Digital Education

A Brief Look at Online College

            Being an online student myself, I felt this topic to be a very important one to discuss.  An educational environment is one in which communication is absolutely crucial to the development of both the students and the instructors.  Being an online student can be very tough and challenging at times, because it takes a special skillset to succeed.  This doesn’t apply only to students though, as every level of the online education needs to be proficient in these skills.  To put the situation into words is almost making light of it though, as a college education is one of the most important decisions in a person's life.  It really takes a level of confidence and independence that I personally have overlooked for some time.  So what skills are important to refine and why?  There is no absolute rulebook for skill development, as everyone learns at their own pace in their own way.  Skillsets will differ between students, teachers, advisors etc. 

            Some skills may apply to students and instructors alike, because some abilities are just good general attributes for the educational environment.  Personally, as a student I am expected to communicate my thoughts and words in a time-efficient manner.  This has definitely been a learning experience in more way than one, as I have also had to refine my abilities to communicate over the Internet while building a good technical skillset in the process.  All of these attributes are comparable to what an aspiring instructor can expect to utilize in an online teaching environment.  Melissa Venable reminds us that we have to remain within our own limits and only try to teach courses we are knowledgeable in (Venable, 2013).  In her contribution to OnlineCollege.org, How To Break into Online Teaching she gives some very good advice for anyone interested in teaching online. 

            So how powerful can a digital classroom be?  How many lives can be improved with online education?  Probably the best example I have found comes from a TED talks presentation, in which Daphne Koller of Coursera describes their online educational mission.  Some of the numbers where absolutely astounding, as it truly shows the global impact.  Coursera is a group that is trying to get multiple colleges to offer some of their best courses for free to some of the more disadvantaged areas of the world.  Within months of starting up, as Koller explains, they had approximately 640,000 active students with 1 ½ million enrollees spanning nearly 200 countries.  Not to mention their videos had been digitally viewed around 14 million times, and they had over 6 million quizzes for people of every educational level to take.  Her video as posted below is a bit lengthy, but truly worth the watch.  This is but a glimpse of what the future will bring if trends continue in the same fashion.

            Richard Sousa, senior associate director and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, points to a continued increase in numbers with his article What Lies Ahead For Digital Education.   In early 2014, the Khan Academy, whose mission is to provide a “free world-class education for anyone anywhere,” agreed to a partnership in which they cooperated with the College Board to provide free, online SAT prep software.  The Khan Academy, with ten million users visiting its web site every month, is at the leading edge of digital education. The Khan-SAT partnership allowed for self-paced learning and helped to level the playing field by providing access to those who were unable to afford proprietary preparation courses (Sousa, 2014).  It seems that the digital classroom is taking hold, and this could be for many of the aforementioned reasons.  It could also be attributed to the fact that online classes are non-traditional in the fact that the student feels somewhat empowered to set a very flexible learning schedule.  Of course money factors in, and many online degree programs are cheaper or free through certain groups.  Perhaps people are turning to the Internet because of the rising danger in American classrooms.  Either way, I believe this trend will continue for years into the future. 

References

Sousa, R. (2014, May 7). What Lies Ahead For Digital Education: Forbes Website. Retrieved from Forbes Website: http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/05/07/what-lies-ahead-for-digital-education/#2715e4857a0b5f55819055db

Venable, M. (2013, July 15). How To Break into Online Teaching: OnlineCollege.org Website. Retrieved from OnlineCollege.org Website: http://www.onlinecollege.org/2013/07/15/breaking-into-online-teaching/