Toward the e-campus: Using the Internet to strengthen, rather than replace, the campus experience

Since the Internet became widely used in the early and mid-1990s, much has been prophesied about its impact on higher education. Yet the public debate has often been polarized, obscuring the true potential of the new technologies. What is less common is an institution that makes a careful, reasoned decision to embrace distributed learning technologies not just as an addition to its campus offerings but as a way to strengthen the campus experience and better serve existing student populations. There are times when online education works and times when face-to-face interaction is superior.