Tailor-Made or Off-the-Peg? Virtual Courses in the Humanities

The article describes how the British Government sees the electronic campus as a "quick fix" for delivering its idea of the learning society and mass higher (and further) education. It suggests that this solution poses a number of major difficulties, especially for the humanities. The issu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers and the humanities 2000-08, Vol.34 (3), p.255-264
Main Author: Channon, Geoffrey
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic education
Academic learning
Adult Education
Distance education
Emerging technology
Foreign Countries
Government
Government Role
Great Britain
Higher Education
Humanities
Information technology
Learning
Liberal arts education
Lifelong Learning
New technology
Teachers
Teaching
Teaching Methods
Technology
Universities
Virtual Classrooms
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Summary:The article describes how the British Government sees the electronic campus as a "quick fix" for delivering its idea of the learning society and mass higher (and further) education. It suggests that this solution poses a number of major difficulties, especially for the humanities. The issues are located in a global context in which it is argued that so-called "mega-universities" will come to dominate course production and distribution. This development will have profound implications for notions of institutional autonomy and the autonomy of individual teachers, and may undermine academic pluralism. The article concludes by arguing that, in the humanities, interventions are needed to secure an appropriate meld between the existing "face-to-face" methods of teaching and learning, and the new technology.
ISSN:0010-4817
1574-020X
1574-0218
DOI:10.1023/A:1002027622271