The Fellows are also exploring how their institutions and USM need to revise or strengthen policies and practices related to distance education. During this academic year, five members of the WIT project served on the USM Task Force on the Virtual University. This WIT pilot project was initiated by the USM Institute for Distance Education Council in 1997 and is co-sponsored by the Chancellor's Office and University of Maryland University College, with participating institutions supporting the activities and release time of their own participants. Fourteen teams have developed Web-based courses that will be piloted and evaluated in fall 1999. The program is as concerned with exploring possibilities and asking penetrating questions as it is with finding immediate solutions.
Courses are diverse in pedagogical approaches and technology platforms.
Also, we are still seeking ways to increase resources and evolve processes to support these efforts. Not only are these Fellows gaining individual experience as Web curriculum innovators, but they are also broadening their understanding of the challenges such innovators face in other disciplines or at other types of institutions. As the project reaches midpoint, the participants are working on plans for peer review of the fall courses. Working groups are researching and refining the review criteria used throughout the development process. These criteria and indices will be used for internal and external course evaluations.