Academic practices of virtual learning by interaction

Abstract

The way that the academic practice in higher education universities responds to the influence of computer networks and technology will be central to the definition of their future role. The traditional metaphor of university as self-contained village is challenged as knowledge becomes widely available on the Internet and teacher–student and student–student dialogues are not bound by spatial boundaries. The paper presents four metaphoric spaces that virtual dialogues can take place in. Each of these appears to fail the criteria of creating space where knowledge that a particular individual has can be shared, recreated, and amplified through interactions with others in academic contexts. We consider the effect of three driving forces that could create alternative teacher and student roles and dialogues between them. A technology-driven shaping of virtual learning may result in auto-responsive ‘robosapiens’, a relativist societal-driven shaping of virtual learning may result in socially isolated ‘nerds’. An environment in which technology is shaped by ethical evaluation with respect to higher level (e.g. meta-conceptual) learning is desired to raise the standards of intellectual and technological talents. Such an environment is considerably different from the norms of present-day universities and the every-day roles of teachers and students.