Distance Learning
When you go to the movies there are several things that you expect: big screen, comfortable seats, great sound system, quality movie etc. The relationship between hardware and software help in creating a memorable movie-going experience. Conversely, when students go to school, there are certain things a student expects to find. These include, seats, tables, books, a teacher and the classroom itself. All of these things together help to create what we have come to know as the classroom learning experience. Recently the advent of online learning has begun to introduce a new concept in how we learn. Through this technology students no longer have to leave their homes to attend classes.
Many universities have begun to use these online learning techniques to assist students who may have some trouble in attending classes on campus or for those who would just rather stay at home. These classes typically cost more than the regular ones and require the students to attend online forums, and use the Internet extensively during the curriculum. Though there have been a large number of students that have embraced this opportunity, standardizing this type of online learning would be rather difficult. There would be serious obstacles to overcome.
Universities, like all other organizations are in it for the money. This money is made not only in the form of tuition paid by students, but also from many forms of ancillary revenues. This can be anything from textbook sales, to group events, to merchandise with university logos to sporting event tickets. To standardize Distance or online learning would be practically synonymous to the ending of college campuses, as we know them. Who needs a campus when there is no need to attend class? Why have a registration building if it is done online?
The standardization of this technique would not only affect the universities but also many others. No longer would there need to be high paid professors with years of experience. They could be replaced with webmasters that follow a particular curriculum and pass on the necessary information. Authors would not have to write textbooks and publishers would not have to publish them for that matter.
Aside from all the people who would be against this standardization, there are many other things that would have to be done to assist in the process. For example there would have to be a standard speed of connection that students would be required to have. There would have to be new processes designed to make online exams easy to take, as well as security measures designed for the passing of information and the downloading of necessary things for all students.
The school itself would really no longer play any role in the educational process. A benefit to online learning would be that universities would not have to spend any more money on the beautification of campuses, or the construction of new buildings or improvements to existing classrooms. Students would no longer be drawn to a particular University because of its campus or campus life, but for the quality of the education that was being provided. That quality though would come into serious question.
With students taking courses online there would be many people concerned with the level of education being provided. How can we compare taking courses online with being taught by high quality professors with years of experience in what they have been teaching? Many people would begin to question whether or not it would matter what school you were associated with. Would there be much of a difference if you took an online course from FIU or from Harvard? Probably not. In fact the standardization of distance learning would probably create an entire new job position. The online professor. With the ease that Internet allows us to post information and make websites it is not far fetched that one teacher could work for multiple universities, or even offer the same classes without the sanctioning of a major school.
People fear that the standardization of this process would seriously dilute the quality of the education that the students would be receiving. Professors would have no real way of knowing if the student taking the class is actually the one taking that online exam, or whether or not the students are cheating. The value of an institutions history of heritage wouldn’t really matter anymore. If online learning was the standard many people doubt that students would be willing to pay more money to take online classes offered by one school over another. Universities would probably not be the only institutions that would be affected by this change. High schools and preparatory schools would have to adapt to this standard and probably begin offering online classes as well. How could you properly prepare students for college if you were not providing a similar environment to what they will be exposed to?
How about Collegiate sports? What sports? How could there be athletic teams associated with an institution if there were no campus? Would students really have pride in a team if they had no association with their school other than the keyboard they use on their pc?
If we think school is expensive now, imagine how much tuition might go up. Now schools would have to somehow cover the cost of keeping up with ever-changing technology, expensive servers and high speed Internet connections. Though the idea of online learning may sound like a convenient thing, we do not believe we will ever see it as the standard mode of education. We do believe that it will play a role in education in the near future but never as a replacement for the everyday campus environment. There are to many things and too many people that would be affected in a negative light by ending the on campus educational procedure. While the Internet is a great way to do research, have online meetings send and receive small pieces of information, it will never be able to fully recreate the educational experience produced by physically attending a university class.
By: Mathew Simond