Well, education is definitely personal and also experimental. I am in the process of completing my degree online. If this degree was not offered online I would not have been able to enroll in the program. However, my degree is a BS CTS which I have been involved in for 10 years. I have experience in the field which I feel is beneficial to my online experience. I also feel my program is a quality program. In this case - online is an amazing experience and opportunity.
My concern is students directly out of high school or students that struggled in high school. I have read and experienced with my student population that online courses may not be the best choice for this population. I do feel that online courses for professional development are beneficial and I like the idea of a
"flipped classroom" but I still feel face-to-face communication and socializing is just as important as mastering subject marterial.
Susan,
I agree that online will probably not completely replace traditional; however, many students today complete their entire degree successfully and never have a traditional class or face to face meeting. Many of these students from quality programs still would report that they feel a part of the community of learners (if done well). Many programs also use video conferencing and other synchronous learning tools to maintain that face to face connection. Times are changing, but some programs and students will still want a traditional experience.
Herbert Brown III
I do not feel online learning will replace the traditional classroom. I feel the face to face interaction in a classroom is a very important ingredient to learning especially for young adults and topics that a student has had no prior experience. To be able to share and have discussions face to face benefits a student's communication abilities and critical thinking abilities in the moment. Online classes do have a place for example professional or continuing education.
Kevin,
What about educational programs that have a very heavy skills component? Do you want to be operated on by a doctor that has only done online "virtual" surgeries? What about the person who takes your blood at the doctor's office or in the hospital, is it ok for them to read about how to do it and do some virtual sticks before you hire them to actually stick people? Just playing Devil's advocate...
Herbert Brown III
I do believe that online leaning will replace traditional classroom for the fact that schools are driving the economic savings of having online classes and reaching a larger audience, however the older generations is still fighting the age of technology.
Bret,
I would agree with your statements. We are also seeing strong growth in the blended/hybrid classrooms much for the same reasons you mention about hands-on skills work. Deliver what you can online and meet in person for the other activities. Also sometimes a "flipped" classroom approach.
Herbert Brown III
I agree that for most theory based topics where memorization of facts is the primary method of learning, for example in a history class or English where hands-on skills are not taught we are seeing more and more online teaching. However, in careers where performance of tasks that cannot yet be performed by some sort of automation are required the need for face to face education will be necessary for the foreseeable future.
Cristina,
You make a good point. I don't want a doctor to do surgery on my if they have only done "virtual" surgeries on a computer.
Herbert Brown III
I do not entirely agree with the statement "Online learning will eventually replace traditional classroom delivery of instruction". I instruct in the health sector and our predominant interaction is with "live" patients and every patient is unique in their presentation. Only through "live" role play and skill assessment can you master these skills and learn to communicate with patients and other clinicians. I do believe that online learning can follow up with additional training and higher skill level training. We current offer a hybrid program that involves both online learning with lab sections at "live" sites. This does provide all the essential framework for effective healthcare learning.
Thank you
It will be used in conjunction with traditional learning; we will see more schools offering the hybrid model (blending online and f2f) -but there will be more and more students who will demand online access. I've been teaching online (and in the college classroom) for over 23 years - and have seen it grow exponentially. Some of the basics of teaching still apply, but it is an ever-evolving process.
I welcome your ideas.
- Jerry Voltura
I disagree. I think there are still some subjects, such as medical labs, that require instructor-student presence in a traditional classroom setting.
Herbert,
I guarantee you that it will, although I would do anything to keep that from happening due to the future problems it will cause the US. I will give you proof. I am friends with the president of a division 1 school that recently told me that the school would build a monument of him if he could make the school 100 million in a year. Well, 1 of the online schools I work for isn't even one of the major players, but they made 460 million profit in 2012. If you give students 2 ways to get a degree, meaning the easy way or the hard way, almost every single one will take the easy as the revenue the for profit schools are making proves. Another 1 of the schools I work for is valued at 1.5 billion dollars. Grounds schools can't even hardly compete anymore.
Sincerely,
Vince
Although I have been in the training and development field for many years and have been teaching online for a little over a year, I am just learning about creating online training for employees.
It's a different set of important skills I'm in the process of learning!
Stephen,
Online learning is certainly growing the hybrid market. Research shows us that many traditional instructors that don't fully embrace online learning, do embrace some of the technologies from online learning and are building their own hybrid/blended classrooms. Online learning still continues to grow as well. It will be hard for it to completely replace the traditional classroom for some areas, but it will continue to grow.
Herbert Brown III
Online learning I feel will take on a more hybrid or blended approach to learning. Technology will make it easier to conduct a class in a more synchronous manner.
Ramona,
The research would agree with you and we continue to see strong growth in blended or hybrid learning environments as even traditional instructors realize the value of many of the online tools available to us in our classrooms.
Herbert Brown III
I disagree that online learning will eventually replace traditional classroom learning. I believe, though, that a blended learning approach (online and traditional classroom) can be every effective in many situations.
For example, if a person is getting trained on operating a forklift, the best way to do that is to train him/her on an actual forklift after some classroom instruction (online or traditional).
There is still a big need for "hands on" learning in many occupations.
Ann,
For many courses, I would agree that online will replace many traditional courses. However, as online continues to grow, so does a smaller group that really wants the traditional experience and therefore we are seeing additional growth in blended or hybrid courses that combine both traditional and face to face elements to provide the students with the best of both worlds. I also don't want a doctor performing surgery on me if they only did it "virtually" through an online course.
Herbert Brown III
I don't think online learning will every totally replace the traditional classroom. There are so many people who like the physical presence of an instructor so they can have face-to-face communication. Also, there are some students who know that they don't have the self discipline required to keep pace in an online environment.
I think you will see more web-enhanced courses where students meet in a traditional classroom but can access material via the web.
Yes it will. I am not happy with it but with technology and its advances I feel in the future all classes will be oneline.
A college is run like a business. Its more cost effective to have an oneline class then to teach in the classroom.
