New Initiatives

Under the leadership of President Clinton and Vice President Gore, new initiatives have been developed to connect the nation’s elementary and secondary classrooms to the Internet, to increase access to modern computers for teachers and students, and to help teachers integrate the use of these new tools in their classrooms. These new programs are unprecedented in scope and level of funding. In postsecondary education, too, the Clinton-Gore administration has demonstrated strong leadership in its educational technology initiatives.

The cost of postsecondary education is, of course, an important access issue for students. In this context, an important new student financial aid initiative is the Distance Education Demonstration Program, authorized by the Higher Education Amendments of 1998. Currently, the law and regulations governing Title IV student aid limit the amount of distance education an institution of higher education may offer while still retaining its eligibility to participate in the Title IV programs. Student aid requirements relating to educational program length can also be difficult to apply in programs that are self-paced or offered in time units that differ from standard semesters or quarters.

The Distance Education Demonstration Program allows the U.S. Secretary of Education to waive certain Title IV requirements. This allows distance education providers to experiment with potential alternatives to statutory and regulatory financial aid requirements that are too restrictive. The goal is to minimize any negative impact existing regulations might have on the development of distance learning, and at the same time maintain the integrity of student aid programs.

The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), well known for the innovative technology projects supported in its Comprehensive Program, is now administering another of the Department’s new initiatives, the Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships (LAAP). The LAAP program provides grants to partnerships among colleges and universities, technology companies, employers, professional associations, and other organizations to develop asynchronous, online distance education programs—including those that are delivered in self-paced, competency-based formats.

LAAP partnerships seek to promote cooperation and resource sharing instead of unnecessary competition. They seek to create economies of scale to offset the tremendous capital investments necessary for the development of quality multimedia instructional materials. They seek to address students’ needs for online support services and new interactive pedagogies. They also address the needs of under-served groups. The LAAP program is a prime example of how the Department seeks to stimulate lifetime learning by fostering new partnerships.