As the Information Age moves forward, distance education, or online learning, will only become more important. This will occur for many reasons, but availability and affordability will be two of the biggest ones.
Availability effects all levels of education; high school, college, and workforce training. High schools in rural areas can now offer courses that they would not traditionally be able to offer. At the college level, online learning allows many working adults to further their careers by furthering their education! Workforce training allows businesses to develop and deliver training for employee worldwide. Also, as students become comfortable with the online format, there will be a higher demand for it. Affordability relates both to the educators and the students. Colleges can admit many more students to an online course than a traditional course. Also, it is much more affordable to hire working professionals as adjunct instructors to teach online courses than to hire additional faculty. Businesses take advantage of online learning by designing online instruction for the entire company rather than hiring an instructor to train employees at each site, on each shift! Students also benefit from online education’s affordability. As college tuition becomes more expensive, more students will need to work while taking courses. The asynchronicity of online learning is perfect for a working student. In order to meet this growing demand, educators will need to make sure that they stay abreast of what technologies are available to enhance online learning. I see this as being the major obstacle to online learning. The educators, whether high school or college faculty, or the educational department of major corporations, will need to embrace the new technologies and receive adequate training to be able to use the new technologies. If online education is not designed properly, it can result in a course that fails to ensure academic integrity and academic quality. Proper training of the educators can prevent this from happening.
2 Comments
7/19/2016 12:48:29 pm
I liked your idea of having your students come up with a question to post. I may use that idea in future classes! Also, need your Quizizz code.
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Demetric DyAnn Williams
7/25/2016 05:17:04 am
Hi Mary:
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AuthorI'm Mary Warden, a graduate student at the University of Southern Mississippi. I am currently working on my PhD in Instructional Technology and Design. Please read my self introduction to learn a little more about me! BlogrollXavier Agee
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