Vol 1.1DEOSNEWS --------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEOSNEWS Vol. 1 No. 20. This document has about 530 lines.
Copyright 1991 DEOS - The Distance Education Online Symposium
DEOSNEWS has 580 subscribers in 28 countries.

The American Journal of Distance Education (AJDE) and
The American Center for the Study of Distance Education
The Pennsylvania State University, College of Education
403 South Allen Street, Suite 206
University Park, Pennsylvania 16801-5202, U.S.A.

Telephone: +814-863-3764 Fax: +814-865-5878

Editor: Morten Flate Paulsen, MFP101@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Review: Melody M. Thompson
AJDE subscription information: Margaret Koble, MAK10@PSUVM.PSU.EDU

DEOS acknowledges and is grateful for the financial support
provided by the Annenberg/CPB Project.

To subscribe to DEOSNEWS and DEOS-L, just post the following commands to
LISTSERV@PSUVM or LISTSERV@PSUVM.PSU.EDU:
SUBSCRIBE DEOSNEWS Your Full Name
SUBSCRIBE DEOS-L Your Full Name
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDITORIAL

As promised in the previous issue, DEOS will focus on computer-mediated
communication (CMC) for a while. Several very valuable comments about CMC
have already appeared in DEOS-L, and I hope we can continue the discussion.
I encourage you to post comments and questions about CMC in DEOS-L. Greg
Kearsley, Robin Mason, and this editor--the authors of the three latest
DEOSNEWS issues--are willing to replay to comments and questions related to
these CMC articles in DEOS-L.

By the way, do you believe that future electronic universities can handle
mass education? I look forward to reading your comments in DEOS-L....

THE ELECTRONIC UNIVERSITY:
COMPUTER CONFERENCING IN MASS EDUCATION

By Morten Flate Paulsen

INTRODUCTION

So far, courses taught via computer conferencing have enrolled rela-
tively few students. Many courses have less than ten students, few more
than fifty. Consequently, the experts question whether computer conferenci-
ng is suitable for mass education (Mason 1990, 31-38). We know, however,
that computer conferencing systems can handle thousands of users. CompuSe-
rve claims in recent advertisements to have 800,000 users. Hence, computer
conferencing systems can technically evolve to electronic universities
capable of handling more students than can be served by large traditional
universities. Technicians continually add new features to existing applica-
tions, and business managers usually seek to attract more customers to
their services. This expansion could include the evolution of small
electronic colleges into large electronic universities. But, of course, a
crucial question is: What are the benefits of large electronic univer-
sities?
Some important benefits are the opportunities to increase efficiency
by large scale operations, to coordinate research and development, and to
bring university people together in a creative setting. Currently, we see
too many scattered, fumbling experiments trying to reinvent the wheel of
computer conferencing.
This paper will present some carefully chosen, interesting organiz-
ations and characterize their key attributes, and it will focus on the
opportunities and problems that arise when an electronic university enrolls
thousands of students. The intension is not to give a critical analysis of
these organisations, but to extract features that can assist in building
models for future electronic universities. It will be argued that an
electronic university is a system:

- Serving thousands of users, as does CompuServe;
- Offering courses and programs from several colleges, as does Elec-
tronic University Network;
- Enrolling hundreds of students in a single course, such as DT200;
- Mastering distance education logistics as does The Spanish National
University for Distance Education; and
- Having an organizational structure similar to that of Pennsylvania
State University.

COMPUSERVE

CompuServe is a commercial, general-purpose, computer conferencing
system that claims to have 800,000 users. It is a truly international
system with users from all around the world. The communication language is,
beyond doubt, English. Group communication in CompuServe is conducted in a
variety of forums, all accessible from a hierarchical menu structure. When
one issues the CompuServe command "GO FORUMS", the Forum Menu shown in
Figure 1 appears.

FORUM MENU EDUCATION MENU

1. Aviation Forums 1. Academic American Encyclopedia
2. Education Forums 2. Computer Training Forum
3. Science/Technology 3. Dissertation Abstracts
4. Entertainment/Games Forums 4. Education Forum
5. Financial Forums 5. Education Research Forum
6. Hardware Forums 6. ERIC-Education Research
7. Media/Electronic Publishing 7. Foreign Language Forum
8. Home/Health/Family Forums 8. IBM/Special Needs Forum
9. Professional Forums 9. IQuest Education Info Center
10. Software Forums 10. LOGO Forum
11. Sports Forum 11. Magazine Database Plus
12. Travel Forums 12. Peterson's College Database
13. Science/Math Education Forum
14. Student Forum

Figure 1. Figure 2.

Via each menu option, users may access numerous special-interest
forums. Since the users choose the Forums they want to join, they need to
relate to only a limited number of users. In some of the smaller forums,
one may feel lonely, although CompuServe has about 800,000 users.
Via CompuServe one can access reference libraries such as ERIC and
dissertation abstracts, buy computer equipment via mail-order, and consult
a travel agent. These are the kinds of on-campus services available to
traditional students, as well. In addition, several courses have been
taught via CompuServe (Conroy 1991). By issuing the command "GO EDUCATION,"
one has access to the Education Menu as shown in figure 2.
The CompuServe legacy to Electronic Universities. First, the success
of the CompuServe system proves that it is possible to serve thousands of
students in a computer conferencing system. Second, it shows how special
interest groups can be organized to deal with so many users. Third, we see
that an electronic university can offer reference libraries, book-stores,
and other services provided by traditional universities.

THE ELECTRONIC UNIVERSITY NETWORK (EUN)

The EUN is a commercial enterprise that provides a framework of
communication services and administrative chores for organizations that
wish to provide distance education courses online. Courses and programs
from several traditional colleges and universities are offered through the
EUN. The company also promotes flexible transfer of credits among colleges.
Since 1984 the San Francisco-based company has enrolled nearly 10,000
students representing all the states and several foreign countries.
The EUN 1991 Catalog offers courses leading to the following degrees
and certificates: Master of Business Administration from Saginaw Valley
State University; Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from
Thomas A. Edison State College; Bachelor of Science in General Business
from Regents College of the University of the State of New York; Bachelor
of Arts from Thomas A. Edison State College; Associate in Arts from Thomas
A. Edison State College; Associate in Science in Management from Thomas A.
Edison State College; and several Certificates in Business from Thomas A.
Edison State College.
Seventy-eight individual courses are offered by the following colleges
and universities: Thomas A. Edison State College, Ohio University, Oklahoma
State University, Washington State University, University of Illinois,
University of Maryland University College, and State University of New
York, College at Buffalo. These colleges and universities are responsible
for developing and teaching their courses through the EUN, and for student
evaluation and certification.
According to the EUN catalog: "All of these state institutions have
regional accreditation. All accept transfer credit from other accredited
institutions. Edison and Regents also award credit for experience and for
job-related training; you can combine the EUN courses with courses you've
taken elsewhere, plus credit for nonformal learning and training." (The
Electronic University Network 1991, 10)
The EUN does not provide computer conferencing for group communica-
tion; e-mail is provided for one-to-one communication between the student
and his tutor. For each course the students receive "Protege", a software
package comprising a communication software, a text editor, and a course--
specific module. The tutors use the "Mentor" software-package.
The EUN legacy to Electronic Universities. The EUN provides access to
courses from several universities and colleges through one single system.
It also promotes transfer of credit among colleges and universities. These
are two important services in an electronic university. On the other hand,
the EUN lacks group communication facilities that are critical in a
university environment. Without these, the EUN may be regarded as a
distance education organization that has upgraded traditional correspon-
dence courses to more timely e-mail courses.

DT200 - AN INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

In 1988, the British Open University enrolled 1,364 distance students
(Mason 1989) in a course partially taught via a computer conferencing
system. Each of the sixty-five part-time tutors moderated a conference with
up to twenty-five students. The communication element was just a small
fraction of the course-work; about 350 students dropped out. Still, we must
conclude that the Open University managed to handle a large-scale computer
conferencing course.
The DT200 legacy to the Electronic Universities. This course has
proved that it is possible to handle a large-scale course in a single
computer conferencing system when the students are clustered in smaller
groups, each moderated by a tutor.

PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY (PSU)

PSU is a traditional university serving 36,000 students and 12,000 em-
ployees at the main campus. The university is divided in colleges and
departments, responsible for programs and courses. This structure is
supported by libraries, computer centers, bursars, etc. Students, faculty,
and staff carry out the university chores. Graduate assistants and teaching
assistants help professors in the teaching process. Students may also be
employed to assist the staff with administrative and executive chores.
The PSU legacy to Electronic Universities. PSU is a large organiz-
ation, divided into many smaller entities. An electronic university, based
on computer conferencing, can technically handle these entities in separate
conferences, in the same way that substantial number of students are
grouped in hundreds of classes taught by professors and teaching assist-
ants. An electronic university, also may cluster students into groups of
manageable sizes and large classes may be split into sub-groups taught by
teaching assistants, supervised by a professor. In addition, an electronic
university should provide support services, such as libraries, bookstores,
etc., adjunct to course services.

THE SPANISH UNED

The Spanish National University for Distance Education--Universidad
Nacional de Educacion a Distancia, UNED--was legally founded to reach the
goals stated in a 1972 Act: "The necessity to develop one of the basic aims
of the educational reform, that is to say, equal opportunities for all,
requires the implementation of those means that facilitate access to higher
education to those who, for reasons such as home residence, work activ-
ities, etc., cannot attend programmes offered by conventional univer-
sities." (Garrido 1991, 3)
UNED has about 120,000 students attending a great number of study pro-
grammes, and 800 full-time employees make up the headquarters' teaching
staff. In addition, 2,500 part-time tutors are engaged at the fifty-three
Regional Centers in Spain and Latin America. These Regional Centers "offer
information and counselling for people who have not yet enrolled as
students, and once a student is enrolled, he or she uses the buildings and
facilities provided by the center in order to meet tutors and other
students in formal or informal work groups." (Garrido 1991, 4)
UNED uses several different learning media. The most important is
printed material. Beside print, radio programmes are broadcasted through
Radio Nacional de Espana from 8 to 11 p.m. every evening. Audio- and
videocassettes are also important media at UNED.
The UNED legacy to Electronic Universities. UNED has valuable experi-
ence and knowledge about distance students' problems and needs. The
university has established course development standards and administrative
systems developed to support distance students. Furthermore, it has a
network of regional study centers, and it utilizes a variety of distance
education media. An Electronic University could develop a similar, large--
scale infrastructure to handle essential distance education needs.

NATIONAL OPEN ELECTRONIC UNIVERSITIES: A VISION

The following is a scenario about National Open Electronic Univer-
sities: universities open to every student who apply and every college that
will offer education, universities based on communication technology and
national transfer of credits. In this scenario, the National Open Elec-
tronic Universities are named NETS. NETS offer a wide range of distance
education programs, all independent of time and space. Students and faculty
participate in vivid, cross-curricular, and social university environments.
Thousands of students access the NETS from home or work. The faculty work
for local colleges across the nation.
NETS are NATIONAL universities. They coordinate and increase the
efficiency of the national distance education ventures. They imply national
benefits for students, faculties, colleges, and nations. Students do not
need to relate to several colleges and technical systems. Faculty members
have access to a national network of educators, and the colleges may offer
their programs nationwide, without prohibitive investments in technical
equipment.
NETS are OPEN universities. They are open to everyone who wish to
study, independent of were they live, when they work, and previous educa-
tional background. Further more, NETS are open for every college to deliver
courses and programs. Students may customize their education, choosing
courses from different colleges. Credits are, of course, transferable among
the colleges.
NETS are ELECTRONIC universities. They utilize modern technology to
create university environments independent of time and space. National
computer conferencing systems facilitate written communication. National
educational television and radio networks, as well as audio and video
conferences, are available for the NETS.
NETS are not science fiction; they can be realized today. The most
likely development, though, is a careful evolution from existing educa-
tional organizations toward electronic universities. This transformation
could happen to open universities such as Open University in England (Mason
1989), the Dutch Open University (Meurs 1989, Enckevort 1988), the Indira
Gandhi National Open University (Miller 1988), or The National University
for Distance Education in Spain (Garrido 1991). Further, traditional
universities, using computer conferencing for on-campus purposes, may merge
or collaborate with distance education organizations to form electronic
universities.

INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC UNIVERSITIES: INCENTIVES AND BARRIERS

Electronic Universities will provide education internationally, global
communications networks will eradicate national boundaries, and interna-
tional communication costs will steadily decrease. Further more, invest-
ments in large computer systems will urge electronic universities to expand
their traditional markets to attract more customers. Several projects--The
University of the World (UW 1990), The International University Consortium
(Miller 1988), The Global Electronic University (Utsumi 1990), and EuroPace
(Morgen 1990), have already followed this path.
We should welcome the process toward international electronic univer-
sities because they will provide more options and better educational
quality. They will contribute to more knowledge and better understanding of
different cultures and nations. Yet international educational services may
create some unpleasant competition for traditional universities and
distance education organizations. Most of these institutions are not
prepared to meet such competition.
Internationalization will be slowed down by national and state
regulations. Within the U.S. it is often hard to transfer credits and
certificates from one state to another. In Europe this may be even harder
because the national education systems are not well harmonized. However,
the European Community is working toward harmonization and free flow of
students among member countries. At the same time, the technological
development propels interstate and international educational collaboration.
It is very likely that international education will be dominated by English
speaking universities, most of them based in U.S.A. It is also obvious that
these universities will have a large impact on students and the community
they will form. So, it is understandable that smaller nations, speaking
other languages, are worried about the emerging educational cultural
imperialism. They are afraid of loosing some of their national culture,
language, history, and tradition in the process. One way smaller nations
can prepare for this international competition is to establish National
Open Electronic Universities.

INTERNET - THE ULTIMATE INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC UNIVERSITY?

Internet offers five categories of services: e-mail, computer confe-
rencing, remote log-in, file transfer, and synchronous communication. The
e-mail service is by far the world's most comprehensive. Millions of people
all over the world can exchange messages through the net. In addition to
private messages, about 2,000 distribution lists disseminate information
dealing with a diverse array of topics. The distribution lists are con-
trolled by Listserv, a distributed application that comprise many of the
facilities known from computer conferencing systems.
Internet computer conferencing, known as News, Usenet, or Netnews, is
a distributed system with which a local host can establish local confer-
ences and join global conferences. A computer can host hundreds of confer-
ences. Valuable features allow a conference to exchange notes with a
distribution list.
Remote log-in allows users on one node to log in to another computer
in Internet. This feature opens up to many valuable services around the
world, including: computer conferencing systems, data bases, libraries,
on-line books, and software applications.
File transfer, called FTP, gives anonymous users access to download
files from another node. This is a convenient way to distribute data and
software files.
Synchronous communication, called Relay Chat, Tell, etc., will allow
users throughout the net to communicate synchronously in real time.
Internet's main objective is to link educators and researchers
together. So, most of the services are of interest to educators. The
following examples should, though, be of special interest to distance
educators:
- The eight Distance Education Centres in Australia use Internet in
distance education (Castro 1990);
- ComServe offers conferences, seminars, and workshops via Internet
(Note 1);
- The ICDL Database for distance education at the British Open Univer-
sity is available via Internet (Paulsen 1991);
- Students and faculty at Ohio State University have access to at least
nine major libraries and a number of databases via Internet (Dixon
1991);
- The electronic journals DEOSNEWS and the Distance Education Online
Journal are distributed via Internet (Note 2).

Commercial messages are not allowed on Internet. Commercial messages
are, however, hard to define and in practise impossible to monitor. As a
result, there are many announcements of books, software products, and
conferences. Commercial services such as CompuServe and MCI Mail offer
e-mail exchange with Internet, so these services in fact charge their users
for Internet services. Furthermore, many universities and colleges use
Internet in their courses and charge students for tuition and computer
fees. The eight Distance Education Centres in Australia, for example, offer
distance education services through AARN - the Australian branch of
Internet (Castro 1990).
An intriguing business idea (inspired by for instance Connected
Education) is to offer commercial distance education on Internet. This
service would provide access to a vast number of prospective students,
teachers, and educational services from all around the world. Such a
service would probably trigger some serious discussions about commercial
use of Internet. However, Internet has the potential to become the ultimate
international electronic university, and one incentive to such a develop-
ment is to allow commercial courses to be delivered via Internet.

ELECTRONIC UNIVERSITY CHALLENGES

To establish an electronic university is, of course, a huge, multi-
faceted challenge. Many economical, pedagogical, administrative, and
organizational challenges will need to be faced.
Economical Challenges. Tony Bates states: "Third generation technol-
ogies [computer conferencing] are particularly valuable where relatively
small numbers of students are concerned, since they avoid the high fixed
production costs of the industrial model, but they do not however bring the
economies of scale of the industrial model, unless the opportunities for
interaction for an individual student are dramatically curtailed." (Bates
1990, 7). Bates' observation is important and correct for current use of
computer conferencing. Our challenge is therefore to develop electronic
universities so large that the industrial model (Peters 1983) can be
applied, while still clustering the users in smaller groups to facilitate
individual communication.
Pedagogical Challenges. We need to learn more about how to handle
large numbers of students and faculty. In such an environment, it is
especially important to share responsibilities and disperse information in
an efficient way. Several professors and teaching assistants can be
involved in the teaching of a single course. The challenge is to develop
methods for co-teaching of large scale courses.
Administrative Challenges. There are still several applications that
are not handled in today's conferencing systems. Management information
systems depend more or less on other applications. It is a future challenge
to integrate these applications with the computer conferencing system. The
most obvious applications are accounting, grading systems, and logistic
systems.
Organizational Challenges. There are many questions that must be
addressed if several organizations are to collaborate to form an electronic
university. Although the agreements will depend on the organizations
involved, some important questions will be common to all such situations:

- How can geographically separated colleges cooperate in an electronic
college?
- Who should own and run the host computer?
- Who should be responsible for user support?
- What should the colleges pay for the electronic university services?
- What about transfer of credits?
- How can the colleges share resources like library databases etc.?
- How much should we separate or integrate users in programs from
different colleges?

CONCLUSION

The examples in this article show that most of the important compo-
nents of a large scale electronic university are developed by existing
organizations. None have integrated them in a single system yet, but there
are an abundance of examples showing that the integration process has been
evolving. Traditional universities have started to use technology such as
audio, video, and computer conferencing to reach out to a larger audience.
Open universities integrate computer conferencing into their courses.
Several courses are thought through commercial computer conferencing
systems such as CompuServe. And, even more interesting, the new technology
has already created many new, untraditional alliances. Private correspon-
dence schools collaborate with state universities, and educational organiz-
ations, tied together by computer networks and communication satellites,
establish relations across national boundaries. It is most likely that both
the technical development and the forming of new, strong alliances will
continue, and eventually lead to the formation of full-fledged electronic
universities.

REFERENCES

Bates, T. 1990. (Unpublished) Third Generation Distance Education: The
Challenge of New Technology. Research and International Development.
Vancouver, B.C., Canada: The Open Learning Agency.

Castro, A. S. 1990. AARNet and Australian tertiary distance education.
Distance Education 11(2):213-230.

CompuServe 1988. CompuServe Information Service - Users Guide. CompuServe
Incorporated.

Conroy, C. 1991. Home is Where the Campus Is. CompuServe Magazine September
1991:13-19.

Dixon, R. S. Value-added network services...and beyond. A paper presented
at the conference Applications of Computer Conferencing to Teacher Educa-
tion and Human Resource Development, June 13-15 at the Ohio State Univer-
sity.

The Electronic University Network 1991. The EUN 1991 Handbook.

Enckevort, G. van, and Leibbrandt, G. 1988. The Open University of the
Netherlands. Open Learning 3(1):18-22.

Garrido, J. L. G. 1991. Overview of Spanish and Latin American Distance
Education. A paper presented at an audio conference between Spain and
Pennsylvania State University.

Mason, R. 1989. An Evaluation of CoSy on an Open University Course. In
Mindweave: Communication, Computers, and Distance Education, eds. R. Mason
and A. Kaye, 115-145. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Mason, R. and T. Kaye. 1990. Toward a new paradigm for distance education.
In Online Education: Perspectives on a New Environment, ed. L. Harasim,
15-38. New York: Praeger.

Meurs, C. E. J. van, and P. A. J. Bouhuijs. 1989. Tele-education: An
experiment on home computing at the Dutch Open University. Open Learning
4(1):33-36.

Miller, G. 1988. Television, the Curriculum, and Distance Education: An
Update. The American Journal of Distance Education, 2(1):88-85.

Miller, J. K. 1988. Indira Gandhi National Open University. Open Learning,
4(1):53-55.

Morgen, P. 1990. EuroPACE. In Media and Technology in European Distance
Education, ed. A. W. Bates, 153-155. Milton Keynes: Open University for the
EADTU.

Paulsen, M. F. 1991. The ICDL Database for Distance Education. The American
Journal for Distance Education 5(2):69-72.

Peters, O. 1983. Distance teaching and industrial production: a comparative
interpretation in outline. In Distance Education: International Perspec-
tives, eds. D. Sewart, D. Keegan, and B. Holmberg. London/New York: Croom
Helm/St. Martins press.

Utsumi, T. 1990. The global electronic university. In Contemporary Issues
in American Distance Education, ed. M. G. Moore, Pergamon Press.

UW 1990. The University of the World Newsletter (3)4.

NOTES

1. Information about ComServe is available from SUPPORT@RPIECS.BITNET
2. DEOSNEWS is a distribution list that can be accessed from
LISTSERV@PSUVM.PSU.EDU

DISTED is a distribution list that can be accessed from
LISTSERV@UWAVM.BITNET

------------------------ End of DEOSNEWS Vol. 1 No. 20 --------------------