Virtual Universities
The virtual university is only worth a mention because of what’s likely to happen in the future, but it’s not all that new.
The Open University, famous for its late night TV lectures by hairy men in brown corduroys, was founded as long ago as 1969. It’s a kind of virtual university in that, apart from annual week-long summer schools (which, by all accounts, are orgies worthy of ancient Rome) and occasional seminars in local study centres, all the teaching is done by TV, videos, books, CDs and over the internet.
Some other universities also offer ‘distance learning’ courses to students and, increasingly, some (especially those strapped for cash) are exploiting new technology to communicate with their students. Thames Valley University, for example, has an online teaching system that it calls a ‘blackboard campus’. Anything further from a blackboard, it’s hard to imagine (except perhaps Moby Dick).
Whether it’s as good a way of learning is doubtful — it probably works for some people — but there’s no way you can help yourself to a big slice of student life if everyone’s stuck in front of computers or videos.
Obviously, the effect on atmosphere is out of this world — in the sense that in space, there is no atmosphere. If that’s what you want (or even if it’s not), that’s what you’ll get.
Last updated on: 21 May 2008