The size of that section of the electronic market place known as the Internet is substantially dependent on how many people acquire and retain Internet access. This core of Internet users is the bedrock on which electronic commerce will be built. More attention has been given to the reasons why people join the Internet community than to their motivation for leaving. We therefore sought to carry out exploratory research into the thinking of some of the likely Internet defectors in order to identify intelligent questions which could form the basis for subsequent experimental hypotheses. At the same time we took the opportunity to examine possible critical mass effects in the adoption of the Internet as a piece of innovative technology, and to shed some light on the question of knowledge gaps, more recently characterised as the problem of the information rich and the information poor.

This paper questions whether there is a conflict between the academic and business interests of a university in combating grade inflation. A survey of online Master's degree students in Computing at a British university was carried out. It examined variations in the perceived value of a degree or the university's perceived reputation as a result of a number of possible changes aimed at reducing the sacrifices involved in gaining a degree; making it less likely that students would fail modules or their degree; and reducing the degree dropout rate to almost zero. The conclusion is that students saw such changes as reducing the value of their degree. The research suggests that in certain circumstances, academic and business interests can be aligned in opposing grade inflation.

Purpose -This paper aims to examine Socratic dialogue in asynchronous online discussions in relation to constructivism. The links between theory and practice in teaching are to be discussed whilst tracing the origins of Socratic dialogue and recent trends and use of seminar in research based institutions. Design/methodology/approach -Many online degree courses employ asynchronous discussions where the teacher, acting as a moderator, is seen as the guide on the side rather than the sage on the stage. Such an approach, employing collaborative learning, is often described as constructivist. Practitioners may see the term constructivist as simply a convenient label to describe a range of effective teaching practices. Even when it is said that knowledge is constructed, this may be viewed as little more than a metaphor. There are however, behind these labels, epistemological theories such as radical constructivism and social constructivism which pose serious challenges to traditional views that perception is guided by contact with an independent reality and that science involves a search for objective truth. Many significant philosophical objections can be raised against these theories. The links between the theory and teaching practices of proven value are tenuous. There is an alternative explanation of the origins of teaching practices associated with asynchronous discussions. Findings -Asynchronous discussion makes it possible for all students to make an initial written contribution based on both research and industry experience, as well as an extensive participation in a written debate. The relative ease of assessing contributions to a written debate helps overcome the problem of the seminar where only one person may get credit for his or her contribution. Contributions can to a great extent be made when it is convenient for both moderator and students.Research limitations/implications -The present study has considered the case of one institution; it will be useful to examine it for many. Practical implications -Asynchronous online discussion is one of the highest forms of Socratic dialogue. Originality/value -This is a different approach to the traditional belief and new ideas for consideration are presented. The Socratic dialogue has been developed as both an oral and written tradition from the works of authors like Plato, through to the development of the medieval university with its disputations and oral examinations, the introduction of seminars in research based universities inspired by Humboldt, the development of scholarly journals, and on to the asynchronous online discussions in the era of the Web.

Universally true generalizations, from which specific conclusions can be deduced, are often unavailable to the practitioner, defined as anyone carrying out an occupation or profession. Theoretical shortcomings in the body of knowledge presented by academics can be counteracted by the practitioner using his or her knowledge of problem solutions. These can be stored as particular cases or as more generalized design patterns. They will typically contain information about cause-and-effect relationships and normative information about acceptable solutions. Use can be made of these solutions by employing reasoning by analogy and case-based reasoning. Similar problems require similar solutions. Cause-and-effect theory can be generated by practitioners using abstraction from particular cases, as an alternative to enumerative induction. The difference between this theory and that of the academic can be largely one of degree of generality. There is a continuum of cause-and-effect relationships at different levels of abstraction, which does not justify the abrupt separation of the academic and practitioner worlds, which has been encouraged by a reasonable interpretation of Bernstein's work. The study of exemplary problems in vocational education can be made more effective if it is accompanied by an examination of the actual outcomes of previously proposed solutions.

Educational constructivists maintain that knowledge is constructed by students as they learn. Sometimes this involves a weakening of the epistemological claim that knowledge involves discovering facts about an independent reality. In the terminology of Immanuel Kant, we are claimed to have access to phenomena or appearances, but not to things in themselves. This approach is closely linked to Husserl's belief that objects must be "for" and "constituted by" some consciousness. All of these views place a great deal of emphasis on the notion of a disembodied consciousness that somehow constructs the world it perceives. They tend to weaken our belief in an independent world about which we can have objective knowledge. Is this a mere philosophical quibble of no practical importance? Does it really matter? George Orwell, in his novel, 1984, introduces his unlikely hero, Winston Smith. He asks the question, "If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable what then?". Smith's tormentor, O'Brien, eventually supplies the answer. "But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else…only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth." In short, the state engages in fabrications which are an extreme form of knowledge construction. Orwell outlines a situation where the distinction between constructing and discovering knowledge does matter. I shall argue that Kant, Husserl, and Wittgenstein conducted thought experiments with flawed research designs. They undermine the ethical role played by an independent reality in providing, in Iris Murdoch's words, something "which my consciousness cannot take over, swallow up, deny or make unreal".