Chapter 4 -- The Virtual Classroom of the 21st century

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By the dawning of the 21st century we will have ushered in the full use of technology-based institutions that can function side-by-side with traditional universities. They will be called virtual universities.
Virtual universities exist in cyberspace.
Work on virtual classrooms has been taking place since the 1980s. In the United States, Apple Computer, Inc., Sun Microsystems, and several universities have been working on the virtual classroom concept. In the United Kingdom, Open University is working on virtual education.

Virtual Ed Visions

Governors of the Western United States intend to create a university in cyberspace called Western Virtual University. Governor Pete Wilson of California recently announced his intention to create a virtual University of California. There are many more virtual visions being conjured.

Virtual Libraries

Virtual universities have virtual libraries. They are not only filled with books and journals, but include digitized versions of musical collections, photographs, and films. Universities and government libraries throughout the world are developing them.
My company, Jones International, has created the Global Electronic Library using materials from the U.S. Library of Congress and the National Library of Canada.

The Arguments are Academic

In academic circles there are arguments that virtual universities lack the synergism of the traditional university and that students will learn less in the cyberspace environment. New thinking needs to occur in these circles.
Unlike in a traditional classroom atmosphere, students cannot be passive learners in a virtual environment. They have to provide some sort of input for a course or an assignment to progress. Courses in cyberspace also are more often collaborative efforts with other students, rather than individual efforts.

Also in this chapter

Statistics on technology use in higher education courses

Apple Computer's and Sun Microsystem's virtual classroom projects

New Jersey Institute of Technology's Virtual Classroom

Information about digital library projects at U.S. universities

Information about digital library projects in the United Kingdom

The On-line Computer Library Center worldwide library project