Letters
Two professors square off over online classes
(Editor’s note: The following letter was received in response to last month’s column by instructor
Christan Amundsen, “Online Classes: The coming scandal.”)
Dear Editor,
Soren Kierkegaard rightfully said,
“To be a teacher in the right sense is to
be a learner.” I often tell my students
that the first phone I ever saw was when
I was 8 years old. My dad, one day,
proudly brought it home, but only dad
could use the phone at the time. A few
years later, I ‘graduated’ to using it as
well. Of course, one has to remember
my family just experienced WWII.
Today, technological change happens
so fast that it is difficult for all of
us to keep up. One of these changes is
the online class. Scandal? No. Opportunity?
Yes. An opportunity so no student
will be left behind.
And if we, as instructors, do not
learn to adapt and master these instructional
tools, we will be left behind by
those who need us most, because they
will look somewhere else for the needed
knowledge.
And, like in the business world, if
we instructors are left behind, we will
perish. Let’s be learners as Kierkegaard
aptly stated years ago.
Gabriel Bach, Ph.D.
Government Professor
Amundsen’s Response:
Kierkegaard wrote, “Suppose someone
invented an instrument, a convenient
little talking tube, which, say, could be
heard over the whole land… I wonder if
the police would not forbid it, fearing that
the whole country would become mentally
deranged if it were used.” (“A Third Testament,”
Malcolm Muggeridge, p. 129)
Hmm. Not sure Kierkegaard would
be on the side of online classes. While I
agree that we are entering a new world
filled with possibilities, we must always
be mindful that just because we can do
a thing, does not mean that it is good
for us.
If we have learned anything, and
are to be good “learners,” let us also
practice wisdom and not rush to convenience
for convenience sake.
I stand by my objections and my
point that online classes should be limited
to only 10 percent of a degree program.
Convenience, ease and technological
novelty are not compelling enough
reasons to alter the time honored institutions
of Higher Education.
Christan Amundsen
Psychology Professor |
