voiced their support for the program despite the continuing economic uncertainty for the university.
Regent Sherry L. Lansing said that she feels such an implementation of a program would come at the right time for current and future students.
“Kids learn differently. I watch children in schools today, and the computer is just part of their life,” Lansing said.
“In many ways, it’s second nature to them.”
Lansing added that the university has the opportunity to show the nation how to pull off such a program because it currently retains the best and brightest faculty and students.
However, other regents agreed with one another that not all courses and topics may work with the proposed online structure, and further investigation is needed to identify what should be omitted from the program.
Chancellor Gene Block said in an interview that he enthusiastically supports Edley’s pilot program and its potential for academic quality online.
He said the campus will be ready to hear more about the pilot project, and parts of the campus have already progressed in online education.
Block referred to the Master of Science Online in Engineering Program that confers master’s degrees.
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science accepted fall 2010 applications for its online program until last Thursday.
Yet some UC faculty showed resistance toward the migration of courses taught in more traditional settings to the web.
Robert Samuels, a lecturer in the UCLA Writing Program, approached the board during the public comments session with concerns regarding online education.
He said if the university plans to save money or time through online courses, it is sadly mistaken.
Samuels spoke of his teaching experience with a hybrid online and offline course last spring.
He said the class faced many technological and troubleshooting errors, and some undergraduate students dropped out because they did not feel a connection with the instructor.
Edley said in his presentation that faculty buy-in is a top priority for the pilot project’s success.
“If we can answer the quality issue to the faculty’s satisfaction, we can leverage an enormous amount of experience we already have on the 10 campuses and extension schools,” Edley added.
Edley said he has not yet raised the $6 million in private donations but are in talks with potential “friends of the university” with the personal help of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Samuels said he was skeptical regarding the feasibility of raising private funds in an accelerated period.
“If we are going to get money with no strings attached, why don’t they get the money for undergraduate education, for undergraduate scholarships?” Samuels asked. “Why put this money into this gamble, this experiment, if it’s unclear it might not pay off at all?”
Edley reassured the board that the university’s reputation as a prestigious research institution and a global brand can separate it from other systems’ former attempts to launch online degree programs.
“We can talk not only … serving all UC-eligible Californians but also potentially making that UC quality available to people in Kentucky and Kuala Lumpor,” Edley said in a press conference following the board’s meeting.