All About Online Education

Online education, also known as distance learning or e-learning, differs from traditional education because students are not required to visit an actual classroom and listen to an instructor face-to-face.

Online education is "a classroom wit
hout walls," says Dr. Stella Thompson, an online Assistant Professor of English at Prairie View A&M University. It's "engaging in assisted, self-directed learning."

Education Equals Higher Salaries

In the past, working adults weren't able to further their careers because of time restraints; including, but not limited to, working overtime, business travel, and caring for families. Online education takes away those time restraints by offering a completely virtual learning experience.

Working adults can now continue their education, earn higher degrees, and earn more money by attending courses that primarily take place over the Internet.

Benefits of Learning Online

Online education is truly about student convenience. Students can check in, work on assignments, and turn them in when their schedules permit, not when the college doors are open.

Online education means students no longer have to:

• quit their jobs to attend college,
• take time off from work to attend a specific course,
• find a babysitter,
• spend hours in rush hour traffic or drive 200 miles to the nearest University,
• spend precious minutes looking for a parking space, and then
• waste more of those minutes walking from class to class.

It also means students:

• learn at their own pace,
• gain more one-on-one access to their instructors, and
• earn degrees in less time than it would take to juggle traditional courses.

How Online Education Works

After researching the best accredited institution, students are required to apply to one of the college's degree programs. Once accepted into an online program, students are asked to sign up for appropriate courses. After the registration process is complete and students are accepted into the program, the real work begins.

Students begin their course studies by logging onto the Internet. Once they're in their appropriate classroom, they'll learn by reading assignments, asking questions, and receiving instructor feedback. Some courses even offer forums and/or chat rooms where students can gather, with or without the instructor, to discuss assignments. Finally, students are graded on homework assignments, final projects, and test scores.

While most online courses are done using the above method, some courses are done during set times with more sophisticated programs, like the one Mrs. Strong-Millsap uses in her high school courses.

"In the program I teach, all students log in at the same time each day," says Joanna Strong-Millsap, a high school distance learning instructor. "We use microphones and headsets to communicate in real time. And the software program the school provides allows me to use a white board, PowerPoint presentations, and film, video, and audio clips. We can even pull up websites."

All Courses Are Not Created Equally

Different programs require different levels of computer and/or Internet knowledge. Therefore, it is vital students take the time to speak with potential instructors, previous college students, and even the computer tech department to get a better understanding of the teaching methods and technology used.

"Online instructors, like those teaching traditional courses, bring to their courses their own personal experiences, teaching objectives, and preferred methodologies. In addition, the institution's technology and technical support also influence learning experiences," says Dr. Thompson. "Some courses are text and content-focused, while other courses emphasize more technical skill and interaction with technology."

If students don't take the time to understand how the courses are designed, they could end up in a class that is too technologically advanced and suffer academically.

So while traditional colleges will never fade away, online educational institutions are growing in number and enrollments because they offer the working class a chance to advance in their careers, develop a higher level of personal confidence, and fulfill life-long dreams.

If you're ready to jump-start your education, an online course may be just what you need.

What To Expect From Education In 2013

Guessing what the future of education holds is equal parts logic and guesswork.

The logical part is simpler–take current trends and trace their arc further, doing your best to account for minor aberrations. If the majority of public education in the United States is waist-deep in adopting new academic standards, it doesn’t take Nostradamus to predict they are going to have a strong gravity about them in the education at large.

What’s Certain

In 2013, a theme that is absolutely certain is disruption. Some of that disruption will be through technology, some of it decay of existing power-sets. How it will change education over the next twelve months can be guessed in part by looking at the previous twelve, a time period where we’ve seen iPads capture the imagination of national media, MOOCs catch the eye of the bluebloods in higher ed, and BYOD look like a better and better choice for K-12 public education districts everywhere.

In 2013, those trends will continue, along with some new ideas as we begin to demand more than feel-good potential out of learning experiences for students.

What To Expect From Education In 2013

1. Diversification of formal and informal learning platforms

As technology improves, increased access and diversity are two changes you can be certain of. There still may be a lack of equity, and learning isn’t certain to improve as a result, but there will be more access to more content and more communities and platforms. This emphasizes the potential of informal learning, and new styles of formal learning.

2. Continued higher ed metamorphosis

While it’d be hyperbole to suggest that in the next twelve months higher education will suddenly reinvent itself, what you likely will see in 2013 is more of an “ooze” into something a bit different. More blended, more MOOCish, and perhaps the beginning of something a bit more cost effective, if only a very small–but critical–scale.

3. Game-based learning matures (from simulations to pop culture games)

Though growing strongly as an undercurrent, game-based learning is still in its relative infancy in the big education space. From serious games and learning simulations, to using pop culture games like Fallout 3 and Portal in the classroom, game-based learning is finding its way into classrooms as educators become more comfortable with exactly how they fit.

4. Common Core dominates school faculty meetings but continues to be ignored in start-up space

Right now, the education start-up space is dominated by apps, “open learning,” and social learning platforms that offer new access, revised content forms, and improved connectivity.

But in the United States, the majority of K-12 learners are being fed Common Core-based curriculum, and thus far, the Common Core has been largely ignored by smart start-ups. Just not sexy enough I suppose. Honestly, I can’t blame them for three major reasons: it’s not global (U.S. only), it requires adhering to what districts are already doing (stifling innovation potential), and it’s dreadfully boring (seriously–have you read them?)

5. Smarter MOOCs

OCW and MOOCs, in one way or another, are changing the way we think about learning. And there are even rumblings that official college credit may soon be available. Right now, the energy for them to improve is grassroots-based and honorable. To keep them from drifting into the shape of strictly profit-driven big business–as higher ed is now–will be the challenge going forward.

6. Slight shift from social media platforms to social media APIs

Social media isn’t going anywhere, but using them as independent platforms could eventually be replaced by the “API approach,” where app and platform developers embed social media directly into the software itself at the root level in the same way social media sharing is now built-in on some many blogs and websites. The primary interaction then is not on twitter or facebook, but external.

7. Data experiments–visual data, data sharing; less data, more data

This is something that should’ve happened a long time ago–classroom teachers having access to real-time data from constant, minor assessments in a highly visual form. Not broad percentages, or binary stamps like “proficient” and “non-proficient,” data now should be persistently accessed, and then visualized in an easily consumable way–for teachers, students, and parents. With the rise of infographics and digital visual tools, the opportunity to finally make it happen is stronger than ever.

8. Struggles with Common Core—especially assessment

This one is a no-brainer, and probably doesn’t need an explanation.

9. Growth of gamification and alternatives progress reporting

We’ve written before both about gamification, as well as alternatives to letter grades. Regardless, the letter grade will eventually be replaced, if the idea of a singular, summative score isn’t eradicated altogether.

10. Social learning encroaches on eLearning coursework space

Social learning platforms from Edmodo to Eduplanet21 are first changing where learning happens, but will eventually change how it happens–at least the digital segment of the process.

Straight eLearning platforms are often one-size-fits-all courses–eVersions of standard schooling. By incorporating social dynamics into eLearning spaces, said eLearning forms can change.

11. Crowdsourcing of content (YouTube, Udemy, etc.)

YouTube’s recent “channeling” of dedicated formal learning content is an under-appreciated step forward. This essentially crowdsources learning material that are accessible to anyone with the will and an internet connection–much the same way the Khan Academy did, but with far more diverse content, and a truly crowdsourced approach.

12. More Courseras

As Khan Academy turns into Coursera, Coursera will eventually give way to a new kind of free–or at least affordable–eLearning style that offers quality course content and collaboration. For this to happen, the standard business ecology of failure and success must continue to cycle.

13. Fight between start-ups and corporate entities for control of learning spaces

While it already happens on a smaller scale, at some point–perhaps 2013–a company like McGraw Hill will butt heads with a smaller start-up like learnist on a larger stage. What happens might surprise you.

14. Venture-Capital funding of alternative school models will get closer

For now, venture capitalists–and their supported start ups–are focusing on content, information, and social media connectivity. (Actually, the VCs are focused on profit, but I digress.) Eventually they will stumble upon how people actually learn, and “schools” and related programs. Once the power of capitalism collides with how people learn, change will be swift. This will likely not happen in 2013, but we will be closer than ever. (*awkward, raucous applause*)

15. Increased division between traditional and non-traditional learning models

As learning forms wiggle, sprout wings, and fly, existing models–with a century of dogma and infrastructure–will have to justify themselves to stay in business, and may indeed be rude about it along the way. This will increase existing divisions between staunch “academists” and “hippie” learning innovators. Should be fun to watch.

India needs to move away from the current system of examination, says C Rangarajan

India needs a radical revolution in higher education, believes C Rangarajan, chairman, economic advisory council to the prime minister. "We need to move away from the system of examinations. I was amazed to see a question paper ten years ago. It was the same as the one I took some forty years ago," he said on Friday.

Rangarajan was speaking at the national conference titled 'Quality of higher education and economic development ( HEED)'.

"Answer any five questions from the following ten questions: I still see this kind of questions. We need to spend more time in setting the question paper. It is extremely important to completely revamp the examination system," he said.

There has been a phenomenal expansion in the number students enrolled in colleges. In 1951, there were 0.2 million students studying in 20 universities and 500 colleges. As of March 2012, there are 20 million students studying in 627 universities and 35,000 colleges. "Sadly, we have lost out on quality. While our best students do well even abroad, it is the average student who is the cause of concern," said Rangarajan.

Exams should test the critical ability of the student not their not their memory. "At the end of three years, students go through 7-8 exams. Exams should be a continuous process," said Rangarajan.

Between the ages of 18 and 23, India has a gross enrolment rate of 18%. While the world average is 26%, it is 40% in developed countries.