TEACHING ONLINE

The past. Exactly 10 years ago to the day (as this is being written), the author began teaching in information and library studies. At that time, the main computing resource was a small minicomputer hidden in a separate room to which several dumb terminals in a teaching laboratory were attached. A mile away at the other end of campus there was another teaching laboratory of teletype terminals — terminals which used paper rolls rather than display screens, with the result that the used paper cascaded onto the floor at the back of the machine. This had the two disadvantages (among others) of destroying forests and of not allowing students to hide their errors from the eyes of their tutors.