Contact: Monty Jones, (512) 499-4363

Date: March 13, 1998

UT System News Release

Comprehensive Virtual Campus is Under Construction

AUSTIN - One of the nation's most comprehensive online, interactive educational services is under development within The University of Texas System.

Construction began in February on the infrastructure for the UT TeleCampus, which will link all 15 universities in the U.T. System with complete services for distance education students and others.

The virtual campus is being developed through a contract with UOL Publishing Inc. of McLean, Va. It is scheduled to be opened officially at the next meeting of the system's Board of Regents, in Odessa in May.

The TeleCampus will include seven "buildings" providing distance learning course schedules, admission and registration information, library facilities, financial aid information, bookstores, a commons area, and other services.

It will also serve the public as an electronic gateway to U.T. System institutions. Although designed primarily to meet the needs of students, many TeleCampus resources will be available to anyone with access to the World Wide Web.

UOL also will provide courseware design tools allowing faculty and staff to create and publish online interactive academic courses.

No other university system in the nation has developed such a centralized distance education support facility, said Darcy Hardy, interim director of the TeleCampus.

More than 200 courses offered by U.T. System institutions are currently being delivered at a distance through interactive videoconferencing, the World Wide Web, or a combination of the two. About 1,500 students are enrolled in those courses.