On: At M.I.T., Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the...

[gravitycop]

Direct feedback with teachers is far better than [...] videoconference.

Wouldn't that depend upon the quality of the "videoconference"?

http://www.google.com/search?q=telepresence+%22eye+contact%2...

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in the same room

Kind of like ... HP's Halo?

http://www.hp.com/halo/introducing.html

Halo gives the sense of being in the same room together.