Online Education the “Poor Stepchild of the Higher Education World”?
The debate over the merits of getting your degree online versus enrollment in a traditional degree programs rages on. For many who have never taken a single online class in their life, there is no way that an online degree program could ever hold a candle to the experience of sitting in a classroom and listening to a professor lecture. They fight tooth and nail for preservation of the current model for higher education: students sitting in a classroom being lectured by a professor. But Margaret Wente of the Globe and Mail takes a different view on the issue. Wente proposes that competency, not time sitting in a seat in a lecture hall, should be the true measure of the value of a post-secondary education. In her article, “We’re ripe for a great disruption in higher education,” Wente states:
Until now, online education has been regarded as the poor stepchild of the higher-education world – widely suspected of being a second-rate substitute for the real thing. But that’s about to change. The digital revolution is going to disrupt higher education in the same way it’s disrupted so many other industries. And it’s about time. Higher learning still relies on the medieval model, when scholars gathered in one place to listen to professors lecture at them.
New Initiatives for Online Learning Shake Up the World of Higher Education
Initiatives such as MIT’s plans to offer free online courses to anyone, anywhere will disrupt the status quo in higher education, and for students it’s a huge win. While MIT’s plan to offer free classes will not equate to getting a free degree online, anyone who has taken the free online course and can prove mastery of the material, can get a credential from MIT for a small fee. A credential from a renown school like MIT is bound to impress an employer, regardless of whether the candidate obtained it sitting in a lecture hall or in an online class.
Other innovative online schools such as Western Governor’s University have abandoned the traditional semester model and allow students to take as many courses as they can complete in a year for a flat $6000 per year fee. Students are free to move through the course material at their own pace at WGU, and are required to pass a rigorous exam to prove mastery of the course material. Students are also assessed for prior learning at the beginning of each year, so they need not take a course where they have already mastered the material.
While the benefits of quality online education are indisputable, there is considerable resistance to its implementation, especially those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Undoubtedly, professors are worried about their job security with the digital education revolution. However, Wente questions whether or not thousands of professors teaching basically the same material is really serving students’ best interests:
. . .[T]here’ll always be room for the old-fashioned lecture. But do we really need 10,000 professors in 10,000 classrooms lecturing on the same subject? Why not let students watch the best explainer in the world explain calculus or physics – online, on their own time – and use local professors to work in smaller groups with students? Makes sense – so long as you’re prepared to upend the entire professoriate, which is geared to research, not teaching, and is paid accordingly.
Meeting the Challenge of Reduced Public Funding for Higher Education
Public funding for education has been declining due to financial constraints placed on governments in the present challenging economic climate. Wente advocates the online learning model as being the savior not just for students, but also for institutions themselves. Online courses are a great democratizer of education, and can reduce the pressure for non-elite schools to produce original research and spend huge sums on constant upgrading of facilities to cope with the demand for seats. It’s time for these schools to start focusing on students’ needs, not prestige. Wente drives this point stating:
The demand for higher education is exploding, but so is the cost. And the universities’ traditional business models aren’t sustainable. Non-elite universities (that is, nearly all of them) spend too many resources on research, prestige, bricks and mortar, and trying to be everything to everyone, and not enough resources on effective teaching and learning.
It’s high time that education costs were cut, and that higher education be re-focused on serving the student, not on serving the institutions themselves. While funding for research is crucial, so is preparing students to become contributing members of the workforce. All too often, a BA degree means nothing more than the fortitude to sit through four years’ worth of classes, instead of demonstrating mastery in a subject. As Wente states, the digital education revolution is shaking the foundation of higher education to the core:
The years ahead will be the worst of times for higher education – but also the best.