The Virtual Class
comments written in 1995

What will classes be like in the future? What will it take to get there? Why is it important? What does the University have to lose if it doesn't move in this direction? Does this move to the electronic classroom have any implications for the lowering the costs of higher education? How does the role of the professor change with the advent of the electronic classroom? These are just a few of the questions being asked in higher education circles today. While the rate of change is uncertain, fundamental change seems certain. Eli Noam painted a dismal but thought provoking picture of the future in "Electronics and the Dim Future of the University" (Science, Vol. 270, 13 October 1995). In Noam's future the functions of the university are unbundled and some are appropriated by other institutions. As a foot soldier in this institution, I view the changes from the classroom trenches but I don't envision a dismal future; I see the development of the virtual classroom as a very positive change for the university or its successor institution.

Classes are not created equally. Some are designed to transmit information and skills while others are designed to develop the ability to analyze and evaluate. Professors, i.e., the university's primary resources, however, are not allocated based on the course content. This type of allocation is not particularly cost effective for the university. Some universities do use teaching assistants for some lower level courses. It is more cost effective but it's also subject to the criticism that the students don't get the best possible instruction; for public universities, it can also cause a backlash in state legislatures.

The virtual classroom concept offers an improved option for the university. The professor can move virtually closer to the students in courses designed to transmit information and skills without physically being there for all the courses. The best lectures can be recorded and combined with other multimedia assets and provided to the students via the internet or an intranet. By reusing the best lectures, the professor can concentrate on the development of new course material or on other courses. Lectures may play a smaller role in some of these courses; the acquisition of some skills depends more on exercises than lectures and so the professors' talents may be better used by developing interactive databases. In courses like this, the professor may become almost entirely virtual. Once these courses are designed and constructed the marginal cost of offering them drops substantially and becomes approximately constant.

If resources are allocated based on course content then the professor can move conceptually as well as virtually closer to the students in courses designed to develop the student's ability to analyze and evaluate. The seminar format for these course will remain important as will the small size because discussion is a critical part of the learning process in theses courses. The discussions, however, can be augmented and extended using an electronic newsgroup format allowing particular threads of the discussion to continue beyond class. Extending the notion of a newsgroup to include a facility for electronic white boards and shared access to working papers will facilitate the group work that is critical to such a course. These courses can also be dramatically changed in other ways. Where appropriate, relational databases, mathematical systems, and simulations can be used in ways that were not possible in the classroom a few years ago. For example, by constructing relational databases appropriately and improving the query mechanisms, it will be possible to make data available for interactive use in class discussions.

The move to virtual classes that is occurring now presents the institution with some challenges. The cost of developing a virtual class with all the associated interactive media will require a substantial investment of time and effort. In the future, however, students will be able to search the globe for courses that interest them. A student may be at one university but may be taking courses at several universities. Once developed, the courses that are designed to transmit information and skills can be offered to 1,000 or 10,000 students as easily as 100. The courses that develop the student's ability to analyze and evaluate must remain small but the location of the student will become far less important. It will become much easier for the student to come to study with his or her chosen expert. In the new virtual environment, there will be greater competition among universities but the benefits and opportunities for those that succeed will also be greater.