Rethinking
The Academy:Rethinking
The Academy:Spectrum Virtual University is a community service of Spectrum Universal that issued the following press release over the Internet:
FREE CLASSES GIVE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR ON THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY
Spectrum Virtual University is now accepting enrollments for the Winter 1995-96 term. Our new catalog includes more than 20 classes. Most of these "virtual classes" are new and are being taught online for the first time.
Courses will include a repeat of "Exploring The Internet," which attracted 40,000 people from 120 countries this Fall, a beginner's course on the World Wide Web and how to design a home page, two creative writing workshops, a popular course on Nonviolence that has been taught at UC Berkeley for more than 25 years, a history course on war-torn Bosnia, and a class on Tarot card reading.
Winter classes will be FREE OF CHARGE to the public, thanks to the good will of volunteer instructors and the generosity of Quarterdeck Corporation of Marina del Rey, CA who is sponsoring the Winter term. Internet Business Unit Ambassador-at-Large Ron Brown explained that Quarterdeck is committed to expanding and enhancing the Internet to provide free and low-cost educational opportunities worldwide. The company publishes cutting edge software products such as "Web Compass," "Internet Suite," and "WebTalk," which allows users to talk live over the Internet. (Press Release).
Their web site is well-designed: it is striking and yet comes up quickly; the mission of Spectrum Universal is to "remain dedicated to the goal of making knowledge freely available to our students throughout the global village and [to continue] to explore new ways to promote world peace, prosperity, and enlightenment through community service and far-sighted programs that can make the world a better place" (About Spectrum Universal). They do so by teaching listserv and web-based classes on a wide variety of subjects by modem allowing student participation from all over the world. Their instructors are volunteers who also believe in teaching "classes that inform, entertain, enrich our lives, or make the world a better place" (Sharing).
Last Modified: August 2, 1996
Copyright © 1996 by Keith Dorwick
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