It's been quite a summer, after completing my distance course at the end of June I moved straight to teaching a Caribbean Dialogs course on Cornell's campus to Telluride TASP students. The difference was that this class was live with conversations taking place in real time between myself sixteen students and another teacher sometimes based in Jamaica. Now I'm conflicted, the conversations in our TASP course were so intense, wide ranging and productive that I'm in love with the 'classroom' again attracted to its energy and those aha moments when a conversation hurtles towards previously unthought of possibilities. I am caught between the efficiency of what online teaching offers and the atmosphere of live debate. So again, I am asking, can distance teaching ever truly replace the vibrancy and dynamism of the classroom?It's been quite a summer, after completing my distance course at the end of June I moved straight to teaching a Caribbean Dialogs course on Cornell's campus to Telluride TASP students. The difference was that this class was live with conversations taking place in real time between myself sixteen students and another teacher sometimes based in Jamaica. Now I'm conflicted, the conversations in our TASP course were so intense, wide ranging and productive that I'm in love with the 'classroom' again attracted to its energy and those aha moments when a conversation hurtles towards previously unthought of possibilities. I am caught between the efficiency of what online teaching offers and the atmosphere of live debate. So again, I am asking, can distance teaching ever truly replace the vibrancy and dynamism of the classroom?