One of the more attractive features of the classical world was the symposion or banquet at which discourse was as important as the meal itself.
Such symposia present a model of education very different from the rigid classrooms of later centuries, and their appeal, vividly conveyed in Plato's dialogues and even in such late works as the writings of the Christian bishop Methodius of Olympus, has not been lost on educational reformers throughout the generations. But in one significant respect, Plato's Symposium and all its literary imitators clearly falsify reality. What tachygraphos sat in the corner of the dining hall, recording all of these remarks?
Technology now permits the Socratic method of teaching to be undertaken on a vast scale; we live in the age of the discussion list, the newsgroup, and the VEE. Unlike Socratic dialogues of the past, these discussions, the street-corner talk in the virtual agora, leave a record which, if anyone bothered to conserve it, would be permanent. It could contribute to the virtual library and university in two ways: as edited and as unedited text.
As edited text, indexed as an item in the virtual library, the highlights of classroom discussion could provide a valuable teaching resource, the modern equivalent even of Plato's highly-edited dialogues. This would be the refined version of the user-written FAQ already common on the Internet.
As unedited text, a simple record, it provides a snapshot of education in action. Students reading such scripts would see how previous groups struggled with the same issues or even how other teachers in a classroom setting explained the same concept. (Obviously, as a kind of official record, such transcripts would also help to resolve conflicts, but this is a matter beyond librarianship.)
In practical terms, we suggest copies of all classes be kept in easily accessed form for one year. At the end of this time, they should be compressed and kept available in an archive, accessible to any user, but with highlights added to a FAQ-like central file for the course -- a digest --, which will grow from year to year. Subject indexing, at least at a crude level given the volume of material, would provide a key to the content of both the archive and the digest.