Video conferencing and internet-based learning programs are a serious threat to the viability of current learning environments and the future of humankind. They are a concrete example of our tendency to use “technology” for the sake of technology itself, beyond any kind of practical consideration for its broader implications and potential consequences. Being in class, in person, is how knowledge is transferred and understanding achieved. Scientists are already behind in terms of “people skills.” In this respect, video conferencing will further the inability of scientists to communicate by decreasing their person-to-person interactions even with teachers and other scientists.

So far in the class I am taking, there are two people attending from Edwards campus and about 13 from main campus. Video conferencing has resulted in at least 20 percent of class-time wasted as a result of “technical difficulties.” It is annoying to everyone, inconvenient for professors and disrespectful to students for the University to push video conferencing and internet-based learning as classroom options. It is an injustice that part of the money we pay for tuition is used for this source of misunderstanding and classroom delay. Why even have a live feed? Why not just record a semester and then revoke the employment of all professors when the semester is over?

Education is about relationships established in a classroom, just as friendship and love grow in the physical presence of other people. While it is trendy to have Facebook friends, what informs these trends besides empty social pressures postulated on pretending to adequately satisfy basic human needs? And, more importantly, what are the consequences of accepting such trends and allowing them to proliferate? Think about it.

— — Jason Beury is a graduate research assistant in the School of Engineering