Journal 14

In our last class, we discussed the virtual schools and the "Avatar" professors that are said to be better than anything else we've ever encountered. Given what we've learned over the semester, I'm sure every one of us is skeptical of these claims. These virtual classrooms apparently overcome many "negative" aspects of classroom lectures and other things. They allow for the fine tuning of the teacher's avatar to match the desired experience of all students. Although they claim this is a benefit, I think this is their downfall. This kind of classroom could only produce an effective environment for obtaining and retaining information, but that's not really what school is about; especially at higher levels. It's not really the information you learn that's important, but more so the skills you learn for obtaining it. What will happen is that people who've grown too accustomed to this environment will not be able to adjust to real-world situations because not everyone is going to talk in a way you feel is favorable. Part of life is deciphering ambiguity so this virtual classroom will only hurt us in the long run.