Tuesday, January 7, 2003

After Losing Millions, Columbia U. Will Close Its Online-Learning Venture By SCOTT CARLSON Columbia University announced on Monday that it will shut down Fathom, its for-profit online-learning venture, which had been designed to sell Web-based courses and seminars to the public. In its two years of operation, the venture featured material from a dozen prominent institutions and attracted widespread media attention, but it was never profitable. Two weeks ago, the board that runs Fathom voted to dissolve it and move some of its resources into other digital-media projects at Columbia. The site will probably go offline sometime in March. The university had contributed millions to the undertaking, although officials said they would not divulge the exact amount. "The decision reflects the belief that, having invested really meaningful resources into Fathom, at this point the university is going to be better served if we focus them on the campus-based initiatives," said Robert Kasdin, Columbia's senior executive vice president. "Although digital media continues to be a critical innovation, it will continue to take some time to sort through what the best commercial opportunities are." A number of prominent intellectual, artistic, and scientific institutions had joined Fathom as partners, providing material for the site. The institutions will keep the rights to the material they produced and can use it as they see fit, Mr. Kasdin said. Columbia might use some of Fathom's digital material on the university's Web site and in course software. Columbia's partners in the venture were the American Film Institute, the British Library, the Cambridge University Press, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Natural History Museum in London, the New York Public Library, RAND, the Science Museum in London, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan system, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. "I think Fathom was a great experiment," said James L. Hilton, associate provost for academic information and instructional technology affairs at the University of Michigan. "The problems that Fathom was trying to address -- how to connect with lifelong learners, how to provide authenticated information -- is an important challenge that is still out there. ... I wish that the national economics could have supported a longer experiment." Ann G. Kirschner, the president and chief executive officer of Fathom, said the flagging economy had put pressure on the venture. In May, the Columbia University Senate recommended cutting back on the university's investment in Fathom, although the university had reportedly already cut back. In 2001, Columbia gave Fathom $14.9-million, while the venture earned $700,000 from fees from other institutions and sales revenue. "The reality is, we're in tough economic times," Ms. Kirschner said. "No institution, particularly the ones involved in the Fathom consortium, wants to do anything without the highest academic quality. She added: "Fathom was an expensive vehicle for innovation. In tough economic times, it's natural that our investor would look for ways to reduce that investment." Ms. Kirschner will remain employed by Columbia as a consultant, helping the university to make the best use of Fathom's materials and assets. She said that Columbia and Fathom's other institutions have learned a great deal about strategies for collaboration and distance learning. And, she said, "I think we're going out on a high. We've outlasted nearly everybody." Indeed, Fathom's demise follows those of for-profit online-learning ventures at New York University, Temple University, and the University of Maryland University College. Background articles from The Chronicle: Columbia Senate Questions Spending on Fathom (5/10/2002) Debating the Demise of NYUonline (12/14/2001) Temple U. Shuts Down For-Profit Distance-Education Company (7/20/2001) Is Anyone Making Money on Distance Education? (2/16/2001) For-Profit Web Venture Shifts Gears, Hoping to Find a Way to Make a Profit (2/9/2001) Columbia's Fathom Site Attracts 4 More Prominent Partners (9/8/2000) Going for Profit and Scholarship on the Web (5/5/2000) For-Profit Web Venture Seeks to Replicate the University Experience Online (4/14/2000) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

State Supreme Court ruling requires Penn to pay $2.9-million to veterinary professor Facing dip in endowment income, Hillsdale College will drop 4 varsity sports Seminary may lease buildings to space-crunched Columbia U. Israeli government to shut 3 universities in the West Bank, citing bombings Bus crash in southern Iran claims university students' lives After losing millions, Columbia U. will close its online-learning venture