Teaching on the Internet also has its share of problems and limitations. I wonder to what extent I distort what I am teaching based on what is on-line elsewhere, so I can set up a hyperlink. I also worry about the temptation to distort reading assignments to favor materials in the public domain that I can safely put on-line. I worry that students might lose an ability to research print resources in the library, because the Internet is more fun and more accessible. Technical problems also must be factored into any teaching plans.
Sites disappear without warning.
Servers go off-line, sometimes for days, for no apparent reason. But refusing to teach on-line until all of these problems are solved is unfair to the students, for we are sending them into a world where these skills are increasingly expected. It is the obligation of faculty to determine how to work with existing resources, to solve problems, and to not use them as an excuse. Overall, teaching on the Internet is both exciting and important. We are sending students into an on-line world, and we have an obligation to help them learn how to work substantively in that world.