Why offline? It's very personal

Odd how the university that did away with all that "face to face" nonsense years ago, The Open University, consistently ranks highest for the quality of its teaching and learning. (I say nonsense - I'm being provocative of course) But as for the idea that it's *either* face-to-face *or* use technology which the paper uncovers, I'm not quite with the critics. I engage with students using technology, and I engage with people I've never met with it too. All the contact is valuable. I'm getting a bit fed up with people suggesting that those of us who use technology to teach are somehow offering a lesser experience.

having experience of both in class and distance education as an educator, i have often foubnd that students young and old have newer 'more current' ideas and experiences than my own. Rather than fret that i am no longer a gate keeper i enourage them to share and then disseminate the newly gained experience and practice to many other students. Long gone is the gate keeper, more the entry of the cascader and explainer of knowledge.

I'm doing an OU degree (and have been for 6 years) as well as being a full-time academic and I must say I struggle with the OU's reliance on distance learning. There aren't enough face-to-face opportunities provided for each module and the chance to engage in academic debate is lost or reduced to online forums (which are usually not that great). I know the OU ranks highly but I wonder what the attrition rates are for first and second year students? As for the academic who felt "out of control" when using Powerpoint and being reduced "to a mechanical process", well you are allowed to add more in, you know. You don't have to put everything on the slides and then just read them out!

I'm sure the views of these academics do represent a certain strand in the spectrum of thinking on this issue - but to come to any sort of conclusion based on interviews with just 14 people is not sustainable. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that where e-learning is integrated into the total experience of students, it enhances their learning and enjoyment. I would always want to defend face-to-face teaching, but equally it would seem counter-productive to ignore the benefits that technology can offer. E-learning should be seen as an opportunity to develop and improve teaching and learning as a whole.

In my role as E-learning Advisor at a Welsh university, I sometimes find myself addressing the issues mentioned here and helping academic staff to feel more comfortable using new tools and methods. Technology shouldn't impede the teacher-student relationship, rather, it can be used to enhance it when integrated with face-to-face teaching and learning. There are ways to use even PowerPoint effectively. And yes, it can be a bit threatening to step down from the 'sage on the stage' model and into an arena where some students might know more about the technology than you do, but it can also be invigorating. Teachers can gain their students' respect in a different way by acknowledging that even seasoned academics are still always learning. I feel this is a good thing, and a positive role model.

I am entirely reliant on E-Learning technologies teaching on distance learning, vocational, Master's level courses in Surveying. I have students world-wide - I even had one in Antarctica. They are mostly middle managers who use modern technology in the workplace and expect at least a similar level of professionalism in their education. Similarly, undergraduate students are used to using technology at school; and for leisure. In using modern technology we are simply reflectting the world as it is. I suggest that a lecturer who is frightened of using such old technology as Powerpoint is out of touch with society and the realities of the world. Surely as academics we should be at the forefront of knowledge, including technological knowledge; or perhaps she would prefer us to go back to teaching in Latin, and be enrolled in Holy Orders too.

The paper inadvertently destroys the very thing it's trying to argue for. The academics interviewed come across as having lost touch with their students and the real world, trying desperately to hold on to their 'gatekeeping' power and status. Their responses are far from rational. I've rarely seen a better example of academia eating itself alive, than in this paper.

"One lecturer, whose students set up their own website to share material, spoke of her concern about students' overuse of the web as a source of knowledge and their inability to discriminate between different sources." I would argue that helping students learn how to discriminate is a core function of academia. It's called critical thinking, and this faculty person is doing a real disservice to their students if they are not helping them do this. "Several scholars made self-deprecating remarks about their not being ready to embrace e-learning, referring to themselves as "a stick-in-the-mud" and "naughty"." This relates back to something David Warlick touched on in an interview earlier this week (If you can't use technology get out of teaching! http://www.interfacemagazine.co.nz/articles.cfm?c_id=21&id=262). In the article Warlick wonders whether academics use the concept that they are "Digital Immigrants" as an excuse. That somehow students (the Digital natives), simply by virtue of their age and demographic, are automatically prepared and equipped with the necessary technical skills required to know how to leverage this technology to learn with. This is simply not true and academics who believe this is the case are failing their students.

I frequently hear of (and experience) these students who are all very tech-savvy and super at e-learning. Sadly I find that most have no idea of some of the practical programmes we use in science, such as Excel. In a lot of cases, they also don't really want to learn - I guess both sides can play at being technophobes.

I agree with technophile - for students who have supposedly grown up with the internet, I find many are actually clueless and resistant to learn such processes as how to find an article in an e-journal. Most think they can use the internet, but actually many just rely on google to find something, and even that has its flaws. I've also found that many students have no idea how to use basic Excel - I do wonder what 5 years of studying ICT in school actually teaches them.