Rejoinder to Ed Rybicki’s cautionary comments on my piece criticizing Martin Hall’s article on digital learning.

Rejoinder to Ed’s cautionary comments on my piece criticizing Martin Hall’s article on digital learning.

Dear Ed,

Anusuya's brilliant MOOC on extinctions is a valuable tool to educate old codgers and neophytes.  It is not a substitute for what might be covered even in Palaeontology 101.   To put it 'uncharacteristically' bluntly, first and foremost, UCT’s role in South Africa’s tertiary education system has always been (and should continue to be) the production of innovative, Afro-relevant research and new generations of highly knowledgeable, open-minded and critically-thinking graduates.  

Putting Anusuya in front of a camera fills important gaps. To fulfil UCT’s role requires putting bright, motivated, nurtured students in front of her, you and other academics capable of ‘deposing’ outmoded ideas/practices, formulating new ones and communicating these – hands-on – to academic offspring.  MOOCs and other ‘robotic’ pedagogics cannot do that.

Using my age old ‘molecules vs morphology’ evolutionary adage.  DNA does not stand for don’t need anatomy.  The discovery of species and their placement on evolutionary trees requires academic synergy.  This requires face-to-face research and education and extends universally to tertiary education.

Consider yourself rapped on your ‘viral butt’.