Hogwarts is very much a reflection on Bristish public boarding schools like Eton and Harrow. Most of the teachers at Hogwarts are tremendously conservative. Comparable to the “Lord of the Rings” where progressive forces are portrayed as evil and traitorous persons, there are only a few progressive teachers like Dolores Umbridge in Hogwarts (she turned “Defence against the dark arts” in a theoretical course). This makes me think about the question what would e-learning looks like in Hogwarts?
In the books and the motion pictures there are some really astonishing magical pieces like the moving pictures in the Daily Prophet and the marauder’s map which are just lab prototypes in technology. I have listened to a really enlightening talk in a meeting of cartographers in Berlin in 2005. The talk lead to the famous citation of Arthur C. Clarke: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Under this assumption, advanced e-learning tools and magical tools for learning are the same. And yet, there are only a few examples of magical tools used for learning. Neville Longbottom got a Remembrall, Hermione Granger used a time turner to attend more courses than possible to be scheduled (what a great tool for school reformers), Harry, Ron and Hermione used Omnioculars, Doloros Umbridge used Blood Quills for detention. That’s all?
