TY - JOUR AU - Klass, Gary PY - 2000/07/03 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Plato as distance education pioneer: Status and quality threats of Internet education JF - First Monday JA - FM VL - 5 IS - 7 SE - DO - 10.5210/fm.v5i7.775 UR - https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/775 SP - AB - Distance learning technology has always posed risks for undermining both established faculty-status prerogatives and the quality of student learning. This paper examines these risks in the context of three historical instances in the development of "distance" education technology: the use of the written word to deliver course materials, the creation of the mass lecture hall, and the recent development of pre-packaged general education Web courses. These "Web courselets" represent the most serious threats to the undergraduate learning experience and may undue many of the recent efforts to reform undergraduate education. ER -