Stupid lib Univ of TX prof on FNC complaining many profs can’t, on a turn of a dime, go online with classes. Isn’t that what’s their younger hip tech assistants are for?
Bet Prof Pianka is overjoyed at CV doing to the human race what he wanted Ebola to do.
Professors are kicking because going online is the first step to eliminating tenured positions and all the campus-housing, inflated salaries, golden parachutes and other perks that professors currently enjoy. Applied science classes, or the labs thereof, bio/chem/physics labs, etc., are the ones that can’t really translate to online, but all of the humanities and academics absolutely can.
I saw one of the Chinese platforms in action and it’s the teacher in a window up top, but the teacher and the students can all see each other in side windows - it’s not a one-to-one skype setup, but a group meeting type setup. I figure if a 20-something American English teacher in China can navigate their platform within a day or two, a liberal American academic teacher should be able to figure it out in a week or two. :)
Moving forward, I can see schools changing drastically. No need to build more elementary or high schools - go online. Eliminates latch-key kids, eliminates bullying, eliminates teacher strikes, bus driver strikes...the list goes on. Save the existing schools for labs that can’t be supported online. And for social events that continue the sense of community. it’s not a new concept - homeschoolers have proved homeschooling works already.