Jay (and others), I want to orbit around this idea (real vs. virtual teaching spaces) a bit. The skeptical side of me thinks that what you cherish (Jay) just doesn't matter to the agenda that technology wants/has for us. There seems to be no stopping or denying this. Recent reports in the Chronicle of Higher Education show, not only skyrocketing enrollment figures in online programs, but a mounting body of research (note I didn't say proof) that suggests online quality will far outstrip traditional quality in the near future. A skim of the article linked to below gives a sense of this. http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/TheFutureofOnlineTeachingandLe/157426 Take a look at one of the charts from this article (pasted below). [cid:image001.png@01CBF05C.85468580] Of course, one could and should question such claims. Have we've all agreed on what makes superior quality? Why do most people who study this think quality will dramatically rise in the near future? Part of it is just us getting better at it. Right now we have "digital incunabula". Digital devices, that like books when they first came out, we still don't know what to best use them for. Most scholars think, over the next few years we will get much smarter at using these devices. In addition, the environments that we can construct with our technologies will immerse us in "perfectly constructed real worlds", designed to maximize the teaching we want to do. Image a world indistinguishable from the real world, except perfectly designed to just what you want to teach. In the last ten years, the ever accelerating changes I've witnessed have pretty much convinced me of the inevitability of a virtual, technologically delivered education for all. Just how fast the human/computer interface may change and what this might do to our perceptions of a virtual space vs. a real space is anybody's guess. (Achim, stay away from this idea please, I'm having enough trouble getting my head around it!!) If the online learning space looks, feels, and acts like the real space, who will know? Is it hard to imagine a computer constructed world feeling (being) as real as the Grand Canyon (if I coded it I wouldn't include the mule smell)? Today maybe, but what about tomorrow? How long before personal interaction (people speaking to people in the same space) is possible no matter where the two people are? How long before the things you might identify as this experience (sights, smells, closeness, temperature, etc.) can all be simulated/controlled anywhere? I know, I know, we've heard all this before. The Matrix. But "Jimmy",you say, "as much as you say things change, they stay the same." This time I'm not so sure. I sense the number of technological iterations we have been through is now high enough that the next iterations will start to be SIGNIFICANTLY different from the previous one (exponential growth). What does this mean. That virtual worlds will soon be indistinguishable from real worlds. Nuts you say? I hope you're right, but I'm no longer sure. Mr. James B. Greenberg Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center Milne Library SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, New York 13820 email: [log in to unmask] phone: 607-436-2701 fax: 607-436-3677 Twitter: greenbjb "Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever" -----Original Message----- From: Teaching Breakfast List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Fleisher, P. Jay ([log in to unmask]) Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 9:15 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Next Teaching Breakfast Meeting and a Good Read Jimmy, Being one who is still firmly grounded in the value of personal interaction (people speaking to people while in the same place, at the same time), I accept the potential for electronic learning, but regret the loss of communication that comes with eye contact. Is there such a thing as an electronic mentor? Geo-scientists are now developing the technology to conduct virtual field trips. I say great, as long as it doesn't reduce the frequency of "actual" field trips. Think back - can you still smell the dust and mule urine on the Bright Angel Trail. The Grand Canyon is grand only to those who have experienced it first hand. Anything else may be good (even very good), but not grand. We are the sum total of our experiences. Diminish those and you limit the person. My daughter Sarah once said to me (1992), "just because you can, Dad, doesn't mean you should". I suppose that today she could have sent that message by email, but it was the eye contact that drove it home. There is a world of difference between information and communication. Jay ________________________________________ From: Teaching Breakfast List [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Greenberg, James ([log in to unmask]) Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2011 7:44 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Next Teaching Breakfast Meeting and a Good Read TBers, This is a reminder that our next Teaching Breakfast meeting will be April 6th outside the Starbucks in the Hunt Union at 8 am. I'd like to have a discussion about electronic learning spaces and what faculty would ideally want. What is good and bad with ANGEL? What privacy issues do you have? What "cloud" applications do you use? What would you like that you don't have? What do you cherish now that you wouldn't want to lose? If this topic interests you, please join us. Looking for a good read with this morning's coffee? The article linked to below is a shameless plug for a group I am honored to be part of - the Higher Education Teaching and Learning Portal. I found it inspiring and refocusing. See http://hetl.org/. Mr. James B. Greenberg Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center Milne Library SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, New York 13820 email: [log in to unmask] phone: 607-436-2701 fax: 607-436-3677 Twitter: greenbjb "Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever" P Think before you print! Please consider the environment before printing this email