THE CLASSROOM AND THE COMPUTER SCREEN Online Education | Page 3

Dante’s Divine Comedy from the likes identify principles that underlie sound
of DiMaggio than from what’s-his- teacher-student interaction, regardless
name from Joplin? Such reasoning of educational format. Once we settle
would suggest that online classrooms these principles, we can then ask how
beat out their brick-and-mortar the varieties of virtual teaching might
counterparts. Indeed, this is why many translate into real student learning.
students today (or their parents)
Sympathy and Fellowship
choose an online education over a local
Augustine identified sympathy as a
school.
key to effective teacher-student
Despite television’s capacity to draw
audiences away
from local minor
league games, it
could not wipe out
the minor leagues
altogether. Though
interaction. What is
Th e first step is to
sympathy? Consider how we
identify principles that give very little attention to
underlie sound teacher- everyday objects, but in the
student interaction, company of a little toddler,
regardless of
everyday objects become new
educational format.
to us. We may mindlessly walk past a
many ball clubs—and entire leagues—
fallen leaf lying on a sidewalk, but if a
folded in the 1950s, others still persist
little child is with us—especially one
even today. For no video screen can
who is dear to us—we find ourselves
capture the buzz of a crowd, the green
pausing at the leaf, lingering over it,
expanse of a manicured field, the crack
and taking pains to arouse the little
of a bat, or the smell of hot dogs and
person’s wonder at it. The more the
pretzels. Indeed, television broadcasts
child takes interest, the more invested
miss key aspects of the live experience,
we become in both the child and the
and most of us today acknowledge the
leaf. When we open the child’s eyes to
tradeoffs. Does the internet introduce
the leaf, we open our own eyes to it in a
similar tradeoffs in education? If so,
fresh way. This is sympathetic love, the
and given the important place of
force that draws teachers and students
education in a student’s preparation
to one another. This powerful force
for life, we need to examine these
pushes teachers to deliver great
tradeoffs closely. The first step is to
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