Ernie : The manifesto you sent makes valid enough points. Still, it would be a good idea to repeat my previous comments about a "best mix" of educational alternatives. A switch from all lectures all the time to all virtual ed all the time is not what I was talking about, as worthwhile as online courses and other learning options may be. Not sure if the concept is registering. Maybe it can't because of Apple's product emphasis. Nothing the least wrong with hardware that people can buy but as I look at it, that approach is kind of like the approach of textbook people who seem to think that all knowledge comes from their products. I'm not knocking textbook, either, well maybe in a full length essay I would, for a number of reasons, but to keep this simple. >From an educator's perspective the "ideal" college education would consist of a blend of a number of learning alternatives. Computers are important but they aren't the whole picture. Its kinda like Nike, which is very big at U of O since Phil Knight is an alum and has a serious interest in Oregon sports. Hence the fashion-statement football uniforms that Nike provides the team, hence Matt basketball arena, hence other new sports facilities and no-expense-spared coaches to make world class athletics normative around here.
But Phil Knight has also invested ( donated ) lotsa $$ in other ways, and hence the school's first class library ( hundreds of thousands of volumes ) is called Knight Library. He hasn't forgotten sports, far from it, obviously. But he tries to see the overall picture, and that includes academics. Majoring in a hard science and my guess is that the winds of educational reform that come and go in the overall curricula did not really effect you all that much while you were a student. But, take my word, in the liberal arts a lot has happened and even though a whole raft of experiments and bright ideas didn't make the cut, some innovations have done so, and if not everywhere at least in select locations. >From a computer business perspective, at least as I see it, the challenge should be to identify how products can be made use of in : > field study contexts ( class trips out of state, or in situ study of a community for sociology class or anthropology or political science, etc. > group interaction. About this, consider an online course. What about Eugene, to use that example. Why couldn't a real world class be organized locally if I was enrolled in say, a journalism course, or maybe television production ? Maybe this would not apply if the class was in the philosophy of the medieval era or advanced Buddhist studies, but for a pretty wide array of courses it ought to be entirely feasible. As it is, Eugene has about 20 meet-up groups, people who get together, in person, based on common interests, like nature hikes, like fascination with mystery fiction, or in Asian cooking. The people meet each other thanks to a computer service provided locally, I think, by Parks and Recreation, which "publishes" an electronic newsletter and sometimes offers computer tutorials. In other words, given desirability for people getting together, the idea would be use of computers to accomplish this goal. > creative projects, which can be almost anything, from visual arts to writing for TV. I do comprehend the idea that online education can be good news in 100 different ways. Its just that if you are serious about re-thinking education it really is imperative to grasp the whole field, not just the computer part of it. Overall context is not some kind of luxury. And be open to at least some well intended criticisms. Not every text innovation in computer text writing is such a hot idea, after all, like embedding highlighted words in a serious article. I could give you several compelling reasons to abandon that kind of thing, mostly because it repeatedly breaks up the flow of reading for meaning, and also because far too often a link via highlighted word takes you to trivia that is senseless to include. But, yeah, there are all kinds of multi-media opportunities in computer text that no hard copy print book can replicate. As I hope you will see in the near future. If I ever get this damned project finished, which never seems to happen since as soon as I get one new "chapter" under control I think of another subject that really needs attention and hence fresh research, or revisions of past work, or creating new visuals, etc. But IF this ever gets done you will see, graphically, that I really do get the idea. Billy ======================================== 3/12/2012 11:43:24 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: [The message and any attached files have been turned into a ZIP attachment. Once downloaded and unzipped, open it with a word processor or text editor for reading.] -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
