Research Catalog

Title

In search of the virtual class : education in an information society / John Tiffin and Lalita Rajasingham.

Author

Tiffin, John.

Publication

London : Routledge, 1995.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Rajasingham, Lalita.

Description

xviii, 204 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

In a challenging yet enlightening exploration of the demands of a new era, In Search of the Virtual Class presents a vision of what education and training could become as information technology develops. As industrial societies transform to become information societies, our educational structures are threatened; today's classroom--designed to prepare students for life in the industrial world of old--must adjust to prepare them for life in tomorrow's society. Around the world there is a growing crisis in education. There has to be a better way of learning. Authors John Tiffin and Lalita Rajasingham examine the nature of the classroom as a remarkably powerful communication system, irreplaceable even today by alternative communication technology, such as educational television or computer-assisted instruction. Yet they point to a future possibility, contingent on the further development of information superhighways, which could offer a serious alternative to the classroom. The authors predict a union of technologies, ranging from virtual reality and artificial intelligence to fiber optics, resulting in a genuine technological revolution and the emergence of a serious alternative and/or complement to the conventional classroom--what the authors call a "virtual class." Not merely a theoretical project, In Search of the Virtual Class compiles action research which seeks to implement a class by the year 2001. This controversial work brings light to a pressing subject which concerns us all and will prove an immense contribution to our understanding of the era to come. --Publisher.

Subject

• Telecommunication in education
• Distance education
• Computer-assisted instruction
• Virtual reality
• Communication in education
• Computer-Assisted Instruction
• Virtual Reality
• virtual reality
• Computerunterstütztes Lernen
• Cyberspace
• Informationsgesellschaft
• Pädagogik
• Onderwijs
• Virtuele werkelijkheid

Note

• Authors lecture at Victoria University of Wellington, N.Z.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [192]-197) and index.

Contents

1. The vision -- 2. Education is communication -- 3. In a class of its own -- 4. The writing on the wall -- 5. Roads to the virtual class -- 6. Telelearning in cyberspace -- 7. Virtual reality -- 8. The virtual class -- 9. Think global -- 10. Act local.

ISBN

• 0415124832
• 9780415124836
• 0415115566
• 9780415115568

LCCN

95213637

OCLC

• ocm33403195
• 33403195
• SCSB-2072403

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library