My own experience with the free university movement
was with the Minnesota Free University in Minneapolis, from 1968 to 1979.

    During its most popular time, the Free U
published 5,000 copies of its bulletin—called the FreeYou—monthly.
Hundreds of people attended dozens of classes.

    The Minnesota Free University came to an abrupt end
on Ash Wednesday 1979,
when fire destroyed the apartment house where I was living.
Other free universities have continued to this day,
notably the Colorado Free University in Denver:
http://www.freeu.com .

    The Minnesota Free University is now being reborn, 20 years later,
as a collection of classes made possible by the Internet.
Its new format will take full advantage
of electronic and communications technologies
that did not exist in the 1960s and 1970s.
In this new incarnation, it has even more potential
than the old-style free university.
Not only will face-to-face gatherings be possible,
but those who cannot attend the actual classes
will be able to attend virtual classes by way of the Internet.

    The main expense of operating the old Free University
was printing and distributing the bulletin, which listed the classes.
Now that will be taken care of entirely electronically.
Classes will appear on the home page of the Minnesota Free University.
Here is the list of subject areas under which these classes will be organized:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/MFU-CLAS.html
This list of subject areas will lead you to individual course descriptions.

THE DISTANT LEARNING OPTION

    When participants find it difficult or impossible to attend
the actual face-to-face classes of the Minnesota Free University
—perhaps because they live on the other side of the world—
they will still be able to participate as distant learners.

    Such virtual gatherings of like-minded people
actually have several advantages over face-to-face classes.
Putting it very philosophically, the distant learning option
transcends the limitations of time and space.

    The distant learning option is not limited to a particular day and hour.
We can participate in this form of learning and communication
whenever we feel ready.

    One of my laments as a long-time adult educator
is people who come to class
without having read the material we are going to discussed.
I appreciate their interest,
but it makes class discussion quite difficult
if some of the people do not know what the others are talking about!
When participants are connected only the the Internet,
they can wait until they have actually read
the book or the chapter the other participants are discussing.

    The distant learners will all be self-starters.
Those who might have been interested
but who never got around to doing the reading
—for classes with written resources—
will just not be there.
If you worry that there will not be enough self-starters in the world,
consider the fact that millions of books
are being read by human beings all over the world every year.
They keep reading to the last page of these books
because they are interested in the subject,
not because it is 'required reading'.

    Another way in which this distant learning option transcends time:
In long-lasting classes, it will even be possible
to hear from participants who are now dead.
(This could give a whole new meaning to
"communicating with the dead".)
The dialog can continue for as long as
someone can continue to facilitate the class.

    The distant learning option will draw participants
from anywhere in the world.
This means that there are literally millions of potential participants,
not just the thousands of potential participants
that is the practical limitation
of any form of learning that depends on
getting together in a particular location at a particular time.
And the size of the face-to-face class will be limited by
how many people can participate meaningfully in a discussion.

    The only limitations for this distant learning option
are access to the internet,
which is expanding very rapidly at the beginning of the 21st century,
and ability to read and write the English language.
(And even the language barrier may eventually be transcended
if there seems to be a need for it.
Perhaps computer programs for translation will become
so accurate and available in the 21st century,
that we will not have to worry about people
speaking different native languages.)

    Some classes may be so specialized
that they will exist mainly in the distant learning option.
This means that instructors can offer classes that have
only a few interested participants anywhere on planet Earth.
One constant problem of face-to-face adult education
is finding a subject with broad enough interest
to gather a group large enough to have a meaningful discussion.
Busy people often find that their schedules conflict
with a class they would otherwise have wanted to attend.
Or the location of the class is not convenient for some reason.
But the virtual classroom allows anyone
with a home computer and connections with the internet
to engage in meaningful, enriching conversation
with other like-minded people all around the world.

    Because this new incarnation of the Minnesota Free University
is just coming into being, many details need to be worked out.
Your ideas can help it to become a reality.
Send your comments to me:
James Park:

PARKx032@TC.UMN.EDU .

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.