INTERVIEWS AND NOTICES

WENR:   WORLD EDUCATION NEWS & REVIEWS 12, no. 2 (March/April 1999), 8-9, 11.

Sedgwick, the editor of WENR, discusses "the recent success and expansion of the electronic classroom in the United States." In the article, Sedgwick discusses the work of Chris Matthew Sciabarra, who is "Storming the Ivory Tower" on-line:

"For Professor Chris Sciabarra, a visiting scholar at New York University's Department of Politics, online education has the potential to bring students and faculty together from all over the world in a way that was simply inconceivable in years past.  Overseas students make up about 65 percent of the enrollment in his Cyberseminar on Dialectics and Liberty. 'The course has busted through all geographical boundaries,' Sciabarra said, 'I've taught people all over the United States and in Europe, including Sweden and Norway, and I'm very pleased with the caliber of the students who have registered for these classes.'   Sciabarra also believes that many of the changes brought to higher education by way of the new information technology are long overdue.  'I think long-distance learning opportunities are increasing, and slowly democratizing education [while] breaking down the barriers of scholarly discourse,' he said.  'Academia has for too long been residing in the 'ivory tower' . . . and any opportunities which we have that might broaden our ability to reach a more diversified population of students and colleagues should be encouraged.' "