In the face of devastation, I am thrilled to see what is going on here … the Sloan Foundation is encouraging Universities to participate in the Sloan Semester. An eight week, accelerated semester offered free online to students from impacted Universities in the south from Katrina. This is the kind of stuff that makes me so proud to be a part of higher education … I could keep rambling about the program, but here is the intro paragraph from the press release:

The Sloan Consortium, an international association of colleges and universities committed to quality online education, is offering students displaced by Hurricane Katrina an opportunity to continue their education at no cost. In collaboration with the Southern Regional Education Board and with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the special accelerated program will provide a wide range of courses to serve the learning needs of students at the community college, university and graduate level, regardless of academic discipline. These courses will be given by major universities and other Sloan Consortium members. Students interested in finding out more about the program and the free courses can do so beginning Sunday September 4, 2005 at www.SloanSemester.org.

All I can say is that I hope Penn State is somehow involved in this. Our World Campus has some of the best eLearning opportunities out there and could really make a difference. I read that 40 schools have expressed interest in being part of the program to supply courses. Sounds like a good thing to me. If anyone needs an instructor to teach anything I know anything about, come get me … I’ll do it! This is why we build this stuff … to reach those who can’t get to campus otherwise. Makes me proud.