October 15, 1996
Contact: Brenda Ellis, (615) 322-2706
Grant establishes online journal and Web site
on "Any Time, Any Place" Learning
Sloan Foundation awards funds to Vanderbilt University professor
to establish online scholarly journal and Web site
about Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALNs)
NEW YORK, N.Y. --The Sloan Foundation announced last week a $184,500
grant to John Bourne, professor of electrical and computer engineering at
Vanderbilt University, to support the development of an online journal and
Web site on the Internet about Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALNs).
"Quality courses are available on networked computers to anyone who
wants them anywhere and at any time," said A. Frank Mayadas, program
officer of the Sloan Foundation. "They can enhance on-campus courses
and provide working adults with unprecedented freedom to begin or continue
their educations while earning their livings."
Such courses have been reconfigured for ALNs at universities, in industry
and through online services like America Online or The World Wide Web. They
are "asynchronous" because students can participate despite schedules
out of synch with either the regular classroom course or with their professors
and classmates in cyberspace.
"The ALN community continues to grow, with more ALN course offerings
and students each semester. The Sloan grant will enable Professor Bourne
to establish an online presence providing news, scholarly articles and online
workshops about ALNs throughout the country," said Mayadas.
"The Sloan Foundation's generous and continuing support of ALNs has
allowed thousands to take courses outside the classroom that lead to degrees
and certificates, Bourne said. "It's only fitting that we have a Web
site and online journal as repositories of news and information on the exciting
developments in the field."
The Web site (www.aln.org) was launched yesterday and Bourne expects the
journal, JALN, to appear in early 1997.
ALNs enable virtual, interactive classroom experiences. Students can review
lecture notes, take quizzes and participate in discussions with their peers
and faculty online.
Until recently, most computer-assisted courses required interaction merely
between the computer and the user. Now, students can work collaboratively
on homework assignments much as corporate employees work as teams via company
networks, independent of time or place. Results continue to show that motivated
students learn at least as well with ALN courses as they do in traditional
courses.
Bourne, director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering Education (CIEE)
at Vanderbilt, said placing Engineering Science 130, which serves about
350 Vanderbilt students each semester, on the Web was well received by both
students and instructors and it has resulted in a change in the dynamics
of formal instruction time as well.
"Where previously we spent more class time disseminating information
in our courses, we now spend more time in the classroom in discussion because
students are now able to obtain materials from our Web site quickly and
easily," Bourne said.
"ALNs offer the freedom to schedule classwork at convenient times,
whether from home or office, or even when traveling. As life-long learning
becomes ever more critical for both business and employees, ALNs may one
day be the answer to delivering quality courses to all who want them,"
Mayadas said.
The Sloan Foundation will sponsor a conference on ALNs Nov.1-3 in New York
that will draw 250 leading innovators from university, corporate, government
training and distance education organizations.
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a philanthropic nonprofit institution, was
established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr., former president and
chairman of the board of General Motors. The Sloan Foundation's support
of ALNs is part of a larger project to explore innovative ways to use computers
and electronic communications to teach science, engineering and the humanities
outside the traditional classroom. Since 1993, the Sloan Foundation has
provided over $15 million to more than 40 pioneering ALN programs nationwide.
Vanderbilt University is a private research university of approximately
5,900 undergraduates and 4,300 graduate and professional students. Founded
in 1873, the University comprises 10 schools, a public policy institute,
a distinguished medical center and The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center.
Vanderbilt (www.vanderbilt.edu) offers undergraduate programs in the liberal
arts and sciences, education and human development, engineering and music;
and a full range of graduate and professional degrees.
-VU-
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