More and more university students are taking advantage of classes offered over the Internet, and a leading expert on Internet education will be speaking on this subject tonight.

Dr. Burks Oakley, associate vice president for Academic Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was also the leader in forming a network of Internet-based instruction for the university and statewide community colleges.

He will talk about the importance of using the Internet for education in his speech, “The Impact of the Internet on Higher Education,” at 3:10 p.m. in Room 1414 of Molecular Biology.

Robert Anderson, professor in electrical and computer engineering, said Oakley was invited to speak at Iowa State because of his expertise and experience in Internet-based instruction.

“We invited Burks Oakley here for two reasons. I think the burgeoning opportunity to deliver instruction via the Internet is critical to ISU’s success, and Burks is probably the best expert in the United States on this subject,” he said.

Anderson said Oakley has a very important role in Internet-based education for the University of Illinois.

“The position Oakley has was basically created especially for him because he’s the chief guy for the University of Illinois’s system for technology and instruction,” he said. “The University’s system wanted to have a senior administrator to administer Internet-based instruction.”

Anderson also said he hopes Iowa State is planning to expand its Internet-based instruction.

“I stimulated my department to bring Oakley in because I don’t think this university is doing enough or is committed enough in this area,” he said. “Online learning offers enormous potential for both traditional students who live on campus and nontraditional students who live off campus. It allows us to package and deliver information to the students at their demand.”

Kristi Molle, sophomore in elementary education, said the speech sounded interesting because she is planning to take two classes over the Internet in the fall.

“I’m going to take Biology 109 and Zoology 155 [over the Net] next semester so I can free up my afternoons for work. I think it’s great that Iowa State offers classes that way,” she said.