What effect will the so-called “virtual university” have on the delivery of higher education in Montana?
The World Wide Web came into existence in 1990, and a decade later some 700,000 people, most of them employed professionals, enrolled in courses delivered on the Web. Predictions call for 2.2 million enrollments by 2002, again mostly employed professionals. Clearly, the “virtual university” already has made an impact on the academic market. Information technology offers UM the opportunity to respond to the needs of place-bound people and working professionals. The “virtual university” works best for professional and technical programs with a high degree of standardized curriculum. Experience to date indicates that the approach works quite well for certificate and other training programs but not as well for general education and academic areas. The University will increase its reliance on technology to reach out to potential students who cannot or choose not to come to the campus, and UM will introduce technology when it will empower faculty members to improve the academic experience fo
