Even as the recession technically ends, U.S. universities, a lumbering battleship that’s almost impossible to turn, show signs of some slow changes, perhaps for the better, that might help to make education more accessible. We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, though. On the one hand we can make education more accessible via new communication technologies. On the other hand, distance education risks denaturing learning, further alienating students who mistrust schools.

“Reform has more do with rethinking the way we design and deliver learning opportunities… ” J. David Armstrong, Jr. president of Broward College writes, “and understanding the nature of today’s learner, who wants to be engaged, yet needs convenient access.” And increasing access increasingly means reaching…

Only in academia could not paying attention and gossiping– often nasty gossiping– be dignified with the official sounding label “back channel communication.” Marc Parry (“Conference Humiliation: They’re Tweeting Behind Your Back”) told one story in the Chronicle of Higher Education last month, and then Joe McCarthy (“The Dark Side of Digital Backchannels in Shared Physical Spaces“) went into much more detail on his blog a few days ago.

I was particularly struck by McCarthy’s piece, in which he lists his unhappiness with back channels at conferences in this way: “the non-democratization of attention; our addiction to gossip; the unhealthy cycle of manipulation for stimulation; and the prejudice, intolerance, bigotry, and power promulgated by homophily in networks ……