Students have new pathways to learning

University educators are teaching students who never enter their classrooms, reaching them with courses conducted over the Web. While there still are those who simply can't "fathom" Web courses, Tom Ingebritsen, Iowa State University zoology genetics professor, understands Web course design and instruction.

Ingebritsen understands so well that he has been asked to instruct the pilot ISU Web course that ISU Extension's Extended and Continuing Education (ECE) program is offering through FATHOM -- an interactive knowledge Web site -- during spring semester 2001. His pilot course is Genetics 308/508, a survey course in biotechnology that can be taken either for advanced undergraduate credit or graduate credit. It is one of 10 courses offered through Project Bio.

Access FATHOM, an interactive knowledge Web site, at http://www.fathom.com.

"My students for Genetics 308/508 are an equal mix of traditional students and non-traditional students who include high school teachers, community college teachers, people from industry and state government regulatory agencies, and students of the professional ag program," Ingebritsen said. "By placing this course on FATHOM, we will give national exposure to a high quality course and hopefully expand our audience outside of the Iowa boundaries."

National exposure for ISU and its high quality courses is seen as an added benefit to the partnership with FATHOM, which demonstrates a commitment to the mission of land grant colleges -- to extend the university to serve the people of the state and beyond.

"Our goal is to produce high quality distance education programs while managing costs, student services and faculty support," said Catherine Adams, ECE marketing director. "We want to enhance access and learner outcomes. We see FATHOM as one means to that goal."

ISU joins six other institutions to provide online professional development courses through the FATHOM system. Learners will access ISU online courses through a subject search on the FATHOM site.

Learners can start at the FATHOM Web site, http://www.fathom.com, enter their subject of interest and access a screen that features a list of articles and lectures on the subject. Related online courses and books on the subject can be accessed from this screen. For example, a high school teacher any place in the world who might be interested in knowing more about biotechnology could go to the FATHOM Web site, search for genetics and follow the string to Ingebritsen's Genetics 308/508 course, then register and pay for the course online using a credit card.

"FATHOM gives learners one more way to access information and an additional way to register for ISU classes," said Adams. "This reinforces ISU Extension's commitment to e-business."

FATHOM is only one way ISU Extension is showing this commitment. Also in the development and planning stages is a relationship with eCollege.com, a solution provider of technology and services. The initial focus with eCollege.com will be in a partnership to develop a system for managing noncredit conferences and short courses. When developed, this e-business system will streamline ISU's development and offering of education and training to meet the needs of lifelong learners.

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• Last update: Dec. 28, 2000