Last summer, I took a "how things work" course with my daughter from Coursera. It was the only offering at the time for her at eight years old, and she had never taken any online classes before, but she made the transition easily. We didn't finish the course due to summer travels and a hectic schedule, but we both enjoyed it. In the past, I've noted that there there are incentives to individuals investing in their own education, and "free" education has the potential to see the reverse effect, with low completion rates for free online classes compared to traditional institutions. This is expected, and is likely a part of the shifting education models moving forward.
Someday, students will ask their parents about the (not so good) old days when a quality education could cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, slack-jawed and in disbelief, and prospects for employment was an even scarier thought. We will be successful as a culture by embracing the future, by investing in our children and their education, not in the institutions themselves. I see what MOOCs are offering as having the potential to disrupt the learning process all the way down to the early stages of learning, with even kindergarten-age children having equal access to information and learning resources despite social or financial background.
I have taken classes online that have been both self-paced as well as those that stick to more of a schedule, with beginning and end dates. My personal preference is self-guided, simply because my schedule tends to fluctuate with work and personal life, and I never know if the next week will be busy or if I will have time to dedicate to studies. I tend to read more than take MOOC-type courses simply because of the time constraints.
As my children grow up and I have more free time, I definitely look forward to more online learning, and I think that the future for this disruptive technology is going to change the way we learn. Currently, I see accredited institutions as gate-keepers, protecting their interests and embracing this new technology half-heartedly, simply because it has the potential to upset the industry enough to de-throne those legacy institutions that arose in a different era, when most had to visit a library or enroll in classes to gain a meaningful education.
Today, that is hardly the case. Technology gives us the means to provide learning to even those with the most meager means. It removes the financial barrier to education that has kept so much of the world uneducated and in poverty. Knowledge is a resource, the most important one. Providing access to learning for little to no cost relative to legacy institutions will change things for the better, and those institutions that dig in their heels will fall the hardest. Embracing this inevitable change requires institutions to change business models, to accept that high profit margins might well become a thing of the past, or that sprawling universities may well fade into the past and become unnecessary.
With interactive technology, massive lecture halls become unnecessary. MOOCs already show us that we can work together with educators and students without regard for the distance that sets us apart. Location will no longer be a barrier Educators can reach a wider audience than ever. With digital publishing, libraries might also become museums, and we will have instant access to textbooks and research materials without ever leaving home. Mobile devices, battery life, and storage capacity continue to advance at impressive rates, and the ability to access a greater amount of information becomes more demanded, and successful firms will supply.
The optimist in me believes that successful companies and entrepreneurs will support this shift, and there are already examples such as Sal Khan who are embracing and pushing the technology even further (I love using the Khan Academy to tutor my daughter in math) to provide access to learning at no cost. Business models will need to compete with services like this, which will drive down costs to learners and the scope will continue to expand. Even poor communities that cannot afford the technology today are seeing it utilized to pull them out of poverty. Technology has the potential to disrupt education for the better.
Today, that is hardly the case. Technology gives us the means to provide learning to even those with the most meager means. It removes the financial barrier to education that has kept so much of the world uneducated and in poverty. Knowledge is a resource, the most important one. Providing access to learning for little to no cost relative to legacy institutions will change things for the better, and those institutions that dig in their heels will fall the hardest. Embracing this inevitable change requires institutions to change business models, to accept that high profit margins might well become a thing of the past, or that sprawling universities may well fade into the past and become unnecessary.
With interactive technology, massive lecture halls become unnecessary. MOOCs already show us that we can work together with educators and students without regard for the distance that sets us apart. Location will no longer be a barrier Educators can reach a wider audience than ever. With digital publishing, libraries might also become museums, and we will have instant access to textbooks and research materials without ever leaving home. Mobile devices, battery life, and storage capacity continue to advance at impressive rates, and the ability to access a greater amount of information becomes more demanded, and successful firms will supply.
The optimist in me believes that successful companies and entrepreneurs will support this shift, and there are already examples such as Sal Khan who are embracing and pushing the technology even further (I love using the Khan Academy to tutor my daughter in math) to provide access to learning at no cost. Business models will need to compete with services like this, which will drive down costs to learners and the scope will continue to expand. Even poor communities that cannot afford the technology today are seeing it utilized to pull them out of poverty. Technology has the potential to disrupt education for the better.
