Will online higher education replace the more expensive alternative?

Question

Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy: "Universities will be forced to decide what they are. You know, are they going to be football teams with libraries attached?" McNealy asked. "That's what a lot of them are now."

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2009/tc20090914_969227.htm

Answer 1

8 Responses to “On-Line Higher Education Learning”

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1. 1 Richard Hall

Nov 17th, 2008 at 4:33 pm



Comment posted at:

http://dmupathfinder.blogspot.com/2008/11/dius-reports-on-line-innovation-in.html

2. 2 Vincent McGovern

Nov 17th, 2008 at 6:08 pm



Stephen Downes based in New Brunswick wrote a very relevant post on his website to the topic of e-learning in higher education. His posting is an updating and review of a paper he wrote ten years ago called “The Future of Online Learning”.



His essay ranges from basic technology issues necessary to facilitate online learning such as bandwidth, processing, storage and software to learning communities, accreditation, copyright, ownership and the economics of online learning.



Stephan’s conclusion’s on online learning are clear:



“As I stated ten years ago, and as we see today, even though savings will not be as great as anticipated, it will be necessary for institutions to offer their courses online - and sooner, rather than later - because the costs of not doing so are too great.



Distance learning institutions, such as Athabasca University and the University of Phoenix, are beginning to cut into traditional student bodies. It is becoming necessary for traditional institutions to accommodate more students with existing resources, which means that the pressures to take advantage of the potential savings offered by technology, which were not so great before, are now mounting.



Even more to the point, all educational institutions are facing their greatest competition from their students themselves. This is especially the case in nations where college and university degrees can be obtained only by a moneyed elite. A determined population of ambitious, talented and self-sufficient students can educate themselves, creating their own community, their own professions, their own future. We are seeing this unfold before our eyes, if we would only look.



The Future



Today, and for the last century, education has been practiced in segregated buildings by carefully regimented and standardized classes of students led and instructed by teachers working essentially alone.



Over the last ten years, this model has been seen in many quarters to be obsolete. We have seen the emergence of a new model, where education is practiced in the community as a whole, by individuals studying personal curricula at their own pace, guided and assisted by community facilitators, online instructors and experts around the world.

Answer 2

First you are assuming that online is cheaper than campus based instrumentation. It is not. The totally online colleges charge more than state universities. This is not totally because of state support. A lecture class is a very efficient was of teaching a large number of students.



There is a market for online programs (obviously). This is especially true of adult non-traditional students who have family commitments and a lot of motivation. The long term problem with the for-profit sector is that they are more expensive and are seen by many as having an inferior product. It is not yet clear if they are all going to survive. This is especially true as state universities expand online offerings.

Answer 3

When Janice Barnwell decided to boost her career by obtaining a master's degree in business, the working mother chose an online university because of the convenience and the low cost.



The 44-year-old's educational experience exceeded her expectations, and her new employer paid for her to take four more courses online to sharpen her skills.



"At first I was very intimidated (by taking classes remotely). It's something I've never done," said Barnwell, who works as a wealth management liaison. "But it quickly changed for me because the interaction I had online with my classmates and professors felt real."



The online education sector grew 13 percent last year and had been growing at about 20 percent in previous years. Nearly one in four students take at least some college courses online, up from one in 10 in 2002. Two million students, most older than the traditional 18-22 year-old undergraduates, take all their courses online and two million more take one or more online course.



President Barack Obama pledged $500 million for online courses and materials as part of a multi-pronged plan aimed at expanding access to college.



Twenty-nine percent of U.S. adults have a college degree, fewer than in many other industrialized nations. Only about 40 percent of Americans who start college graduate. The price of higher education, which rises by an average of 8 percent a year, contributes to the high dropout rate.



"All along that education pipeline, too many people ... are slipping through the cracks. It's not only heartbreaking for those students; it's a loss for our economy and our country," Obama said in a recent speech.



Jeff Conlon, chief executive of Kaplan Higher Education with some 59,000 online students, said traditional colleges could not meet Obama's goals for higher education.



"Obama wants to make us first again by 2020," he said.

Answer 4

It might replace a lot of it, but guess what - will it be cheaper? Likely not.