tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post114119545812575226..comments2024-03-26T16:03:42.608-06:00Comments on Flares into Darkness: Does the University Have a Future?ambisinistralhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03836786826294202405noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1141261130363909972006-03-01T17:58:00.000-07:002006-03-01T17:58:00.000-07:00Knuck, that article, at least, is available for fr...Knuck, that article, at least, is available for free registration.Charlie Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14586506407851173416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1141224402651849322006-03-01T07:46:00.000-07:002006-03-01T07:46:00.000-07:00It seems to me that universities are an expensive ...It seems to me that universities are an expensive (and slow) way to learn. And that degrees are an expensive (and inaccurate) way to say to someone "here's what I know".<BR/><BR/>Do we really need the big, beautiful, buildings and lovely green spaces in order to learn, to get fired up about what we're learning, or to be around people from whom we can learn a great deal?<BR/><BR/>I think we're ripe for a shift in the way we obtain education and communicate the fact that we have certain skills. Maybe universities will become research centers, serving an educational role only to the extent that they are visitied by people who want to obtain research skills through something like apprenticeship.Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13849696277722291312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16821859.post-1141223910001176102006-03-01T07:38:00.000-07:002006-03-01T07:38:00.000-07:00I do wonder (sometimes) if I have been swimming in...I do wonder (sometimes) if I have been swimming in the ocean and climbed on board the Titanic. Having been in private practice a long time, I recently accepted a tenure track position in a psychology department. Now we are responsible for both undergraduate and graduate education, so research is important as well as teaching, but my university (University of Detroit Mercy) is far far removed from being a research Mecca (a play on words for a Jesuit University). I wonder about the viability of many university situations. I say this not because of my specific situation, but how the landscape is changing. Since so much content is and will increasingly become available via the internet, the university must offer enough more than that to cut it. It will have to involve the importance of interacting with other students and with "live" faculty members. It will have to be because of more personalized education. We have fairly small class sizes here. But some unviersities have hundreds of students in introductory psychology. That is a whole lot of tuition money for a very impersonal expereince. If the educational expereince is going to be impersonal, then you may as well do it cheaply. It will become better and less expensive to get content on the web and simply hire a Ph.D. to provide you individualized (or small group)tutoring. You will learn more, have a better experience and it would cost <I>less</I>. If this analysis is correct (who knows?), then that is exactly what will happen.<BR/><BR/>There is a need to do "high powered" research, and some of the advances in medicine are connected to research taking place in universities. Also some of the technological developments of the last 30 years are connected to research at the bigger universities. But I suspect that the educational innovations will have to be on a smaller scale not bigger.Barry Dauphinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15808109325931309525noreply@blogger.com