Visions of UIUC in the Year 2016

• Mark Heidel's vision: expresses concern about the impact on an online university on social interaction
• Jim Levin's vision: introduces the concept of a "diversity" (university as a diverse, geographically distributed set of learning centers) at which learners participate in teleapprenticeship and tele-task force interactions integrated with the rest of society
• Cecelia Merkel's vision: describes difficulties of using largely text-based telecommunications technologies for online learning, including conveying instructions and teaching interpersonal skills
• Naj Shaik's vision: focuses on the interaction between higher education and the rest of society; examines how the multiple functions of higher education would be impacted by technology
• Michelle Weeks' vision: raises issues concerning social interaction of an on-line university; describes impact on teacher education

Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 07:39:14 -0500 (CDT)
To: jlevin@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
From: Mark Heidel <heidel@students.uiuc.edu>

Professor Levin,

Greetings! I trust you had a nice weekend and are looking forward to a good week. I wanted to share a thought or two with you about UI Online. Within the next decade, I see technology as assuming an even more significant role in the educational process, much like it has today but on a larger scale. I feel much is to be gained by expanding the use of computers to include course instruction over the internet. However, I am concerned about one aspect of online education. What becomes of the social interaction of student to student, student to teacher, and teacher to teacher? How effectively would these people function in society? This is an issue you raised in class, and I completely agree with you. Major educational philosophers and psychologists such as Dewey and Vygotsky have long proclaimed the importance of social interaction within the educational setting. Interaction is especially vital in music, and at this point I don't see a way overcoming this weakness. I see programs like UI Online serving an important need, but on a limited basis. I completely disagree with being able to receive a degree by working over the internet. There is just so much more to education than simply acquiring knowledge.

Well, these are just a few of my thoughts. I'll see you tomorrow.

Mark