Students would attend classes in which the professor, or someone designated by the professor, would provide instruction in the relevant discipline. This meant, amongst other things, that it was not uncommon for students to develop interpersonal relations with one another, and to feel that, in enrolling in and attending classes, they had become members of a community of learners. In the last decade of the twentieth century the situation has begin to change. With the advent of computers networked through Internet Service Providers, and the downward spiral for the cost of such computers, the traditional topography of the University has begun to change. Where before there was a central location to which students were required to travel in order to receive instruction, this is no longer the case.
Students can now take classes over the Internet without ever leaving the confines of their homes.
Similarly, students no longer need physically attend public lectures and symposia in order to receive the benefits provided by both. With suitable foresight and a modicum of technological expertise on the part of the lecture and symposia sponsors, both can be broadcast out via the Internet to a geographically, albeit technologically linked, audience. It is true that this shift to the virtual classroom has been welcomed by many. It promises the promulgation of education to many people who might not otherwise, for geographic, economic, or other physical reasons, have access to education. Prima facie, if one accepts a kind of educational egalitarianism with respect to the accessibility of instruction, this seems to be a welcome consequence of the advent of the virtual classroom.