The Internet Role in Education
I have been in college for two years now. Ever since I started my higher education process, I have increasingly added more online courses in each semester. I started with one online course in one of my semester because the course I had to take was not available at a convenient time and to have a feel for the learning approach. It ended up being an eye opening course which cause a change in my learning approach to education. Currently in this semester, all of my classes are online courses. My increase enrollment in online courses supports the Sloan Consortium evidence that “Online enrollments have continued to grow at rates far in excess of the total higher education student population…The 17 percent growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 1.2 percent growth of the overall higher education student population” (Allen and Seaman 5).
All of this rapid increase in online education have cause to ask the question why do students enroll in online classes instead of going to traditional classrooms. Personally, it’s always been the flexibility that I have increase my enrollment in online courses. Other than flexibility, reports by the Sloan Consortium that online courses fulfill an important educational need for students and using online classes “…allows each student to work at their own pace” (Picciano and Seaman 22). As flexibility and self pace are the most important factors in enrolling for online courses, another main factor is the cost especially for working professional as “…employment is needed to pay for their education” (Timmons).
As there is an increase in enrollment in online education. Does it mean students learn more in online classes to traditional classes on campus? In a survey for Sloan Consortium reveals that “A majority of institutions with no online offerings (58 percent) believe online to be ‘Somewhat inferior to face-to-face’ or ‘Inferior to face-to-face.’ This contrasts with only 14 percent of the institutions offering fully online programs that classified online learning outcomes as ‘Inferior’” (Allen and Seaman 19). A greater sense of community was perceived by students who received all or some face-to-face contact with their professors. However, many students that are born in the Generation Y era not only prefer, but learn faster using the internet to learn as “They are far more comfortable using a keyboard than writing in a notebook and happier reading from a computer screen than from paper they can hold. Constant connection with friends and family at any time and from any place is of vital importance to them” (Black 3). Whether students learn more in the classroom or the internet depends on the student.
With majority institutions and teachers agree that online education is inferior to traditional on campus lecture courses and many of this generation students prefer using the internet to learn, overall what is the best way to learn? The answer is blended (or hybrid) classes. The reason for blended classes is students increased dependency on the internet. In which the way this generation (Gen Y) students learn is called “mediate dimmersion”. It is characterized by greater fluency in media use, more collective sharing and learning, and “a cooperative design of learning experiences Gen Y wants lectures and other face-to-face teaching supplemented with material and activities online“.
After conducting research both on the internet and library databases, I preferred the library databases as oppose to the internet. The internet and its search engines is a great tool to quickly get facts about subject or topics. However, searching on the library databases is much better for research as it is expertly published and peer reviewed, which makes it a primary source. The most important sources to me were the ones that were most up to date as it show current data. Those sources have help me learn the internet ever increasing role in education.
Works Cited
Allen, I. Elaine, and Jeff Seaman. Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009. Babson Survey Research Group. January 2010. Sloan Consortium. Web. 8 April 2010
The writers in this report for Sloan Consortium put together a data collection of statistics of online education. It reports the rate of which students enrolling in online courses comparing to the rate of students enrolling in tradition on campus courses. It reports that “More than one in four higher education students now take at least one course online” (5). It also shows how the economy effect online education. It reports the effect of the H1N1 on schools and their plans for it. It tells how online courses are view by professors and do they need training to teach online courses. It also shows the learning outcomes of online courses.
Picciano, Anthony, and Jeff Seaman. K–12 Online Learning: A 2008 Follow-up of the Survey of U.S. School District Administrators. Sloan Consortium. January 2009. Web. 10 April 2010
Anthony G. Picciano and Jeff Seaman in author a survey publish by the Sloan Consortium. It is a survey on K-12 education. It report on the online learning in K-12 schools in 2008. It reports a 47% increase in online class enrollment since the 2005-2006 year. Online education has help students with specific needs such as extra help and credit. The schools districts depends on multiple online learning such as postsecondary institutions.
Abramson, Larry. "NPR: Online Courses Catch On in U.S. Colleges." 28 Nov. 2007. Morning Edition. National Public Radio. Web. 12 April 2010
Larry Abramson in a article for National Public Radio writes about online courses in colleges. It talks about how one out of five students take at least one online course during a semester. It reports the way teachers has deal with students in online courses. It talks about the online chatting they do for learning and how it is a much more thought out lecture as they have to type out what they are thinking. It reports that the class is asynchronous and never ends. Most of the students are working professionals and they all work at their own pace.
Timmons, George. "Going Online to Keep Traditions Alive and Increase Access." Diverse: Issues in Higher Education 27.3 (2010): 21-22. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 15 Apr. 2010.
George Timmons writes in the article about technology role in education. It explains that technology is a essential tool for learning because of the increase dependency on it. The style of the ways are students are evolving. Technology helps many of this generation students learn better. George Timmons states that online education will never beat traditional schooling even online learning is a great for education. It states that online education supports traditional education and is a blended that helps students learn faster.
Black, Alison. "Gen Y: Who They Are and How They Learn." Educational Horizons 88.2 (2010): 92-101. ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 20 Apr. 2010.
The writer Alison Black talks about how Generation Y learns. It talks about the growing concerns of teachers being able to teach this generation. It talks about how the increasing amount of immigrants students and students from different background have an affect on teaching. Black talks about how this generation grew up in a world ruled by the internet and use Marc Prensky’s coined term “digital native”. She talk about how this Generation Y uses information and learns from it. It talks about hoe this generation students are so adapt to technology that they become multitasked in which they use multiple sources of information. Students in this generation want material online along with their traditional education.