With the advancement of Web 2.0 applications to support a landscape for social learning, I believe there are going to be some dramatic shifts in the educational system in the future. Web 2.0 is about participation. People learn in a different manner when they are active participants rather than passive participants in their learning process. There are some shifts and trends that show online education will emerge in the future.
Online education will challenge today’s education system. Classrooms will no longer be more than teachers, books, and a chalkboard. In the future, it will provide the technology needed to address individual learning styles, and provide an avenue to social, cultural, and behavioral understanding. While we are just at the beginning of these shifts, technology has changed the way we interact with information and with each other.
There are some major economic and demographic trends that are affecting the shift to online education. While college institutions can no longer accommodate the growth in enrollment, distance education becomes a nice solution. There is a growing trend of adult learners returning back to school to seek higher education degrees. Online education accommodates those needing a flexible schedule, such as mothers and people with full time jobs. Since these learner profiles are shifting, there is a huge demand for more online courses and degrees. Some project over they next 10 years that over half of university campuses will shift to online learning.
This shift will also greatly affect the opportunities available to those seeking an education in developing countries. As we can see through my example of One Laptop Per Child, even a simple durable computer with online learning applications can give impoverished children a glimpse out into the world and an opportunity to learn how to read and write. While it is extremely important for certain tribal cultures to maintain their cultural heritage and traditional values, I think OLPC will have a great effect upon children in developing countries.
With the rapid growth of technology, open content, and social networks, schools/universities will need to extend their roles to allow for a collaborative and participatory learning environment. While online education may challenge the current system of education and the politics in institutions, it looks like most school systems and higher education systems will need to embrace the opportunities online learning provide.
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Although online learning can reduce costs of education by ten-fold, but there are always huge errors that can happen in operating completely by technology. Power outages can create much confusion if one can no longer access any type of electronics. Also system failures can prevent certain things from being communicated through the "technological highway" if they need to be sent immediately. These are things that need to be considered before making the jump.
ReplyDeleteEven though online learning enables so many different things to be happening in the classroom, it still takes away a very important part of learning that I do not think has been fully addressed. Being able to have a teacher talk face to face to you and ask them questions directly is a very valuable asset. If everything was online, this would be lost.
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