Question: You want to take a distance course about computers in 1985. What technologies and resources would universities have at the time? How much contact would you have with the professor/other students? How would your sense of writing/composing the assignments be different?
I imagine a course about the subject on writing and computers in 1985 would be quite difficult, due to the inert and limited knowledge at the time. We would only be able to rely on manuals and computer textbooks at the time that would only be available at local libraries. My mom would tell me that classes that focused specifically on typing developed in the 1960s, so I imagine we would still use the IBM typewriters. Unless the university had access to very expensive, state-of-the-art computers at the time with floppy disks, we would have to bring or mail copies to the teacher individually in order for this to be a real distance course. It would be very linear because of the lack of information and keeping up open channels of communication would be very difficult. I’d have to find other students within the area and talk to them if I needed some kind of help or confirmation.
I really enjoy taking online courses, because they have a definite structure based around time and content and allow students to work at their own pace and at the comfort of their own home. Most of the work focuses on talking with others and doing writing assignments. I have to commute to JMU on a daily basis, so I’m very thankful for setups such as this. If there are any weaknesses, it’s that you don’t get automatic feedback when you have a question to a student or the teacher, and it’s very easy to slack off in an environment such as this.
I do believe that technology will reach a point where writing on a device will be available for everyone, so we can all access the same website and information without trouble. And I do like the idea that the cloud will replace normal PC storage, since it’s such a wonderful convenience. Blackboard used to be secondary years ago, but now it’s very prominent towards every class and Canvas is expanding on these offers. Having all of these readings and assignments available is what makes online classes much more efficient these days. It makes the four week period much more manageable when all the work is displayed at once and the communication with the teacher is very direct because we are all on the same field.
There’s so much available out there and so much of our technology is connecting to itself, I’m surprised there aren’t more online/distance classes. It saves so much on time and money, that I can see it becoming the norm within a few years.
For a timeline, I looked at the storage aspect of computers and came across this neat display: http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?category=stor. Definitely check this out to discovery what was available at the time.
Summer WRTC Blog 