Distance learning is hot at FSU
When Florida State decided to be a pioneer in the newest way of learning by distance it was natural to hook up with the expert in the English-speaking world.
So now there's a partnership with the Open University of the United Kingdom, which has taught by distance from Milton Keynes, England, for almost 30 years.
The 4,000 miles between the universities doesn't matter.
Both hope ultimately to teach anybody, anywhere. The equipment includes whatever technology puts the learner in touch with the teacher - radio, television, phone and mail from the old days, computers from the new.
To develop distance learning, Florida State has acquired an eminent scholar, a resource center - the first in the United States - and a master's program in the subject - also the first in this country.
The eminent scholar is David Graham Hawkridge, a scientist and founding professor of OU.
OU brings to FSU almost $2 billion in course materials - from dozens of disciplines.
Some of it is better than books, aside from being more instantly available to far-away students. Visitors to a September opening could dissect a virtual brain or explore the consequences of changing a major.
It all pleased Sir John Daniel, vice chancellor of the Open University, who said he was "impressed by the facilities that the state-of-the-art center will offer."
It can't be easy to impress OU on that subject. The British university has more than 200,000 students in many fields and a recent Queen's Prize for work in teacher education.
OU accepts all applicants and delivers the courses to their homes or offices, one way or another. Otherwise, OU maintains the academic rigor that Britain is famous for.
"There is a gold mine of content here," FSU President Sandy D'Alemberte said.
But mining gold doesn't come cheap. Money for the endowed eminent scholar chair comes from MCI, a communications giant that contributed $1 million for the purpose. The state matched it with $750,000. And a grant of $817,000 from the Florida Distance Learning Network helped develop the master's program.
FSU's Distance Learning Resource and Production Center is at www.idl.fsu.edu.