IP: AFT report on Distance Learning

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

The American Federation of Teachers will be publishing a paper in late
February dealing with distance education. The paper will be titled
"Teaming Up With Technology: How Unions Can Harness the Technology
Revolution on Campus," and was developed by the AFT's Task Force on
Technology in Higher Education.


The current issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education (1/26/96, p.A20)
reports on a draft version of the AFT paper. The article ("Faculty Group
Calls for Caution and Curbs on Distance Education") begins "Higher
Education's largest faculty union wants to put the brakes on distance
education", and later notes that "Union activists say it's time that
someone injected a little skepticism into the discussion."


There's also a reference to library services. In paraphrasing remarks
by the Task Force's chair, the article notes that "actually going to
a library to conduct research is better for students."


Bernie Sloan
b-sloan () uiuc edu