My intention here is to put a simple plug in favor of technology.

In April 98, at the Amherst Colloquium, I spoke in favor of the web as a teaching tool. By now most colleagues are aware that the web is a resource for scholarly research as well as a device for course management.

• The web is a custom made individual desk publishing tool, which gives us the opportunity to post and publicize our syllabus, our course notes, and all relevant material which is usually on reserve in the library
• The web is also a powerful mean of communication between students and teachers. Comments are exchanged via e-mail or via the web. Early in the semester students post their work in progress on the web, and the teacher can supervise and input all stages of the composition. The final paper comes to the teacher no longer as a surprise, but as the result of an efficient and constant collaboration with the mentor. Along with good results, such a method promotes trust and confidence in the class room.

In Fall 99, I had the opportunity to give a "distance education" course. From the campus of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, I taught "French in Action" to African universities in Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. I was employed by the African Virtual University based in Washington, DC. Such experience gave me the conviction that "distance education" is the tool of the future.

• The method requires cutting edge technology such as satellite TV connections, and mastery of web editing. It challenges the teacher to be an excellent pedagogue as well as an expert webmaster since web pages, which are used to communicate between satellite live sessions, must be created in a coherent, attractive, and easily accessible format.
• My point in reporting on such a new experience is to have colleagues in the profession realize that we no longer have the choice to join, or not, the information technology revolution. Those who don't, will simply be left behind. Those who do, have to be aware that Computer literacy, which requires the mastery of word processor, e-mail, and web browsers, is not enough. Fluency in Information Technology is a must in our profession It involves expertise in the use of desktop publishing tools to manipulate texts and images such as Photoshop, and PageMill. DreamWeaver, or GoLive to edit web pages, are already the next generation of improved tools on the market.
• Naturally, the training involved in learning to use such tools requires time, humbleness, and courage. However the ultimate reward of such enterprise is success. Its hazard, can be addiction to the hypnotic power of the computer screen.
  

The greatest compensation for being fluent in information technologies is the option to renew ourselves and our means of teaching:

• The teacher no longer travels a lonely road. Suddenly he/she has the chance to join the "Virtual Renaissance." Geographical and political boarders, as well as time and space, can be transcended. Teaching is no longer limited to the confines of the traditional classroom. For example, this African Virtual University course in elementary French has brought together three continents: The instructor in America, the students in Africa, and the course content from Europe.
• The teacher who uses global information intensify his/her own productivity. The advent of technology affords unlimited power of contact and an ever-increasing ability to reach and deliver courseware to a seemingly unlimited number of students.
• The teacher who uses information technology enters new fields of sociability and creates new connections. Are you wearied of colleagues and of their predictable reactions to your ideas? -You can escape to cyberspace and choose a new set of co-workers.
• The teacher who uses information technology takes part in a global movement of democratization and expansion of boundaries. My experience with the African Virtual University is a formidable and touching example of how the educational institutions of the Western world can reach out to help less privileged countries. The Net should not be an elitist tool. Global information should be available to all.

In short, let me invite you, to join the cyber revolution, as a welcome alternative to the routine of traditional teaching.
Instead of walking to class two or three times a week with pens, books or video tapes, prepare yourself to share your intellectual wealth and pedagogical talents in a fast sleek and glamorous way with your students and the world.

Technology, like teaching, is sexy. Both are powerful, intoxicating, and safe tools of seduction.