FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas is a co-sponsor of the 2002 Arkansas Distance Education Conference, "New Challenges/New Opportunities," on Jan. 10. The conference, to be held in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the UA campus, lasts from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and features 17 different sessions on distance education issues.

The keynote speaker is Chere Campbell Gibson, associate professor and chair of the department of Continuing and Vocational Education at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Gibson is a nationally renowned expert in distance education.

The conference also is being presented in conjunction with several colleges on the UA campus, including School of Law; College of Engineering; Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences; and University Libraries.

Bob Hails, Walton College director of Distance Education, said, "Distance education is an emerging field in education. It is being utilized by high schools to present classes that they are not staffed for as well as by universities to simultaneously transmit classes to other cities.

"We will be using the distance education technology we are highlighting in our conference in order to 'present’ the conference. For example, we will be broadcasting the conference to four remote sites in Arkansas and one in Ohio. We are also receiving presentations by CD and video conferencing."

The remote sites are England, Ark. School District; UA Community College - Hope, Ark.; MidSouth Community College, West Memphis, Ark.; UAMS, Little Rock, Ark.; and Ohio University.

Several Walton College faculty members will lead sessions and participate in panel discussions. A listing of the sessions can be found in detail on the conference website.

Three or four experts on copyright and other legal issues related to distance education will make presentations. Steven Armatas, an attorney with the law firm Buckingham, Doolittle and Burroughs, LLP, Akron, Ohio, will present "Distance Learning and Copyright: Legal Issues."

Hails said, "There will be an excellent opportunity for visuals (video and photography) in our control room. With the video conferencing, you will be able to see the remote sites on screen as we conference with them, experts on distance education for sound bites and a variety of educators from around the state."

The registration fee is $40, and instructions for registering is available by logging on to waltoncollege.uark.edu/rced/conference. For more information and registration information, e-mail deconference@walton.uark.edu or contact Bob Hails, (479) 575-2366, hails@walton.uark.edu, director of Distance Education, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, 145 N. Buchanan Street Room 112, Fayetteville, AR 72701.