With the new technology being incorporated into the Dickinson School of Law of Penn State, students and faculty will be able to be in two places at the same time.

The law school plans to incorporate state-of-the-art videoconferencing equipment into both of its new buildings to enable faculty to teach students at both campuses, University Park and Carlisle, simultaneously.

Philip McConnaughay, dean of the law school, said the technology has amazing capabilities.

"We will be able to simultaneously record and download to a computer in digital format almost anything that occurs in our classrooms in either building," he said.

Jon Andrews, vice president of the Student Bar Association (SBA) at the law school, said the ability of faculty to teach at both campuses would increase the availability of courses.

"I think it's got great potential if it's implemented the way that it's proposed," he said.

McConnaughay said faculty would still be required to spend time face to face with students.

"The faculty is likely to develop guidelines that will be highly suggestive to the amount of in-person time," said McConnaughay, adding that a transportation system would be provided for faculty to travel between campuses.

McConnaughay said seven to 10 faculty members have been added to the law school. He said the law school is hoping for a student-faculty ratio of 14- or 15-to-1.

Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said the telecommunications technology was a critical part of making the dual-campus plan work.

"That was presented as part of the original plan for having a dual campus for the law school," he said. He added that students would have equal opportunities to take classes at either campus.

McConnaughay said he did not think the dual-campus plan would affect the accreditation of the school by the American Bar Association (ABA), which qualifies students to take the bar exam in any U.S. state.

ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools state that students may not earn more than 12 credit hours toward a law degree through "distance education."

However, McConnaughay said he did not think the dual-campus model would qualify as distance education because of the availability of personal interaction between faculty and students, and the high quality of the telecommunications equipment.

McConnaughay said the ABA visited the school in November to discuss the dual-campus plan, but it has not yet made a decision about whether telecommunications courses would qualify as distance education. He said the school plans to make another visit in 2008 when the buildings are completed.

Beverly Holmes, assistant for Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar at the ABA, said there are no plans to change the standard in the future.

Douglas Boorstein, chairman of the technology committee of the SBA at the law school, said he had not taken a videoconferencing class, but he would prefer in-person classes to videoconferencing.

"Students may have a harder time paying attention [with videoconferencing]," he said.

Andrews said that while "tech-savvy" faculty are embracing the technology, others seem discouraged.

"It's pretty much a mixed bag among the faculty," he said.

Kendig said there were no plans right now to offer videoconferencing courses to Penn State Commonwealth Campuses.

He said the law school's situation is unique because its two campuses would be tightly integrated, but Commonwealth Campuses tend to be more autonomous.

Peter Rubba, director of the Penn State World Campus program, said the program had offered videoconferencing classes in the past.

"The quality of the courses was rated highly. The convenience factor was rated highly," he said.

However, he said the program no longer offered the service because of increased enrollment.

"Once you get over two or three sites, it becomes very difficult to manage," he said.