Colleagues (with apologies to air folk who also subscribe to HUMANIST) As I work through Hubert Dreyfus' _On the Internet_ (Routledge, 2001), I'm much impressed with his development of a phenomenological analysis of learning (moving from novice through competence to expert, mastery, and practical wisdom - Aristotle's _phronesis_), as this learning is tied to embodiment (especially as characterized through the work of Merleau-Ponty). I commend Dreyfus' book to aoir folk - especially those interested in issues of embodiment, distance education, factors at work in online community, and what it might mean to be a good teacher. One, his taxonomy of learning - originally developed as part of his important critiques of the claims of Artificial Intelligence in the last century (amazing that we can say that...) - strikes me as sound and instructive. This taxonomy is of interest in good measure as it depends on an analysis and evocation of embodiment that I find rich and helpful - indeed, at times poetic. Here let me only cite his summary as a way of suggesting what his analysis portrays: our sense of the reality of things and people and our ability to interact effectively with them depend on the way our body works silently in the / background. Its ability to get a grip on things provides our sense of the reality of what we are doing and are ready to do; this, in turn, gives us a sense both of our power and of our vulnerability to the risky reality of the physical world. Furthermore, the body¹s ability to zero in on what is significant, and then preserve that understanding in our background awareness, enables us to perceive more and more refined situations and respond more and more skillfully; its sensitivity to mood opens up our shared social situation and makes people and things matter to us; and its tendency to respond positively to direct engagement with other bodies underlies our sense of trust and so sustains our interpersonal world. All this our body does so effortlessly, pervasively, and successfully that it is hardly noticed. That is why it is so easy to think that in cyberspace we could get along without it, and why it would, in fact, be impossible to do so. (71f.) Two, Dreyfus' taxonomy is important because of what it implies concerning the strengths and limits of distance education and telepresence as currently implemented. Briefly, on Dreyfus' showing, distance education - because it does not engage the embodied human being in important ways - is not likely to help distance learners move beyond the level of competence (the third of seven levels). Whatever one's views regarding the value and efficacy of distance learning, Dreyfus' analysis seems to me to require careful attention and discussion - especially if we as teachers aspire to helping our students move to the levels of mastery, expertise, and practical wisdom. Finally, whatever one's interest in issues of embodiment vis-a-vis distance learning, Dreyfus' analysis of what goes on in the classroom of a good teacher (blessed with good students) - along with analogous situations in developing musical ability, interning with a physician, learning to play football (!), learning to risk and trust as a human being, etc. - provides one of the more sensitive and insightful accounts of what I think we (if I may speak so presumptively) attempt to do as teachers. His descriptions have helped articulate for me that domain of tacit knowledge that is otherwise so difficult to make explicit and bring to the foreground for reflection - and I believe my teaching will improve as I consider some of his points regarding what we "do" in a classroom that we can't do, for example, through distance learning or telepresence. I hope this tidbit encourages your interest! Comments and suggestions welcome. Cheers, Charles Ess Director, Interdisciplinary Studies Center Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Co-chair, CATaC 2002: http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks/catac02/ "...to be non-violent, we must not wish for anything on this earth which the meanest and lowest of human beings cannot have." -- Gandhi