General Sessions

Challenges Facing Higher Education

Monday, March 23, 1998
9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.  

Sean Rush, General Manager, Global Education, IBM Corporation

Fundamental changes are occurring in higher education. Among the issues driving these changes are concerns for quality, access, productivity, outreach, and competition. Colleges and universities are embracing new telecommunications and computer technologies to provide a competitive advantage in a radically changing environment. This presentation will focus on the challenges higher education is facing and how institutions are leveraging technology to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Keeping up with the Faculty Enthusiasm for Computers

Tuesday, March 24, 1998
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

David Brown, Provost, Wake Forest  

Throughout the nation and at all types of institutions, the sudden availability of new learning tools is fueling lively debates and extensive experimentation. The art of effective teaching is a hot topic, even within the most traditional faculties. We will discuss how to take advantage of this faculty enthusiasm. The three primary challenges are: (1) faculty time must be freed; (2) expert advice must be readily available; (3) motivated faculty must be acknowledged. Attendees will take away five or six faculty development program ideas that will fit their needs.  

The Virtual High School, Year Two, a Report

Tuesday, March 24, 1998
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.  

Bruce Droste, Director, The Virtual High School, The Concord Consortium  

The Virtual High School project is now in its second year, with over five hundred students from thirty schools in thirteen states enrolled in credit-bearing, content-rich courses. Fifteen additional teachers are in training to join the cooperative, and twenty-five more are being recruited. The school's director will describe the Virtual High School's successes, challenges, and findings.  

Through a Dark Wood: An Essay with Images and Music

Tuesday, March 24, 1998
3:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.  

Susan Saltrick, Vice President and Director, New Media, Addison Wesley Longman  

With the landscape of higher education shifting under our feet, many of us may experience a sense of dislocation -- a feeling of being in a dark wood. At such times, we find ourselves reflecting on our fundamental goals and values, a process, which is both painful and rewarding. And what may emerge from the analysis is a vision worth working toward. A vision that attempts to answer: What does it mean to teach? How do we reconnect with the passion that led us to our life's work? And how can new teaching tools, technologies, and approaches lead us to a renewal of our zeal for the educational process?