On May 4, 2012 the Seattle Times released a startling article that revealed the new, or not so new, trend of online college educations.
“what happened to the newspaper and magazine business is about to happen to higher education: a re-scrambling around the Web”Across the world, people of all walks of life are pursuing their doctorates online through schools in other countries. What is wrong with doing your bachelors or associate degree in the same way? While research proves that online learning is just as effective as traditional learning, some people look at the changes as scary, different, and shocking.
“Will academic standards be as rigorous? What happens to the students who don’t have enough intrinsic motivation to stay glued to their laptop hour after hour? How much communication is lost — gesture, mood, eye contact — when you are not actually in a room with a passionate teacher and students?“Just what will happen? That is something to be thought about and considered. Do we miss great communication with “passionate” professors and students when we are “glued to the laptop hour after hour” The picture is definitely beautiful when put in such a poetic way, but really; just how much are we missing? For the answer I looked at several recent surveys (see below).
• Literacy among college grads has fallen to 31% (American LibraryAssociation)
• 93% liberal bias in faculty (Santa Clara University).
• Only 54% of college freshmen will graduate from college. (USAToday)
Where is are the rigorous standards? Where is the passion? I fail to see it.
This is not an easy question with an easy answer. We don’t live in a world of black and white.
To be continued…