[Air-l] laptops and Internet access in class

[Mark D. Johns]

Dr. Steve Eskow wrote:
> ...
> Suppose, for example, our students could actually be scattered in space and 
> time, engaged in work or service anywhere in the community, the nation, the 
> world, and the "learning community" is online--lectures online, if they are 
> needed, discussion online, collaboration online, libraries online?...

I think you are describing the University of Phoenix.

It's an interesting experiment, and it may be the paradigm of the 
future. But my contract for fall makes it pretty clear I have to show up 
in the appointed classroom at the appointed time if I wish to collect my 
paycheck. And for the moment, the vast majority of workers in the world 
are likewise still punching clocks in one way or another.

> Bourdieu calls the university ideal "the scholastic enclosure," a way of 
> insulating students and teachers from the world for which they are nomially 
> preparing.
> 
> It used to be called "the ivory tower."

To the extent we allow students to make up their own rules about 
participation and regard it (in the words of a popular comic strip in 
this morning's newspaper) as, "basically four years of fully-funded, 
unsupervised, independent living," I suspect most working folks would 
still consider it pretty insulted and most definitely "ivory."
-- 
Mark D. Johns, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Head of the
  Department of Communication Studies
Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA
http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/
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"Get the facts first. You can distort them later."
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