"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Paul to the persecuted at Philippi (2:5-11)

20 June 2011

Talking into the air

I am teaching a course this summer which has an online format. Such a strange and disconnected way to teach. I feel as if, every time I lecture, I am talking off into the air. When students emerge from the airwaves with a question, it often on a lecture I recorded days or even a couple of weeks prior and no longer in my mental context.

Technology has come a long way, but the context and the relationship still lack in an online course. I have to work twice as hard on encouraging them to talk to one another, not just to get their information from me and go home. While I long for the days when professors would actually profess something, students must feel encouraged and capable of interacting with the material, owning it, and maybe even becoming teachers themselves someday.

I don't like talking (or writing) into the air. Maybe I have a bizarre need for attention. But it is funny that the modern blogger can fulfill some of that need for attention by (often exihibitionist) blogging whether or not anyone reads or responds. (Not so for me, I would rather people respond.) And it is strange that the reader can comfortably invade those thoughts, take what he needs, and leave, without ever feeling an urge for relatioship. Sad and bizarre.

Don't get me wrong, I like that information is so readily available and geography is no longer such an obstacle. I just find the experience of it all rather, well, weird.

1 comment:

  1. There's a lot less to on-line learning than meets the eye. The problem is there is often no eye to meet.

    ReplyDelete