The UH-Manoa campus will launch a master of science degree in information and computer science, and UH-Hilo will premiere a certificate program in database management; both credentials can be earned completely through a Web connection.

Additionally, the new UH Online program this fall will deliver two bachelor of arts degrees, in liberal studies and in information and computer science, partially taught through the Web.

UH Online is part of the UH-Manoa Outreach College, and the college’s interim assistant dean, Jaishree Odin, is one of the prime movers behind the online program’s development.

“I think Hawai‘i needs it to have a highly trained technology workforce,” Odin said. “I think this is a very critical project for UH and the state of Hawai‘i.”

Her colleague in the project is Dan Suthers, an assistant professor in the Department of Information and Computer Sciences.

Odin, who is also a liberal studies associate professor, in 1996 received a $30,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to produce her first online liberal studies course. The foundation has backed this year’s UH Online program with a three-year grant totaling $405,000.

The university is among 47 campuses nationwide to receive such support as part of the foundation’s Asynchronous Learning Network.

More convenient than 'distance learning'

Two years ago, Suthers joined Odin in developing and directing the fledgling UH Online program.

Suthers said his department has offered “distance learning” opportunities before, but relied heavily on the state’s Hawai‘i Interactive Television System, a two-way audiovisual network that links one campus with another.

Although the system feels comfortable to students because it adapts the conventional classroom lecture presentation, that similarity also proves to be its downfall, Suthers said.

“You have to be there at a certain place and a certain time,” he said. “A major need we’re facing is people have a hard time being there at a certain time because they have jobs, they have kids. Through asynchronous learning, you can take the class whenever you want.”

UH, as well as the private Hawai‘i Pacific University, have offered Web-based courses for a few years. But the master’s degree offering puts UH in rare company, Odin said.

“There are very few master’s programs completely online, so this could have national importance,” she added.

Students can learn more about the course offerings at the UH Online site (www.aln.hawaii.edu). The site also includes a tutorial about online registration procedures as well as a guide to other Web-based support services, such as access to electronic journals and full-text books.

Resident tuition charged

Resident tuition rates are charged for the courses, but even these lower rates will prove an impediment for some of the international students George Kent is hoping will enroll. Kent, a political science professor, will teach an undergraduate course titled “International Relations and Human Rights” for $393.

But it’s the graduate course, “Nutrition Rights,” that he’s promoting via e-mail to potential students worldwide; he thinks it’s an important offering for these students. That will cost $519, which can be an enormous sum for a Third World scholar, Kent said. He is seeking foundation support for a scholarship program.

Inquiries on the nutrition course, which examines human-rights systems as they affect nutrition, have come in from countries in Africa, the Pacific and the former Soviet Union, he said.

“I was interested in this (online) program because I want to have a global reach,” Kent added. “In this field, distance education is not the outer reaches of the state, it’s the outer reaches of the planet."