Teleconferencing In Utopia

I recently started my second university course of the summer, this one on Utopian Literature. The interesting thing about it, course material aside, is that we're being watched. No, really, there's a big video screen at the back of the room showing a classroom in Cornwall (a relatively small Ontario city). They can see us and we can see them. They also have a two-way radio so they can hear the prof. Additionally, another class in Pembroke (another small Ontario city) also has this two-way radio hookup to our class. So, it's not uncommon in class to be interrupted by this booming disembodied voice that comes down as if God's and says "So, Bellamy likes socialism but not Marx, right?"

Anyhow, my prof likes to run a lot of class discussion. Of course, the people in Cornwall and Pembroke would have difficulty following this since only the prof has a mike. As a result, mikes are attached to the desks and, whenever we want to say something, we have to press a button on the mike so that the other classes can hear. This, of course, leads to a class where a good portion of time is spent by the prof saying "Could you say that again, but with the mike on?"

On one hand, I think it's cool that our university is somewhat technologically advanced, but on the other, I hate having to deal with the reverb of my prof's voice that comes out of the Pembroke/Cornwall speakers. I think the class should be set up like some of those at Carleton University (the other Ottawa school), where lectures are put on TV. All you have to do is tune in from home. I could go to school in my pyjamas!