Re: Unplug the digital classroom, Opinion, Oct. 7

I have to say I was totally engaged in Doug Manns sermon about the ills of digital technology in the classroom. I said more than a few amens over my afternoon cup of tea. But I nearly choked mid-sip when he implicated distance-education courses in his rant, calling them cheap imitations of the real thing, going so far as to suggest we stop promoting them altogether.

Im sure wed all love to have a Louis Vuitton education, but distance education however generic it may be has a time and a place and for many people that time and place is right now. The so-called cheap imitations are helping a lot of working professionals the ranks of the working and commuting moms and dads for example to finish their degrees, do a mid-career gear shift or circle back to complete some overlooked certification. These are all things that will help them get ahead (or at least not fall too far behind) in a challenging economy.

By all means, ban cell phones and texting and Facebooking and the like in classrooms theyre a scourge, I totally agree. But putting the brakes on online distance-education courses would be throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Surely Mann might be willing to reconsider see the light as it were that online education has some redemptive value.

Michelle Hauser, Napanee

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Online education has its place