GJØR INTERNETT SEMINARROMMET OVERFLØDIG?

Thank you for mentioning us in your blog. At Aibel we are very concerned that all employees have the opportunity to learn more, grow and develop. This benefits the employees just as much as it benefits the level of knowledge and the growth in the company.
For us, I think this is not a new thing, being a large oil service company with offices and yards in eight locations in Norway and five internationally, we need Internet communication to get the work done. Smooth processes, less travelling, ability to detailed explanations in video/internet meetings is essential.
Coming from the academic sector myself, (UiS for 11 years) I must agree with the IT fanatics, whom I do not think are fanatic at all. Everybody needs to think new, adept to new techniques, both for learning, teaching and collaboration. The universities, who first use learning techniques also used in the work environment, will gain on this.

There are some similarities between a classroom and a meeting room. Indeed, at our company we have sucessfully used Videoconferencing for some time, but these virtual meetings tend to enhance Conference-calls rather than replace meetings. The tech vizards are right: Current drawbacks of videoconferences including poor video and lighting, insufficient response-time, impossibility of having various interventions simultaneously, will disappear as technology improves. Current drawbacks however, contribute to limit the interactions and spontaneousness of videoconferencing, as it would for a teacher having a virtuall class.

So yes, "Rektor" is right: technology is helping us to enrich learning, as it intends to, but does not replace it.

I agree with you. There is that personal touch that the classroom teaching offers that the internet cannot provide. That touch that traditional learning offers in the classroom makes learning more effective and this cannot be replaced by the internet.

Thanks for the comments on my latest blogg. Your comments strengthen my view that nes technology will bring a more diversified learning environment, making it more challenging, but also more rewarding, to be a teacher!

Ingeborg does not seem to like my expression "IT fanatics", who she does not think are fanatics at all!
Well, I have to disagree on that, and let me elaborate a bit on what I mean with the expression.

Some people become so seduced by the technology itself that they do not take time to check the sosial relevance of the latest technological innovations, before they spend all their money on useless stuff, or, if they are business people, bring into the market technological fetishes that find no customers. On the other hand, I do not intend to be too critical: If we are to make technolgical progress that are socially relevant, we must also allow some
innovations to fail. So the IT fanatics may have an important social function to fulfill, after all!