I am the tall engineer with the big nose and the beard. Having my head swelled with this credence to my teaching ability, I wish to offer you my comments on your recent vision statement, which I take to pertain in large part to teaching, and in particular, to distance learning. At the very impressive demonstration given by Burks Oakley for the UIC engineering faculty last spring, my dander arose, and it has only been with the passing of time that I've come to realize that the reason for my discomfort is not principally one of pedagogy, but is rather over issues of management.
Great teachers establish great rapport.
Great teachers may well be able to establish great rapport over a distance - I am actually optimistic about this. But in my limited view, at UIC great teachers have not been approached as a body to help plan the implementation of distance learning. I now wish to demonstrate my brashness. Now I understand the ire of a medical doctor friend of mine at the insurance companies who would tell him how much care a particular patient of his should have. The anxious pulse I sense on this issue from colleagues both within and outside the engineering college seems to confirm this notion.