> In a word - No. I take my view from the forward to Richard Feynman's
Lectures
> on Physics: The besy learning is done when one teacher and one student
interact
> over the material.
1:1 student teacher ratios is not where the competition will be. Cal Tech
was recently selected as #1 university in the US. Part of the reason was a
3:1 ratio of students to professors of Feynman's caliber. Many distance
learning programs are already better than a mediocre teacher and unlike
mediocre teachers are continuously improving.
>As the internet stands now it can be a resource but not a
> replacement. Bandwidth restrictions alone will prevent little more from
list
> memorizing and basic communications from taking place.
I have ~2Mbaud cable modem service at home for less money than what my ISDN
cost three years ago. Moore's law suggests that available bandwidth will
continue to rise and cost continue to fall.
>The greatest thing we
> have to offer our students is not a list of procedures (that are in large
part
> not very useful) but a model of the analytic process and for now, that is
best
> done in a classroom, office, or lab; in person picking apart each other's
work.
> (aka the Socratic method) Technology is a tool, but not a replacement
for
> personal interaction
But the very best learners and teachers can teach themselves. Feynman
avoided reading what other people had written until he had derived it
himself. People that are simply good can learn faster from a book than in
a classroom and hypertext and interactive media are easier to use than
books.
>
> Jay Malmstrom
> Oklahoma City Community College
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