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Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                 Matt Dulin                         Lourdes Castillo      James Davis
                Tina Marie Macias          Dusti Rhodes            Blake Whitaker

Technology could change face of education

The social community that goes hand in hand with academics in most people's idea of college life could one day become a distant memory, according to respected management pioneer Peter Drucker.

Drucker, who died Nov. 11 at the age of 95, believed emerging technology would transform traditional college campuses into something similar to fancy apartment complexes for post-adolescents. He believed classroom lectures would be replaced by software that would allow students to listen to their professors ramble at any time they wish.

Instructors at several universities are already making use of technology that allows students to download lectures onto their iPods and absorb them at their leisure. They say such technology frees up time for more in-depth discussion in class.

Of course, those discussions could easily be held on the Internet. Many distance education institutions already practice Web-based interaction, and it may be only a matter of time before more universities follow suit. The changing dynamic in education has the power to improve learning, but we must consider how much of traditional academic life we're comfortable with forgoing.

Most UH students don't live on or very close to campus. Nevertheless, the basis of what it means to be in college -- learning in a classroom with a professor and your peers -- remains the same. That face-to-face interaction is a vital part of what makes learning from an expert in one's chosen field worthwhile. Not to mention, it's difficult (some say impossible) on the Internet to discreetly stare at that attractive boy or girl in class when you get tired of said expert.

It would be nice if advances in technology eventually make learning more efficient. But if earning a degree means nothing more than listening to an iPod at the gym for a few hours a week and occasionally sending an instant message to an anonymous professor, it will be to the detriment of future generations of students.