>In rhetorical terms, sounds like we're asking first about the
>needs/perceptions/ expectations of the audience. Is that the place to
>start, or do we begin by asking what ethos we want to promote and what we
>feel we have to offer--and then work to convince others that they should
>view us THAT way instead of the ways they perhaps already view us.
This sparked in me two questions, one much more rhetorical than the other.
First, don't a lot of people take continuing ed classes _specifically_ for
the purposes of interacting with other people f2f, in real-time? I don't
really know the answer to that, but I've had a few older (retired or close
to it) students who seem to enjoy getting down to school and out of the
house. I wonder how appealing 'net based courses might be to this crowd.
Second (and this is the rhetorical question), wouldn't these telecommuting
students need a pretty good chunk of hardware and software to take these
courses over the 'net? And aren't a sizeable amount of the population
interested in continuing ed to better their lot in life (ie, get that
undergrad degree or certificate or what-have-you to get a better job)
unable to afford the computer equipment it takes to participate in a
program like this? After all, the demographics suggest that vast majority
of home computer owners have substantial education past high school. I
realize that some continuing ed stuff could be done with e-mail alone
(which would be potentially quite cheap), but I'm not sure that e-mail
without other 'net interaction would be much better than traditional
correspondance courses.
I guess I'm just trying to be a skeptic, not because I don't think this
could work, but because I think we need to be careful about leaping too far
ahead if this were to become a reality. Potential students have to have
computers and know how to work them (more or less) before they start taking
classes exclusively over the 'net, and those are two big roadblocks.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Steve Krause * Department of English * Southern Oregon State College
1250 Siskiyou Blvd. * Ashland, OR 97520 * Office Phone: 541-552-6630
School e-mail: krause@wpo.sosc.osshe.edu * Personal e-mail: krause@mind.net
WWW: http://www.sosc.osshe.edu/English/Krause
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=