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-----Original
Message----- Dear Ms.
Ferris: Scott
Jaschik offered the possibility that I could cover the Intech
conference this Tuesday and Wednesday using a Chronicle press pass - if I
receive your approval to develop an opinion piece. Therefore I submit the
following general outline for your approval. Sincerely, Outline of Opinion Piece for the Review (approximately 2000 words)
Policies for on-line learning have been driven much less by
students’ needs than by the faculty’s desire to keep doing what they’ve
always done. So academe remains a kind of cottage industry with
tens of thousands of individual producers and few substantial economies of scale
or quality improvements derived from the use of the Internet. There remains a lack of vision and technology, of economic
model and political will. The vision is simple. It is one of having
excellent tutoring always available to listen to students’ questions, give
them opportunities to answer themselves, and step in when they’re stuck or
wrong. The technology is coming. It will enable
students, teaching assistants and experts to source and respond - live or
asynchronously - to literally trillions of requests. By noting acceptances
and rejections, the systems will continuously and automatically improve the
corpora and distribute rewards (royalties and credits) that motivate both
personal tutoring and enduring contributions. (for specific ideas on
process and implementation, please see my web site) The business model is open for discussion. The
corpora will most naturally be managed by independent entities, like textbook
publishers, that can freely assemble collections. However, on-line
learning systems are now run by accrediting institutions that typically wrest
copyright from their faculties. Universities and updated publishers should
forge relationships and negotiate terms. |
