Unit Five Before Reading Global Reading Detailed Reading After Reading Education in Cyberspace Zooming In: An Integrated English Course- Electronic Teaching Portfolio Home In 1990, I designed America's first online counseling center for distance learners. Since then I've worked with more than 7.000 learners online. I've flunked a few of them. I've never personally met any of them <e For want of a clearer explanation of my career situation told the man who inquired that I teach in cyberspace. "Im a virtual professor, I tried explaining. "Distance learning. online degree programs.virtual universities 0 SThe man's face remained as blank as a clear summer sky couldnt tell whether he was silent out of respect or keen confusion. I imagined both to be the case, so I settled in to explain what I have to explain frequently these days:the decline of the american college campus and the rise of the American educational mind -as I see it 《Prev.Next 新世纪大学英语系列教材综合教程电子放③
In 1990, I designed America’s first online counseling center for distance learners. Since then I’ve worked with more than 7,000 learners online. I’ve flunked a few of them. I’ve never personally met any of them. For want of a clearer explanation of my career situation, I told the man who inquired that I teach in cyberspace. “I’m a virtual professor,” I tried explaining. “Distance learning ... online degree programs ... virtual universities.” The man’s face remained as blank as a clear summer sky. I couldn’t tell whether he was silent out of respect or keen confusion. I imagined both to be the case, so I settled in to explain what I have to explain frequently these days: the decline of the American college campus and the rise of the American educational mind — as I see it. Detailed Reading
Unit Five Before Reading Global Reading Detailed Reading After Reading Education in Cyberspace Zooming In: An Integrated English Course- Electronic Teaching Portfolio Home Distance learning, or educational programs where pupil and professor never meet face-to-face, are nothing new. Sir Isaac Pitman of Bath, England, hit upon the idea of having rural residents learn secretarial skills by translating the Bible into shorthand, then mailing these translations back to him for grading He began doing this in 1840. And he made mounds of noney doing it I don't teach shorthand: I teach psychology and career development I write many of my own lessons though, just as Sir Isaac had to do My post is the World Wide Web post assignments to electronic bulletin boards and send graded papers across the international phone lines in tariff-free e-mail packets. I convene classes and give lectures in online chat rooms when need be Prev. Next 新世纪大学英语系列教材综合教程电子放③
Detailed Reading Distance learning, or educational programs where pupil and professor never meet face-to-face, are nothing new. Sir Isaac Pitman of Bath, England, hit upon the idea of having rural residents learn secretarial skills by translating the Bible into shorthand, then mailing these translations back to him for grading. He began doing this in 1840. And he made mounds of money doing it. I don’t teach shorthand; I teach psychology and career development. I write many of my own lessons, though, just as Sir Isaac had to do. My post is the World Wide Web. I post assignments to electronic bulletin boards and send graded papers across the international phone lines in tariff-free e-mail packets. I convene classes and give lectures in online chat rooms when need be
Unit Five Before Reading Global Reading Detailed Reading After Reading Education in Cyberspace Zooming In: An Integrated English Course- Electronic Teaching Portfolio Home <e Is this any way to dispense with a real college education? Can people learn without sitting in neat rows in a lecture room listening to the professor -(s the Sage on the Stage? (Yes, absolutely. Why not? In fact, while many people find it hard to imagine a college with no campus, I nowadays find it hard to imagine teaching anywhere other than in the liberal freedom that is cyberspace aU In cyberspace, I listen, read, comment and reflect on what my students have to say- each of them in turn. (S What they know, they must communicate to me in words. S They cannot sit passively in the back row twiddling their mental thumbs as the clock ticks away. They must think; and horror of horrors they must write. Thinking and writing: Arent these the hallmarks of a classically educated mind? 《Prev.Next 新世纪大学英语系列教材综合教程电子放③
Is this any way to dispense with a real college education? Can people learn without sitting in neat rows in a lecture room listening to the professor — the Sage on the Stage? Yes, absolutely. Why not? In fact, while many people find it hard to imagine a college with no campus, I nowadays find it hard to imagine teaching anywhere other than in the liberal freedom that is cyberspace. In cyberspace, I listen, read, comment and reflect on what my students have to say — each of them in turn. What they know, they must communicate to me in words. They cannot sit passively in the back row twiddling their mental thumbs as the clock ticks away. They must think; and horror of horrors, they must write. Thinking and writing: Aren’t these the hallmarks of a classically educated mind? Detailed Reading
Unit Five Before Reading Global Reading Detailed Reading After Reading Education in Cyberspace Zooming In: An Integrated English Course- Electronic Teaching Portfolio Home 4 i know my students not by their faces or their seat position in a vast lecture auditorium i know them by the words and ideas they express in their weekly assignments, which everyone reads online 4 I am not a Sage on the Stage-I am more a Guide on the Side. Often what the students "say or write to one another, or the way they incorporate their work and career ideas into their papers and debates with each other, is more practically inspiring than any help I could provide them with <e My average college"kid"is 40 years old. More than a few are in their 50s or 60s. They are telecommuting to campus because they could not, or would not, uproot their careers and kids or grandkids to move to a college campus- an entity modeled after the learning monasteries of medieval times 《Prev.Next 新世纪大学英语系列教材综合教程电子放③
I know my students not by their faces or their seat position in a vast lecture auditorium; I know them by the words and ideas they express in their weekly assignments, which everyone reads online. I am not a Sage on the Stage — I am more a Guide on the Side. Often what the students “say” or write to one another, or the way they incorporate their work and career ideas into their papers and debates with each other, is more practically inspiring than any help I could provide them with. My average college “kid” is 40 years old. More than a few are in their 50s or 60s. They are telecommuting to campus because they could not, or would not, uproot their careers and kids or grandkids to move to a college campus — an entity modeled after the learning monasteries of medieval times. Detailed Reading
Unit Five Before Reading Global Reading Detailed Reading After Reading Education in Cyberspace Zooming In: An Integrated English Course- Electronic Teaching Portfolio Home 4 Many of them know what they are talking about. Even more so, they know why they came back to college to learn. A cyber- education suits them because it respects their abilities to define for themselves what knowledge is and to go after it. It encourages them to argue their points and their perspectives without the interference of a professor, ( s who might be tempted to step in to "calm down"or "refocus" an otherwise wonderfully enlightening classroom debate <e They are experiencing something very different from the traditional factory model of American education, in Which everyone on the assembly line is delivered the same standardized units of information (lectures and textbooks)and then must pass the same quality inspection(objective exams) 《Prev.‖Next> 新世纪大学英语系列教材综合教程电子放③
Detailed Reading Many of them know what they are talking about. Even more so, they know why they came back to college to learn. A cybereducation suits them because it respects their abilities to define for themselves what knowledge is and to go after it. It encourages them to argue their points and their perspectives without the interference of a professor, who might be tempted to step in to “calm down” or “refocus” an otherwise wonderfully enlightening classroom debate. They are experiencing something very different from the traditional factory model of American education, in which everyone on the assembly line is delivered the same standardized units of information (lectures and textbooks) and then must pass the same quality inspection (objective exams)