to raise millions of dollars through a stock offering or private partnerships. *New York University announced this month an audacious plan to create a profit-seeking subsidiary to market Internet courses. But what is clear is that the trend is picking up speed nationwide:
No one knows exactly how many colleges operate on the Internet. ''That's the beauty of this stuff - you can do it at 3 A.M.'' ''I do a lot at night when my children are in bed,'' she said. Instructors post lectures and assignments students turn in papers and tests and discuss their studies with classmates and professors in on-line conferences. Internet bulletin boards function as virtual classrooms for students and teachers who can participate at any time, from anywhere. Still, on-line classes are a considerable step up from correspondence schools. ''The predictability we associate with higher education institutions isn't there yet,'' he said, ''and it needs to be there for this to become a credible source of education.'' But he is skeptical that other offerings will endure. Some on-line degrees, like Stanford University's master's degree in electrical engineering or Drexel University's master's in information systems, are sound, Mr. Sloan Foundation in New York, which has financed programs to improve on-line teaching, said the picture was mixed. How good is the education? Who owns the courses - the university or the professors who create them? How should faculty members be paid? What works best in on-line teaching? And will a degree from a virtual university be worth the actual paper it is printed on?įrank Mayadas, a program officer at the Alfred P. But even as universities stampede onto the Internet, significant questions have yet to be answered.
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