Backlash growing on using web 2.0 technologies at uni

“The university is being called on to produce knowledge as
never before … and it is also being called upon to transmit knowledge
to an unprecedented proportion of the population.”

Absorb that statement for a monet, before I reveal that it was not written last week or last year. It was written before I was born: In 1963 to be exact by the President of the University of California, Clark Kerr. As unversities struggle to fufill or even find their role in society, many are embracing technologies. I am a big fan of this. But not everyone is.
From the land Downwunda:

A STUDENT petition at the University of Western Sydney is
demanding cuts in fees to match cuts in face-to-face teaching time as
the university extends the virtual classroom. Podcasting is a technology that’s supposed to download a good news story: Cyber uni plugs into gen Y! But Tammy Lawlor, 21, a first-year arts student, is not impressed with the new podcast era at the University of Western Sydney.

Me personally I love podcasts. But I graduated from Uni some time ago. I use Itunes U and Ted Talks to keep abreast of developments. I have taken to reading books as a walk to school. By reading, I mean listening. I still read in the old fashioned way when I am home. But a couple of long bus trips recently helped me knock off Blink and Lost in Planent China. But this is adult learning. Universities should be something different. Something unique:

The Idea of the University

“It is the place to which a
thousand schools make contributions; in which the intellect may safely range
and speculate, sure to find its equal in some antagonist activity, and its
judge in the tribunal of truth. It is a place where inquiry is pushed forward,
discoveries verified and perfected, and rashness rendered innocuous, and error
exposed, by the collision of mind with mind, and knowledge with knowledge ….
It is a seat of wisdom, a light of the world, a minister of the faith, an Alma
Mater of the rising generation.”

–John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890)

Do podcasts dimish the seat of the wisdom? Pehraps, especially when the podcasts are done in isolation with no “collision of mind with mind.”

“The
isolated learning experience is not satisfying for me,” Ms Lawlor said.
Nor for many other UWS students, judging by the signatures on her
petition. Students say no to podcasts | The Australian

That is the crux. Education means to bring out…to lead forth. A podcast is a great listen. But if you only listen, if you never question, interact, dialogue you are failing at an opportunity to find meaning.

Zen and the Art of
University

The real University is a state of mind. It is that
great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us through the
centuries and which does not exist at any specific location. It’s a state of
mind which is regenerated throughout the centuries by a body of people who
traditionally carry the title of professor, but even that title is not part of
the real University. The real University is nothing less than the continuing
body of reason itself. R. Prisig

Tags: Education