A multi-million dollar electronic learning center was one of the 31 proposals recommended for Madison Initiative for Undergraduates funding to Chancellor Biddy Martin Tuesday.
According to Aaron Brower, vice provost for teaching and learning and a member of the MIU Oversight Committee, the E-Learning Center would be a new classroom on campus equipped with special technology geared toward highly interactive learning.
He said it would most likely be used for certain math and language classes on campus.
""There are some courses that really benefit from a different kind of instruction,"" he said. ""It would be a real hybrid between online learning and group-based learning.""
Tyler Junger, chair of the Associated Students of Madison, said that although he likes the idea behind the Center, he feels such a large amount of MIU funding should not be used to build a new classroom.
""I love the programs that would take place inside the Center for E-Learning, but as for actually building the center with Madison Initiative money, I really hope that there are other sources of money for it,"" he said.
Brower said even though the proposal initially asked for $6.7 million, members of the Oversight Committee recommended Martin allocate about $4.2 million for the project.
He said, however, that officials are looking into placing a cap on its funding and it is likely that the total amount spent on the E-Learning Center would be less than the recommended $4.2 million.
The Student Board, which is the other oversight board making recommendations to Martin, initially gave the E-Learning Center proposal, as well as several other highly recommended proposals, a fairly low ranking.
Junger said this was because the Student Board ranked the proposals as a whole rather than choosing to fund only parts of each proposal like the Oversight Committee was able to do.
He said he felt the Student Board was not knowledgeable enough to choose only parts of proposals, so instead, looked at them as a whole.
According to Brower, many of the proposals, including the top-ranked proposal from the chemistry department, asked for many new faculty members, which requires planning ahead and spending more than the $6.2 million left in MIU's budget for this year.
""In a sense, even if we're approving a hire today, the money doesn't actually start until 2011, which means we're already into the third year of the MIU,"" he said.
Martin is expected to make her final decisions in mid-March.
