[09:29.88]Section B INTERVIEW

[09:32.50]In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY.

[09:36.33]Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow.

[09:40.05]Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview.

[09:43.11]At the end of the interview,

[09:44.86]you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following 5 questions.

[09:49.67]Now listen to the interview.

[09:51.86]Interviewer (W): I first encountered Parker Rossman’ s work in the early 1990s

[09:57.88]via his groundbreaking book, The Emerging Worldwide Electronic University:

[10:03.56]Information Age Global Higher Education ( Rossman, 1992 ).

[10:09.14]When I saw that his current project is a freely accessible online book-in-progress

[10:15.27]on the future of lifelong and higher education,

[10:18.88]I asked if he would allow Technology Source readers to learn about

[10:23.58]and participate in the project. He graciously consented to this interview.

[10:28.83]Parker, I note on your Web site that you have three book-length volumes

[10:34.95]concerning the future of higher education: Volume I,

[10:38.89]The Future of Higher Lifelong Education and Virtual Space;

[10:43.38]Volume II, Research On Global Crises, Still Primitive;

[10:48.62]and Volume III, Future Learning and Teaching.

[10:52.35]What struck me in particular was your note asking readers to contact you if they saw errors,

[10:59.23]or if they could contribute Web site URLs or in terms of information

[11:04.38]that were pertinent to the material.

[11:06.46]As these notes indicate, you clearly regard this to be a work in progress.

[11:11.38]Certainly this is a great way to develop the manuscripts relatively quickly.

[11:16.30]What do you expect to accomplish via this technique?

[11:19.91]Parker Rossman (M) : My objectives are to examine the ways

[11:23.52]in which a global virtual education system can come into existence

[11:27.78]and to raise questions about needed research on learning, teaching, and overcoming the problems

[11:33.58]( such as hunger, bad health, war, and revolution)

[11:37.41]that stand in the way of providing education for everyone in the world.

[11:42.12]I realize that education for all is impossible,

[11:46.16]but perhaps only in the sense that the United States, out of necessity,

[11:50.98]accomplished what was “impossible” after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

[11:56.12]I assume that H.G. Wells was right when he said

[12:00.27]that civilization is in a race between education and disaster.

[12:03.77]So I am willing to be audacious—as someone retired

[12:08.48]and with no axe to grind—and to initiate a project

[12:12.41]that might at least stimulate thought and discussion.

[12:15.80]For 30 years or more I have been studying the university, higher education,

[12:20.59]and academia in the developing world.

[12:23.55]In the 1980s I began to see the emergence and potential of a global virtual university;

[12:29.23]this insight culminated in a book that was widely read and used

[12:33.72]and that led to my being invited to lecture in various countries.

[12:37.43]The next year Praeger published it as a paperback in their Contributions to the Study of Education series.

[12:45.53]Developing world delegates to the 1997 UNESCO conference on higher education in Paris

[12:52.09]complained that it was too expensive for them.

[12:54.72]So I said that I would put a sequel online, free to anyone in the world.

[12:59.53]I asked that, in return, they send me feedback and suggested links.

[13:05.76]And I have now accomplished this.

[13:08.39]W: Doesn’t your online manuscript deal with far more than higher education?

[13:13.75]Your classification is a bit confusing to me, because each volume looks like a book.

[13:19.22]Why not say that you have three books on the Web?

[13:21.95]M: It must be one book if it is to be holistic.

[13:25.45]It should introduce all of the needs and problems

[13:28.63]that must be dealt with at once as we enter a time of lifelong education.

[13:32.67]“Education for all” must include programs for pre-kindergarten children,

[13:38.36]for primary and secondary school age learners, and for college students.

[13:43.07]It also must include continuing educational programs that foster job skills, career planning,

[13:49.51]and hobbies as well as special interest programs for senior citizens.

[13:53.34]Instead of talking about a “global university”,

[13:57.28]the time has come to explore possibilities for a global virtual education system.

[14:02.32]W: Then why do you keep speaking of the “future of the university”?

[14:07.23]M: It is also my assumption that the university, however it changes,

[14:12.27]will continue to be the major research center for all education.

[14:16.42]It will be a crucial focus of educational vision and the gathering place of scholars and educators.

[14:22.77]There will continue to be residential campuses for those who can afford them,

[14:27.47]and higher education institutions will continue to be the springboard for online education

[14:33.48]for all—all places, all ages, all needs, lifelong, in the world.

[14:40.48]W: What kinds of constructive criticism or negative feedback are you getting?

[14:45.08]M: Well, the list is long. I try to cover too much.

[14:49.46]Some information is out of date. Web URLs disappear,

[14:53.72]which limits my ability to link to the latest research

[14:56.89]as a means of avoiding excessive detail in the text.

[14:59.96]Also, different readers come with expectations that are not met.

[15:05.10]In discussing technology, for instance,

[15:08.05]how can we address those who are technological experts

[15:11.44]and those in the developing world whose knowledge is still limited?

[15:15.38]My project seems out of focus in that it struggles with the nature

[15:19.53]and future of the university in a time of lifelong education,

[15:23.03]and with the added problem of how to provide education for everyone in the world.

[15:28.07]W: Are you encouraged that others are getting involved?

[15:31.02]M: Recognizing the perils in my experiment,

[15:34.52]I must be prepared for all kinds of criticism, even antagonism.

[15:40.42]Perhaps now that I am retired,

[15:42.62]I am better prepared to face antagonism and scorn than those who have jobs and careers to consider.

[15:48.74]However, I see the whole project as an initial effort

[15:52.57]that might later be enlarged to be more useful

[15:55.09]to those who need to discuss current problems and future issues.

[15:58.59]I see it as nothing definitive,

[16:01.10]but as an outline on which to hang all kinds of ideas and topics

[16:05.15]that might stimulate discussion, imagination, and conversation.

[16:08.64]W: Parker, via this interview and the subsequent web cast,

[16:12.59]many more people will learn of this creative, exciting, and valuable project.

[16:16.85]Be prepared for a flood of eager volunteers!