Internet Can’t Replace Classroom

Who could have predicted, 40 years ago, the effects television would have on our society - in politics, relationships, entertainment, commerce, values?

Today, it’s the Internet that’s being hailed as a revolutionary force. Now that we’ve learned to respect technology, it’s tough to question the grandiose rhetoric surrounding the World Wide Web.

But it will be important to distinguish between gadgetry and value.

Consider, for instance, the Internet’s potential to transform education. Can you take a class via the Internet? Yes. Can you get a college degree via the Internet? Yes. Would you want to? Would you want your son or daughter to do so as a substitute for the campus experience?

Last week, Spokane Falls Community College launched its first class via the Internet - English 101. Students will receive and turn in assignments by computer modem. There will be no lectures. Other schools are experimenting with the Internet as well.

With good reason. There is considerable demand for instruction coming from people who live far from the nearest university. Kindergarten through grade 12 teachers, as well as engineers, physicians and others, are required to update their skills. The volatility of today’s career world also creates a need for adults to be retrained.

In the past, place-bound students had to rely on the mail for a correspondence course, take a long drive to a distant campus after work or rent a faraway apartment for the summer.

Alongside those options, instruction via computer modem is an improvement - especially if combined with other technologies, such as the two-way television with which Washington State University beams classes from Pullman to remote locations.

According to Paul Brians, of the English faculty at WSU, the Internet is best viewed not as a substitute for the classroom but as an expansion of the library. Its capacity for quick worldwide research revolutionizes students’ ability to gather information.

In addition, Brians says, it supplements his classroom lectures by offering multimedia study guides and a new avenue for dialogue among students and instructors.

To develop this potential, schools will have to experiment, and they’ll have to have funds - as WSU, for one, is requesting.

Still, there are limitations. The best teaching - and learning - involves more than the absorption of written words. It includes the teacher’s personality and dynamism and the students’ responses.

Education, at its most powerful level, is personal. Educators have to make sure machines don’t short-circuit the process.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board