When the new UC Merced campus opens its doors in the heart of California in 2004, students transferring from nearby community colleges will already have top-rated UC Berkeley computer science courses under their belt. And they may never have left the San Joaquin Valley.

As part of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) - a UC Berkeley-led partnership of four UC schools including Merced - researchers in the College of Engineering and the School of Education are changing the paradigm of distance education to bring highly-rated courses to community and state schools. The key to UC-WISE (University of California Web-based Instruction for Science and Engineering) is that it combines novel tools for online interaction with a digital "course environment" of course-design rationale, tried-and-true learning activities, presentations, projects, and assessment techniques.

"Not only do we want to make the various things we have available, we want it to be easy for instructors to tailor the materials to their own situation," says computer science professor Michael Clancy who leads the project with professor Marcia Linn of the School of Education.

Clancy and Linn are collaborating with School of Education research scientist James Slotta, graduate student Alex Cuthbert, WISE technical director Greg Pitter, and a dedicated team of undergrads to build upon Clancey's introductory computer programming course within the new system. The long-term goal is to use UC-WISE to deliver UC Berkeley's undergraduate program in Information Technology to the new university. After what Clancy calls an "alpha test" summer session this year at UC Berkeley, the initial deployment of UC-WISE will begin by enabling San Joaquin Valley community colleges to offer UC Berkeley computer science courses. The courses are intended to satisfy University of California system credit transfer requirements, an attraction to prospective UC Merced students. "With community colleges teaching UC Merced equivalent courses, the students can hit the ground running as sophomores and juniors once the campus opens," Clancy says.

The new UC-WISE system is a cousin of the original Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE), the highly-regarded online learning environment for grade 5-12 students developed by a School of Education team led by Linn and Slotta. UC-WISE consists of three core components: the Curriculum Builder, the Curriculum Customizer, and the Student Environment.

The Curriculum Builder contains the core database of the course material including course outlines, activities, and annotated video clips of lectures or special presentations. The instructors use the Customizer to select from these materials and sequence their own path to the course goals.

"In the long term, we're also trying to provide some software checks so that when an instructor adapts material from our database, the system will look over his or her shoulder and point out 'you're assigning this exercise, but you haven't really laid the groundwork for it,'" Clancy says.

The final element is the Student Learning Environment, where private and shared "virtual whiteboards," chats, and discussion boards enable students to connect with their instructors and each at any moment. For example, a professor may consult an online discussion about a future lecture to hone his or her presentation to the class' needs or a student may study the archived history of a class design project.

"One of the goals of CITRIS which we would like to address is finding ways to prepare students for the types of collaborative work they will need to succeed in industry," says Alex Cuthbert, a doctoral student in Cognition and Development who is coordinating the initial design and development of UC-WISE.

However, the only way UC-WISE can succeed is if it's used as a high-tech teacher's aid that dovetails with the efforts of an attentive and dedicated instructor. No robots need apply. UC-WISE, the researchers explain, is inherently a partnership between the instructors, curriculum designers, and researchers all of whom work together to integrate the technology into teaching.

"Distance education really isn't the right word since it conjures up images of students logging onto courses and working in isolation or sending email to other people including an instructor they never meet," Cuthbert says. "With UC-WISE, the teacher or instructor is integral to the success of the project, serving as a guide and mentor."

Still, UC-WISE does raise philosophical questions about what it means to be an instructor in an age of information technology and online "course environments." According to Clancy, the system can never negate the need for instructors but only enables them to do what they do best. And that varies tremendously.

"Some of the most highly-rated instructors are high energy, some are incredibly organized, and some always have instant answers and drop interesting tidbits of information in along with them," Clancy says. "For example, I think that what I add to a course is not what I stand up and say but the activities I come up with. We're trying to figure out a way to distill those kinds of talents to get the best out of everybody."