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The National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) and the National Education Association have been feverishly working to find instructors who can provide online courses to other teachers through NEA's portal project.
The portal, an individualized and customized gateway to cyberspace, will organize internet information based on the personal needs of the user as well as a private means of communication among NEA members. Expected to make its debut in the fall of 2001, the portal will initially cover eight areas, including professional development, association information, community, career, classroom education news, school-to-home communications, and marketplace/personal life.
Hailed as breakthrough
While the portal has been hailed as a breakthrough in member communication, higher education faculty members of the NCHE and NEA have been concerned that promised continuing education and online courses will be outsourced to Sylvan Ventures, a nonunion company.
"I think as NEA, we need to be careful about contracting out the work of our union members," said VirginiaAnn Shadwick, CTA board member representing higher education. "This is a big issue. I don't think K-12 (members) understand that the issues we are raising will affect them down the line. If they contract higher ed jobs out now, will we some day be contracting out public education instruction to private companies?"
NCHE has maintained that colleges represented by NEA should offer the virtual courses to NEA members to teach.
"We want to make certain that NEA uses NEA members to teach these classes. There are thousands of Higher Ed members who are qualified to teach them," said Barry Stearns, NCHE president and a Michigan community college counselor.
"Many retired NEA members have flexible time and experience to develop and teach professional development courses as are ESP members with special certifications. This is not just a Higher Ed issue although the National Council for Higher Education, NCHE, has taken the lead on pressing the issue," Stearns said. "This will produce thousands of new jobs during the next few years and we do not feel NEA should give those jobs to Sylvan Ventures and their non-union colleges such as UCLA Extension Services and University of San Diego which they use a great deal through their OnLine Learning unit."
Stearns also said that the colleges chosen to be on the portal will provide quality programs at reasonable rates.
As a result, faculty members across the country are being contacted as to their interest in providing the course content for online degree programs.
"If we don't respond, NEA will outsource this," said Cliff Burns, a CCA/CTA State Council representative and instructor at Sierra Community College. "We need to step up to the table. We need to respond because this thing is moving forward."
Ultimately, six to eight colleges will be selected to provide the courses - if faculty members step forward. |