General Sessions

Competency Standards

Tuesday, January 30, 2001
8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. GS05

Judith S. Eaton, President, Council for Higher Education Accreditation

As noted in the Council for Higher Accreditation's recent report, The Competency Standards Project: Another Approach to Accreditation Review, "Current accreditation practice is a product of a campus era with much less technology and less emphasis on outcomes. It is plausible that some changes in external quality review are needed in this new era of e-learning, e-college, and e-knowledge. . . CHEA, in 1998, asked the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems to design and test an alternative approach to accreditation standards and review - one that places significant emphasis on student outcomes and a distance delivery setting." The speaker will address the difference between traditional review standards and competency reviews, and discuss what it would take for our traditional institutions of higher education to be ready to be evaluated primarily on teaching and learning outcomes, where "standards require demonstration and documentation of student competencies as central to determination of institutional quality."

Excellence in Education -- K-16

Monday, January 29, 2001
8:15 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. GS02

Diana S. Natalicio, President, University of Texas at El Paso

For nearly ten years, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has assumed a leadership role in the El Paso Collaborative for Academic Excellence (the Collaborative). This community-wide partnership grew out of the recognition that academic achievement levels were generally and unacceptably low, and that a sharp disparity existed between the achievement levels in the community of ethnic minority and poor students, and their more privileged peers.

The Collaborative has brought together the city's civic, education, and business leaders toward support of an effort to improve the whole system of education, a systemic reform to improve teaching and learning at all levels. Two over-arching goals were identified: to ensure academic success among all youngsters in the city's schools-K-16, and to ensure that all students graduate from area high schools prepared to enter and succeed in a four-year college or university. An aggressive program to revitalize education was implemented at all levels, resulting in significant improvements.

Intellectual Property Plenary Panel

Monday, January 29, 2001
9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. GS03

James Hilton, Vice President and CIO, University of Virginia

James G. Neal, Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian, Columbia University

Sarah R. Stein, Prof. Communications, Assistant VP of IT, North Carolina State University

Changes in information technology, copyright law, and the economic climate that surrounds higher education are leading many institutions to modify their existing intellectual property policies, to adopt new conflict of interest/commitment policies, and to provide greater guidance when it comes to using copyrighted material that is not owned by the university. Universities are struggling with questions like: Who owns the course? What's the legal distinction between the course and course materials? What are the fair use conventions for including the work of others in Web materials for use by students? In this session, the panelists will highlight some of the factors that universities need to consider and the steps that need to be taken to respond to the changing Intellectual Property landscape.

NLII Program Review and Announcements

Tuesday, January 30, 2001
8:30 a.m. - 8:45 a.m. GS04

Carole A. Barone

Welcome, NLII Report, Meeting Overview

Monday, January 29, 2001
8:00 a.m. - 8:15 a.m. GS01

Carole A. Barone

William H. Graves, Senior VP, Academic Strategy, SunGard Higher Education

Carole A. Barone, EDUCAUSE Vice President, and William H. Graves, Chair of the NLII Planning Committee and Eduprise.com Founder and Chairman, will make opening remarks and announcements and give a progress report on NLII projects.