Unplugged Classrooms: Are Chalk‐talks Still in Play? Available to Purchase

Distance Learning, Virtual Universities, Online Courses, and associated developments have received a lot of attention in this publication, academic educational journals, as well as the mainstream media. Most of the overviews tend to highlight the positive features of greater access, flexibility, reduced costs, and self‐paced learning. By 1999, over 10,000 accredited courses were being offered online, leading some commentators to declare the old‐fashioned classroom to be “as outdated as carbon paper and the mimeograph machine”. Although much of the optimism is related to the positive contributions which can supplement traditional “brick and mortar” colleges and universities, our techno‐fix culture has also created a “full speed ahead” rush towards computer‐mode education. “Like the stampede online by business, this is being propelled by a fear of being left behind – even though nobody really knows where we’re headed.”