ITHACA, N.Y. -- Educational communications experts, World Wide Web programmers, curriculum designers and computer and video technologists are joining forces with Cornell University faculty to extend Cornell's educational programs throughout the world through the generosity of an anonymous Cornell graduate.

Cornell's Office of Distance Learning (ODL) announced the receipt of an anonymous $500,000 gift that will accelerate the growth of distance-learning programs that allow students, faculty and experts throughout the world to interact, using a blend of computing and video technologies.

"Students who are thousands of miles away are now taking classes at Cornell, and faculty throughout the world are helping to teach classes at our Ithaca campus from where they are," according to David B. Lipsky, director of the Office of Distance Learning. "The world is our classroom," Lipsky said, "and this generous gift allows us to accelerate our connections between Ithaca and the rest of the world, cutting short the university's ramp-up time by a year or more."

ODL Associate Director Jonathon D. Levy said the $500,000 gift "provides funds for us to hire top experts in the several fields that intersect when creating world-class distance-learning programs. Cornell is complimenting the high academic quality of its scholarship with equally high-quality distance-learning programs." To achieve this standard, experts in curriculum design will work in teams with communications technologists to support Cornell faculty in the development and delivery of courses.

A recent survey indicated that "many Cornell faculty want to participate in distance- learning courses but are apprehensive about the technologies," said Lipsky. "As a result of this gift, we can now offer faculty integrated support for the many different issues that they face when teaching at a distance."

Recently the office announced competitive grants for faculty who wish to develop distance- learning programs. "Now we have start-up funds for the staff who will complement those grants by assisting faculty through the entire process, from the germ of an idea through the design and delivery of the course to the evaluation and improvement of the course for subsequent offerings," Levy added.

Cornell already has achieved international recognition for the design of new "high-performance virtual classrooms" that allow students and faculty to interact as though they were in the same room, even when separated by thousands of miles. The office recently added Internet video streaming to its complement of technologies, allowing distant students to attend Cornell classes at times convenient to their schedules. For example, doctors in the 20 hospitals affiliated with Cornell's Weill Medical College can attend grand rounds from their office or home computer by visiting the web site where the video presentations are archived. "We are using these technologies to transcend both time and space," Levy said, "making learning more accessible for adult professionals as well as traditional students."

Over 100 Cornell faculty currently are offering or planning distance-learning courses. "Our goal is to offer hundreds of courses within the next five years," Lipsky said. "Cornell alumni are excited about these programs, and some have expressed their enthusiasm by supporting the capabilities of the office."

Cornell's distance offerings reflect the university's diversity:

· The School of Hotel Administration is conducting a distance-learning course for Cornell students and students at a sister institution in Paris.

· The Africana Studies and Research Center is launching a seminar program on black history for students attending four universities throughout the country, using video technologies.

· The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is conducting a global classroom for students on three continents.

· Cornell's College of Engineering is working with the Office of Distance Learning to create a virtual research consortium with Harvard University and the University of Colorado, using distance-learning technologies for collaboration.

· The School of Industrial and Labor Relations regularly brings guest lecturers into its classes through videoteleconferencing, allowing students to interact with experts in the field.

· The Cornell Law School is using two-way video to teach a course to students at five universities simultaneously.

· The College of Arts and Sciences is teaching a popular course in quantum mechanics to students at Cornell, Columbia and Duke.

· The College of Human Ecology is teaching a course to students at several universities while simultaneously interacting with professionals in the garment industry.

· The College of Veterinary Medicine is conducting a seminar between Cornell and the University of Sydney in Australia using video telecommunications.

· The Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell is creating a computer-based interactive program designed for entering MBA students worldwide.

"Many people in Ithaca refer to this small upstate New York community as 'centrally isolated,'" Levy said. "Well, here's the cure."

Distance-learning programs are being developed to allow Cornell alumni to participate in campus events and to attend Cornell courses and special programs at a distance. In April, the grand opening of a new building for Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations was seen and heard in real time by alumni throughout the world, using a free video-streaming technology on the Internet. "Next year we hope to offer a variety of programs for our alumni," Lipsky said. "We are very interested in using these technologies to maintain intellectual ties with our graduates throughout their lives."

The half-million-dollar donation provides first-year funding of key positions that will allow the office to expand its design and support services for corporate and alumni programs. It is hoped that other donations and income from some of the distance-learning programs will allow the university to broaden the scope of offerings over the next few years.

Many of the office's programs are described on the Cornell Distance Learning web site: http://www.DL.cornell.edu.