e-scriptor.com

An associate professor who focuses on digital media, Mr. Vaidhyanathan regularly teaches and writes enthusiastically about movements to make music, movies, and other creative works free online. I thought he'd be one of the first people to advocate open access to lectures.

But no. "I find myself playing devil's advocate all the time" in class, he said. "I don't want to be on the record saying something I don't even believe" if the lectures go out on the Web. He considers the classroom a "sacred space" that may need to stay private to preserve academic freedom.

Professors across the country are now wrestling with this issue. More and more colleges have installed microphones or cameras in lecture halls and bought easy-to-use software to get lecture recordings online. The latest Campus Computing Survey, which gathers data on classroom technology nationwide, found that 28 percent of colleges have a strategic plan to provide coursecasting equipment, and 35 percent more are working on a plan now.

Entiendo y comparto lo dicho por el profesor Vaidhyanathan. Una cosa es valorar los medios digitales para unas finalidades concretas, y otra hacerlos necesario y útiles para todas, es decir, para cualquiera.

Tiene razón en decir sin tapujos que lo que sucede en las aulas debe seguir siendo algo que sucede en un "espacio sagrado", en la medida en que -para respetar y mantener la libertad académica y el diálogo personal entre docentes y discentes- lo dicho en las aulas está mejor al margen de las grabaciones y retransmisiones públicas, ante oyentes y espectadores desconocidos.