Opinion: Colleges, like newspapers, will be torn apart
Undergraduate education is on the verge of a radical reordering.
Amplify’d from www.washingtonpost.com
A Virtual Revolution Is Brewing for Colleges
Undergraduate education is on the verge of a radical reordering. Colleges, like newspapers, will be torn apart by new ways of sharing information enabled by the Internet. The business model that sustained private U.S. colleges cannot survive.
The real force for change is the market: Online classes are just cheaper to produce. Community colleges and for-profit education entrepreneurs are already experimenting with dorm-free, commute-free options. Distance-learning technology will keep improving. Innovators have yet to tap the potential of the aggregator to change the way students earn a degree, making the education business today look like the news biz circa 1999.
Soon you’ll see more Web sites that make it easy to take classes from a blend of different universities. Read more at www.washingtonpost.com
Categories: business model
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I think that online learning is great, but it needs to be in the right venue. I currently am taking one online course and 4 regular courses at my university. The online course works great because it is “computers in education,” however, I can’t imagine trying to take my calculus 2 class online. Even if there were videos of the professor teaching the class, my attention and focus would not be as good as it is in the classroom setting. Without a classroom setting, it also hinders a student’s ability to create professional relationships in the school setting. Professors are more likely to write adequate recommendations when they have worked with you personally verses over the computer.
5 months agoHI, I agree with you Jill, the classroom is more than just teaching lessons. Teachers are social workers, counsellors, mentors, and so much more. Perhaps schools will find additional revenue by providing the “soft” parts of a classroom setting, for virtual learners.
5 months ago