I’m a big
proponent of using technology as a tool. The internet is wonderful. Computers
are amazing. Smartphones are useful. Like any tool, there is a right way and a
right time for their use, and using them accordingly improves upon life in many
ways, especially education.
With that
said, I’m reluctant to engage in teaching online. I know it’s the wave of the
future. I know hundreds of higher education institutions sing their praises and
offer thousands of courses and hundreds of degree programs all reached without
setting foot outside one’s home.
I feel
there’s something essential, especially in the teaching of writing, in the
personal connection that just can’t be replicated online yet. I conduct classes
largely of group discussions which depend on the simultaneous participation of
the entire class to generate the comments and questions necessary to bring out
true insight.
I’ve never
articulated it this way before, but I think that the classroom environment, with
so many people, is an attempt at trying to create inspiration. It works more
often than you might think (Hey, Socrates knew what he was talking about) but
it’s not something that can happen in online.
The various
discussion forums, audio casts, and video feeds don’t provide the same spark
for inspiration.
But part of
me continues to wonder when I will break down and begin teaching online. Maybe
there is a way to make that spark
happen . . . there has to be, right?