Scott Overmyer (Scott.Overmyer@cis.drexel.edu)
Sat, 12 Dec 1998 00:53:42 -0500
From: "Scott Overmyer" <Scott.Overmyer@cis.drexel.edu> Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1998 00:53:42 -0500 Subject: Re: [ifets] Re: [RRE]Digital Diploma Mills, Part III
Dear Colleagues,
I look forward to the diversity of opinions that has graced this forum, and
Professor David Noble's article is no exception. In fairness, however, I
also must admit to occasionally stopping to listen to Lyndon Larouche
supporters in airports. More reluctantly, I admit to tuning my radio to
96.5 FM in Philadelphia to see what Rush Limbaugh is up to now and again.
I justify these actions because if I don't know what these people are
saying, then I don't know how to respond to their arguments when confronted
with them (usually second-hand) in a public forum.
Noble's was an impassioned, anti-technology diatribe containing a great
deal of blatant, unsubstantiated assertions and "sound bites" about the
efficacy and effectiveness of educational technology and distance
education. I personally saw in his article no data whatsoever offered to
substantiate his position in terms that should be acceptable to competent
social or physical scientists and educators. Anecdotal evidence of labor
unions being upset by threats to job security should be no surprise to
anyone, and should not constitute evidence of a failure of distance
education. Indeed, there are some circumstances under which without
distance education, there would be no education at all.
Noble indirectly and correctly eludes to the fact that there are numerous
issues to be resolved such as: 1) the proper role of educational technology
and distance education in the educational lifecycle, 2) intellectual
property rights for course material and compensation for educational
professionals, 3) the proper role for educational professionals in light of
the impact of technology, and 4) the rights and responsibilities of
students who may be asked or may ask to participate in non-traditional
instructional delivery. I am optimistic that this forum will help
elucidate these issues and their potential solutions.
Rather than launching into this kind of critical essay reminicent of
arguments previously offered in opposition to railroad speeds in excess of
20 miles per hour, and the introduction of sound into movie theaters, it
would seem to me to be more productive and effective if Professor Noble
could raise critical issues and offer proposals for mitigating the risks of
possible harms that could potentially be caused by the introduction of
these new tools. I would relish the opportunity to debate Professor Noble
on the issues in either a F2F or asynchronous fashion.
scotto...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Scott P. Overmyer, Ph.D. College of Information Science and Technology
Associate Professor 306 Rush Building
Drexel University
Phone: (215) 895-1271 3141 Chestnut Street
Fax: (215) 895-2494 Philadelphia, PA 19104-2875
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
P.S. In response to Professor Noble's Preamble, allow me to offer a story
told to me in North Dakota by a Norwegian gentleman:
It seems as though in this time of political correctness, a popular
professor on campus was lamenting his inablity to use an accumulation of
ethnic humor without offending someone or the other. In searching for an
ethnic group that could not possibly be offended, he stumbled upon the
biblical Hitites, a race that had been extinct for many centuries. After
all, with the race gone from the face of the Earth, who could possibly be
offended?
In class one day, he decided to try out his new discovery with a story,
which he started: "It seems that there were these 2 Hitites, Ole and Lena
..."
---------------------------------------------------------
Forum website: http://zeus.gmd.de/ifets/
Email address for sending message to everyone on the list ifets@gmd.de
Forum's contact person ifets-info@gmd.de
Join/Leave Digest or Normal List http://zeus.gmd.de/ifets/maillist.html
---------------------------------------------------------
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sat 12 Dec 1998 - 07:25:07 MET