Mary Harrsch (mharrsch@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU)
Fri, 11 Dec 1998 12:05:25 -0800
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 12:05:25 -0800 From: Mary Harrsch <mharrsch@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU> Subject: [ifets] "The Bloom Is Off The Rose"
Arun, thank you for posting the "Bloom Is Off The Rose" article although I
must admit I was saddened by the apparent entrenchment of the opposition to
distance education and technology introduction. I finished a book this week
that included a discussion of the opposing forces involved in the women's
suffrage movement in the United States and it seemed eerily familiar. I
fear the opposition is using the banner of quality education to obscure the
"real" issues motivating the faculty resistance - loss of tenure, loss of
potential income from "intellectual property rights" (although here, like
Florida Gulf Coast University, materials produced using university resources
are considered the property of the university), and unwillingness to invest
a faculty member's time and energy into learning to develop materials for a
new delivery platform. I think it is premature to claim "the verdict is in"
since technology is hardly ubiquitous in the average home, bandwidth is
still extremely limited, and support structures are practically nonexistent
at many if not most traditional institutions. I do know that quality
distance education could fill a void for many nontraditional students living
and working in remote areas. (I lived in the desert of eastern Oregon for
almost 7 years - a 3 hour drive from the nearest institution of higher
education) Furthermore, social trends indicate a migration away from cities
triggered by successful implementation of telecommuting practices. I also
think it is presumptuous to assume that all campus-based education is of
such a high quality especially when considering the proliferation of huge
lecture classes where many students never even interact with a professor at
all (usually only a graduate student conducting the discussion sections).
Listening to the opponents of distance education, you get the impression
that on-campus students benefit from practically an individual tutored
experience which of course is nonsense.
Mary Harrsch
Network and Information Systems Manager
College of Education
102-K Education
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
(541) 346-3554
http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~mharrsch/index.htm
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