Predictions concerning postindustrial society include
that of workers serving as machine monitors.
That concept is explored in this article in respect to
faculty in higher education serving as monitors of
computers that are executing instructional programs.
Questions concerning changes in faculty roles and the
control of educational quality are addressed. Alfred
Bork?s vision of asynchronous learning systems is
elaborated, and that alternative is compared to the
concept of machine monitoring. It is concluded that
monitoring in higher education is not likely unless student
demand for distance learning is great, but in that
case, monitoring would be superior to proposals for
automated asynchronous learning systems. |