Article Three

Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/?scp=2&sq=Education&st=Search

Online education has definitely made great gains throughout the last couple of years. Online education used to be based on electronic correspondence, basically just handing in the assignments. Now with web cameras, videos, and embedding online education is changing the way colleges work. Online education allows students to "tailor" education to fit their needs. Also online educations allows students to actually "learn by doing" rather than by watching the teacher, which as we've learned is very beneficial and helpful to the learning process. College campuses will begin to look a lot different as well as college classes. Classes my assume that the learner already know the subject (due to the internet) and will mostly focus on how to apply it in the real world. Wow. What a change of pace.

Skimming through this article at first glance, I was appalled at the title. Further reading revealed that the article is focused on college adults who wanted to further their education. In that instance, I can see how online classes are more effective, mostly because of their "convenience." Adults furthering their education are usually strapped financially, so they have a job. Having a job and possibly a family definitely "get in the way" of the typical classroom learning. Online classes allow the students to work at their own pace and truly be in control of how they learn. I can see how it beats out the typical classroom.

It's great that they can focus the education to real-world problems, but how do they actually learn the information? Social networking? How accurate is that? I believe that online education will definitely change and shape college campuses in the future, but I don't think it's applicable or "beats out" the typical classroom. Teachers help inspire students, encourage teamwork and community, as well as facilitate instruction. Teachers are a great "tool" for students' learning, guiding to answer questions, and overall in helpful for the students. It's weird to ponder if I'll have a job in 10 years, or if teaching will be obsolete itself.