Friday, June 2, 2000

Authors Argue That 'Distance Education' Is an Oxymoron By FLORENCE OLSEN Distance education earns mostly low marks from John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid in their new book, The Social Life of Information. Mr. Brown, director of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, and Mr. Duguid, a resource specialist in social and cultural studies at the University of California at Berkeley, are interested in exploring the "social context" of information technology. Eager proponents of information technology suffer from "tunnel vision," the authors say, adding that it prevents technology boosters from seeing widespread evidence that learning is a social experience for which distance-education technology is a poor substitute. Social Life is not a jeremiad by technologists against technology, but it does try to get people thinking about what the authors say is "the important role that human sociability plays in the world of bits." Mr. Brown and Mr. Duguid say traditional higher education is being challenged by administrators eager to use information technology to reduce operating expenses, by corporate research centers that compete with universities for research money and researchers, and by for-profit corporations offering inexpensive, basic courses online. The companies' "unplug and pay" business model seriously threatens the financial foundation of all colleges, according to the authors. Even now, they say, distance enthusiasts are racing to deliver 25 or so "packaged courses" that could satisfy as much as half of community-college course requirements and a third of the course requirements for four-year colleges. Mr. Brown and Mr. Duguid argue that online learning and research add value to campus learning, but that they are no substitute for learning on a college campus, where students gain more than "information" from their social relationships with teachers and other students. From mentors and peers, college students learn "distinct ways of judging what is interesting, valid, significant, and so on." As evidence that physical proximity still matters, the authors argue that it is the proximity of high-tech companies to Berkeley, San Jose State University, Santa Clara Community College, and Stanford University that has made the Silicon Valley a legendary source of technological innovation. In making a case for "the non-equivalence of equivalence diplomas," the researchers say that employers discriminate against students who lack the social experience provided by a traditional college or university -- even when distance-education graduates have scored as well on tests as traditional graduates. The real danger, the authors warn, is that information technology will become "the only access" of "have-nots" to higher education. The book contains chapters on the social nature of work and learning, the limits of management theory, and the future of universities and libraries, among other topics. Higher education is changing under the influence of new information technologies, Mr. Duguid said in an interview. Some pessimists take the view that new information technologies are destroying the university, he said, because they "just look at the technology and don't take into account the social forces that are also in play." But those social forces tend to put brakes on technology, he said. "The good thing about the pessimistic view is that it stirs up those social forces, and having stirred them up, the [prophecy] tends to be self-unfulfilling." Mr. Brown said that he "takes a very optimistic view of where we could be going with the technology of the World Wide Web when appropriately used and appropriately thought through." He even proposes a new type of degree that would "guarantee lifelong learning" in return for higher tuition during undergraduate years. Colleges could bring their graduates back on campus "maybe for a week or two every other year," he said, using the Net "to augment" the physical campus and to keep graduates "at the cutting edge." Published by Harvard Business School Press in March, the book is available for $25.95. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

Book that challenges office hierarchies costs the author his day job N.C.A.A. punishes Cal State-Northridge for football violations Updates on 6 capital campaigns Spring commencement speakers are announced by 11 colleges A digest of recent corporate news in academic information technology Authors argue that 'distance education' is an oxymoron