Building on a solid foundation of technological innovation, CHE established a task force last spring to develop a comprehensive plan for technology-enhanced scholarship—or e-scholarship—across the college. In the past five years, CHE has emerged as a University of Minnesota e-scholarship leader, notes Beth Emshoff, the college’s director of continuing professional studies (CPS). Recognizing the rich potential of e-scholarship for enhancing teaching, discovery, and outreach activities, CHE has made major investments in technology infrastructure and support services, as well as in faculty development, training, and support.

"The task force has taken us to the next step: We’ve set very aggressive goals to move our instructional and outreach programs toward full integration of e-learning pedagogy," says Emshoff. One result will be that CHE faculty and staff will work diligently (in partnership with CPS and the college’s Technology Learning Center) to incorporate appropriate and effective digital technology into courses. Some work already is on the fast track, Emshoff says, citing as one example work by Denise Guerin, Karen LaBat, and Ann Ziebarth (design, housing, and apparel) to convert course materials into electronic format.

Adopting recommendations of the task force, the college has committed to a five-year time frame for ensuring that all faculty are literate in use of e-learning technology and that all courses have an online component. Half of all courses will be significantly online by 2008, offering more flexibility for students in degree programs and greater access to knowledge for more people.

Innovative e-scholarship already can be found enlivening college programs. One example is a pilot project to develop high-tech training modules for nutrition education professionals. In addition, CHE recently partnered with the Minnesota Dietetics Association (MDA) to produce a live Webcast using the new Wanadu web conferencing software. Professor Dan Gallaher delivered a presentation on antioxidants and heart disease to a live audience and to 10 dieticians who participated from work or home. Additional CHE-MDA partnerships are in the works.

As another example of e-scholarship in action, Emshoff points to Francisco Diez-Gonzales’ food safety course this fall, which is being delivered both to campus students and, via the Internet, to students at the Fond du Lac tribal college. Students have weekly Web-based tutorials with food science and nutrition faculty. This is a first for the college and a first for Woodlands Wisdom, an educational partnership between the University of Minnesota and six tribal colleges.