Bob,
I have been thinking about this too. Some of your misgivings may come from
the need to have a real place to come to and work. WHen I was an undergrad,
I had no place to go except the common student areas. As a grad student
TA, I had a desk in a crowded office and that made a big difference. The
shift to virtual places is fraught with anxieties and dangers. Some say
this shift is happening in the corporate world. The result is greater
freedom for the worker who can now stay at home and dial in. But there are
losses in status and greater isolation. So moving in this direction for
educational enterprise is scary because, as many have pointed out, higher
ed seems headed for a corporate model and not all the models for virtual
ed. share the Crumpean vision of play, exploration, interactivity and so
on. Many are based on cutting costs, cutting out expensive profs,
technology used to deliver banking ed more efficiently. Maybe this means
that the Crumps are more needed out there to provide and argue for
alternatives. But they are needed inside too, because the U. is placed to
organize these sites, courses, whatever. Actually, despite anxieties, I
somehow feel a bit of visionary optimism about the longterm effcts of WAN
on education. I see the net as furthering disciplinary breakdown and
cross-fertilization, especially where writing pedagogy is concerned. But
this vision is always dogged by its dystopian shadow . . .
Albert
*************
Albert Rouzie
Dept of English-Ellis 385
Ohio University
Athens, OH. 45701
Eng: (614) 593-2838
Office: 593-2784
fax#: 593-2818
"Your book fills a much needed gap."
--Moses Hadas