Joel mentioned the view of videotape lecture delivery held by university
administrators. I have to relate a tale of horror from the sixties here in
Canada. In that golden decade many new universities were established (in
the USA and UK, too) and one that was built here in Ontario was cabled
extensively for video. From the beginning it was recognized that TV is the
panacea for "efficient" teaching. Well prepared lectures can be reliably
delivered year after year with little need for updating in areas like -
introductory physics. The faculty union at this university early on
recognized the threeat to their professional lives inherent in this new
order of "instructional delivery" and secured for themselves the academic
equivalent of residuals - they would receive teaching credit for a course
each time their tapes were used to teach it! A better metaphor for this
practice than residuals, of course, is to consider it as featherbedding.
It really is sad, folks. As the administrators have become more like
management, academe has become more like corporate culture, and faculty
have become professionalized. It hasn't yet happened everywhere, but it
sure has happened here at Simon Fraser. I hope that some of you realize
what has been lost, so that some day you may try to reclaim it.
It really is sad.
Anyone out there know what happened in the long run at that university?