Online Education

The appeal of an online education through distance learning as an educational alternative is ever increasing. “Its presence will continue to grow”, say curriculum directors, who expect that by 2010 nearly a fifth of students will be taking some of their career training coursework through online education or E-learning at an online university or college.

Technological advances in medicine, aerospace, agriculture, the environment, communications and education permeate the world we live in. We have new drugs and vaccines, new ways to strengthen the immune system, the International Space Station, alternative crop and livestock systems, renewable energy sources, personalized information technology and E-learning, online education and distance learning.

• With the introduction of $100 Laptops by MIT, E-learning will reach millions of children in developing nations like Brazil, China, South Africa, Egypt and others.

Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is working on a plan to distribute the laptops to schoolchildren. A goal of the project is to make the low-cost PC a grassroots movement like Linux or Wikipedia. The laptops will have a 500MHz processor, 1GB of memory and an innovative dual-mode display that can be used in full-color mode, or in a black-and-white sunlight-readable mode. Power for the new systems will be provided by electric current, batteries or by a windup crank attached to the side, since many countries do not have power in remote areas. The systems will be Wi-Fi and cell phone-enabled and will include four USB ports for connectivity. “The idea is simple. It’s an education project that will make online education a simple reality.”

Research has predicted that in the future more people will complete their studies at home as distance learning concepts continue to evolve. Over two million students enroll for online university and online college courses each year. Just as the world continues to change so must the conditions in which we live and learn. In a fast paced society we will see E-learning designed to accommodate busy students – time flexible, geographically independent, competitive cost and value and learner-centered. E-learning offers both synchronous and asynchronous modes of learning thus enabling a student to access information anywhere and at anytime. The numerous features and benefits of an Online Education and E-Learning will play a major role in post secondary career oriented education.

• E-learning is self-paced and gives students a chance to speed up or slow down as necessary

• Geographical barriers are eliminated, opening up broader education options

• 24/7 accessibility makes distance learning easy and allows a greater number of people to attend classes

• Travel time and associated costs (parking, fuel, vehicle maintenance) are reduced

• Online education fosters greater student interaction and collaboration

• E-learning is self-directed, allowing students more control over their learning process, leading up to a 60% faster learning curve.

• Web-based products allow instructors to update lessons and materials across the entire network instantly.

• Develops knowledge of the Internet that will help learners throughout their careers

• Exposure to resources not commonly found in standard classroom settings

Wireless technology has paved way for Mobile Learning, where one can easily access learning materials anywhere and at anytime. Instructional and communication techniques create an interactive online education environment including case studies, demonstrations, role-playing, simulations, streamed videos, online references, discussion groups, personalized coaching and mentoring, chat rooms, bulletin boards, tutorials, FAQ’s and wizards.

Collaborative education will play an important role in developing future Online Education and E-learning strategies. Almost all Learning Management Systems (LMS) conforming to E-learning standards offer collaborative networks, enabling students from remote areas to share knowledge and communicate ideas with fellow classmates from around the country and the world.

Virtual and Augmented learning will gradually replace existing scenarios thus giving a new dimension to knowledge management. Certain concepts which are difficult to imagine or simulate can be implemented using augmented learning.

This paper deals with the question: Why is the shift toward online education happening? This is a complex issue that involves questions of educational access, paradigms for teaching and learning, competition and globalization among universities, the development of new and better online technologies, and the financial pressures facing higher education. A huge transition is underway. The same networking and computing technology that has revolutionized global commerce, and many other facets of modern life, is now being targeted at education. Partnering the Internet with modern course management systems makes it possible for universities to offer online coursework on a global basis. The critical task that lies ahead is to create and disseminate curricula of high quality that students can embrace and educators can sustain. For more details visit to www.guardadsense.com .The overall objective of José’s Online Education Forum is to examine the realities of college and university online teaching, and the processes of education using today’s information technologies. Collectively, the authors of this paper have taught over a hundred different university-level courses online, both graduate and undergraduate, mostly using the Internet. The issues and insights discussed in this Forum will provide educators with important tools and the understanding needed to effectively embrace the world of online education.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Sloan Consortium

In a Sloan-C survey of 1170 Provosts and Academic VPs, more than half indicated a belief that online education would be ‘critical for the long-term’ in higher education. Surprisingly perhaps, the same percentage said that they believe success in achieving learning outcomes is already equivalent between online and traditional teaching methods. And there was also a consensus of opinion among these respondents that the quality of online courses would continue to improve, with a third of them believing that online teaching quality will soon surpass the quality typical of conventional teaching. These opinions may be surprising for many of us in the teaching profession, coming as they do from such high level and influential administrators. They signal a fundamental change in perceptions about the potential of online education in the immediate future.

1.2 Overview

The objective in this paper is to investigate and assess why this shift to online education is happening. Several factors can be cited beginning with improvements in access to educational services using online technologies and changing paradigms for teaching and learning that integrate well with these technologies. Other factors include heightened educational competition and globalization, the ongoing and often dramatic improvements in online systems capabilities, and the underlying economics of providing online education versus conventional means. The following sections of this paper explore each of these factors individually.

2. ACCESS TO EDUCATION

2.1 Access for the Masses

The ability to use information technologies effectively is one aspect of achieving success in today’s society, both for individuals and for organizations as a whole. The current job market requires educated workers who are capable of changing and adapting as business and cultural realities shift and evolve in today’s fast-paced, global economy (Kantar, 2001). Information technology is enabling the development of this kind of economic world structure. For more information logon to www.instant-adsense-dollars.com .It is also making possible the education of the workforce that this new economy requires by providing new capabilities for teaching and learning online.

Online education offers the promise of increased access to high quality education for the masses. Exactly how this is going to occur is not clear yet, but there is no doubt that online education is rapidly becoming an established modality. The development of the modern world economy demands an educated workforce. Places like the three It’s (India, Indonesia, and Ireland) and more recently China, are finding that the need for an educated workforce is overwhelming the capabilities of their traditional educational systems .In America and Western Europe, the same economic and political pressures associated with ‘equality of opportunity’ contribute to demands for equal access to a quality education for all who seek it.