{"id":31612,"date":"2012-08-13T09:56:06","date_gmt":"2012-08-13T13:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/?p=31612"},"modified":"2012-08-13T09:58:13","modified_gmt":"2012-08-13T13:58:13","slug":"reflections-on-clicks-could-be-future-of-higher-education-landphair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/2012\/08\/13\/reflections-on-clicks-could-be-future-of-higher-education-landphair\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on “‘Clicks’ could be future of higher education” [Landphair]"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Clicks’ could be future of higher education<\/strong><\/a> — from Voice of America by Ted Landphair<\/p>\n

Excerpt (emphasis DSC<\/span>):<\/em><\/p>\n

But a new survey of more than 1,000 Internet experts, researchers and observers of American education found that higher education may soon be more about \u201cclicks\u201d than \u201cbricks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The survey was conducted by Elon University in North Carolina and the Pew Internet & American Life Project.\u00a0 Sixty percent of its respondents agreed with the statement that, by 2020, \u201cthere will be a mass adoption of teleconferencing and distance learning\u201d in order to give students greater access to real-world experts.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

But not all the experts who were polled are thrilled with this vision.\u00a0 According Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project, they worry that long-distance learning \u201clacks the personal, face-to-face touch they feel is necessary for effective education.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Colleges are realizing that traditional classroom instruction \u201cis becoming decreasingly viable financially,\u201d says Rebecca Bernstein of the State University of New York at Buffalo.\u00a0 \u201cThe change driver will not be demand or technology.\u00a0 It will be economics and the diminishing pool of students who can afford to live and study on campus. “<\/p>\n

From DSC:<\/span>
\nFor those faculty members and institutions offering the majority of their courses with small classroom sizes of 10-20 students, I can appreciate such worries (though I would still say that there’s no where to hide in an online class of 15-20 students either).\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

But for those faculty and institutions who are holding to this viewpoint — and who are offering intro courses to 100-300 students at a time — I have the following questions concerning this so called “personal, face-to-face touch” being alluded to:<\/span><\/p>\n