|
|
Re: multi-user environments
barry waid (waidbar@MAIL.AUBURN.EDU)
Tue, 20 Sep 1994 22:36:05 CDT
>I think that in the near future we will have large lecture classes
>with discussion sections handled through electronic media. This way
>universities can keep up high enrollments and faculty can teach as
>little as they want.
>
with the popularity of things like mu*'s, email, the irc, etc, and the social
interaction/exchanges that go on through electronic media, major changes lie
ahead in the relationships (informal and formal) between teacher and taught (and
to a lesser degree peer-to-peer relationships). both the exposure of the student
and his/her access to professional anthropologists are changing. as an
undergraduate i communicated through email with people at u of mich, yale, and
other places. i don't know how it is going to develop but i think that the
social sciences are about to undergo serious transformations in not only the
passing along of knowledge but our perception of what it is and how it is
created. what will the role of the refereed journal be when it evolves into or
is supplanted by the multimedia cd-rom journal with video, text, sound, and
interactive virtual walkthroughs? what will it mean when students are able to
easily publish or at least make available electronic articles? these events are
5, 10, 20, years away. but my guess is that they are close enough to affect most
of us.
barry waid
department of sociology
auburn university
waidbar@mail.auburn.edu
################################
|