All Our Colleagues Have PhDs: Objections to Educational Technology

Abstract

[The curtain rises on the senior common room at the South Kensington Polytechnic. It is lunch time and Michael, a senior lecturer in the chemistry department, is sitting in an easy chair, balancing his lunch on his knee, and reading the THES. The news items do not appear to give him much satisfaction and he turns to the appointments pages. There is little comfort to be found there either and his depression deepens. He scarcely notices as Tony enters, carrying a plate of salad, cutlery and coffee, and sits down on the opposite side of the low table. There is a short period of silence as Tony contemplates his food and Michael contemplates his depression. After a decent interval they fudge it acceptable to open their conversation, with what is almost a ritual gambit.]