Reading Response Paper


Frank Baker
Professor Kelly
English 120 (11:10-12:25)
5 September, 2012

Technology, to Teach with or Not to Teach With

           In Pamela Hieronymi’s article, “Don't Confuse Technology with College Teaching” she says teaching cannot be replaced by technology without losing a certain amount of quality. She is referring to free online classes to be offered at Harvard and M.I.T.  At the end of the day, a diploma is not going to say, “Harvard University at Cambridge in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (online).” Employers will not know if the diploma came online or offline, or if it should even matter.  I mostly agree with Hieronymi, but going to college online does not lower the quality for everybody.  One could miss the “college life” that may improve their social skills or broaden their social circle which would help later in life.   However, that miss might be offset by other factors Some people’s quality of education will be much better online. Getting to a campus class at a specified time might be an issue but an online class will allow for someone to work around a busy schedule.  The student may not need or want the college life for themselves.  Although for most people “We will not make that core task significantly less expensive without cheapening [the quality].”is true.  It is a great example of “you get what you pay for.”

2 comments:

  1. Do you think that the quality of the online education would be any better, or just that it would be more convenient for some people? Scheduling issues seem like a problem with convenience rather than an issue with the actual quality. Maybe the people would be less stressed out over the course if they could take it in the comfort of their own home, but I can't think of many other ways that taking it online could increase the actual quality.

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  2. This is a good response but I think that you should add more of a background check about the author as well as going into more dept about the article. Besides that I think that your response is really good and fluid. You say what you want to get across very quickly and directly.

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