CAUT will be co-hosting a major international conference on online education Nov. 24 at the Delta hotel in downtown Montreal.
Joining CAUT in sponsoring the conference are the Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d'université, the Canadian Federation of Students, and the American Association of University Professors.
Robert A. Brown, Provost of MIT, will make a keynote presentation about his institution's decision to provide free access to all MIT course materials on the Internet.
The opening panel will address the issue of preserving faculty control of content and curriculum in the online environment. Panel members include Jonathan Alger, legal counsel for the University of Michigan; Paul Jones, CAUT policy specialist on intellectual property; and James Knapp, professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh.
Jeremy Mowat, Athabasca University; Jim Sacouman, Acadia University; and Denise Tanguay, Eastern Michigan University, will talk about the implications of online delivery for faculty workload.
Other speakers include David Noble (Social Sciences, York University) on the corporate interest in online education; Ingrid Banks (Black Studies, Virginia Tech) on online's impact on teachers and students; and Christopher Oberg (Western University) on the costs of online courses.
Noted Canadian author Heather Menzies will reflect on how to meet the challenges posed by the new technologies.
The way forward will be discussed in a panel by FQPPU president Arpi Hamalian, CFS national chairperson Ian Boyko and AAUP general secretary Mary Burgan.