BigThink is a website full of interesting remarks from a panoply of fascinating talking heads from Danah Boyd to Will Shortz. I was proud to join their ranks.
However, I couldn’t disagree more with the headline “Simulating Higher Education On the Web.”
It’s so snobby! It’s ridiculous! Is water polo a simulation of polo with ponies? Is photography a simulation of watercolor? No, they are two entirely different media with different affordances, strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, as I increasingly try to emphasize, no higher education today takes place entirely WITHOUT the web. I would venture that .01% of college students live their lives and write their papers entirely innocent of Wikipedia or their friends’ news feeds on Facebook. The question and the challenge is how much we will integrate the web with its unique qualities of access to the world’s information and ease of connection into the incredibly important enterprise of higher ed.
I guess we’re all just simulating too much these days! Far better to simulate sleep in the lecture hall, of course!