CS 201 Final Project

Megan Bela, Ruth Costa, Michael Lyubomirskiy, Andre Pech

The Future of Education Onlineó

Online Distance Education

Purpose and Benefits of Online Distance Education

The goal of online education programs is to offer increased availability of education programs to people around the world. The benefit of these programs is that they provide cheaper and more flexible education opportunities. This means that individuals who might not be able to afford further education both in money and time now have the ability to further their education.The fact that these programs are online allows for these programs to have a much more global reach than traditional institutions can ever have. Thus the ultimate goal of these programs is to get people around the world achieving a higher level of education than the would have without these programs.

 

Origins of Online Distance Education

Online Distance Education originated from two sources. The first was education by mail courses which discovered that they could take advantage of computer technologies and the internet to be more effective and reach a greater number of people. The second was traditional schools, mainly universities and colleges, realizing that they could offer a more general public access to their classes. These origins led to three different ways in which online education programs structured themselves. We will now go into each of these models into more depth, as the organization of these online distance education programs has important implications for the educational experience these programs provide and the problems they encounter.

 

Structures of Online Distance Education Programs

The Correspondence Education Model

This model builds on correspondence-type learning, where student are provided an initial package of information that they work through at their own pace. Students are also offered access to a tutor to guide them through their program. However, there is generally no interaction with other students in the program. This is really the way that education by mail programs have found to leverage internet technologies to enhance the education they provide. These programs are also most prevalent for high school or professional training level programs, and generally do not offer the full range of degrees that a traditional university would.

 

The Traditional Classroom Model

In traditional classes offered online, the student is offered a window into a physical classroom through televised or streamed media lectures. In this case, students are given access to a classroom which is also being taught to students at the school. This model can offer great benefits in providing greater access to educational opportunities already being offered at traditional institutions. In general, however, no extra support is given to students to remove them from their voyeur status and facilitate interaction with the professor or other students. These can be part or full time educational opportunities. Some examples include: the Stanford Center for Professional Development, where to access the full range of courses one must be affiliated with a member company; Devry university, which has increased its availability and the flexibility of its program by offering access to all of their classes online.

 

The E-University Model

İİİİİİİİİİİİ This model is the evolution of the model offering traditional classes online. The main difference is that a physical institution is no longer necessarily required. Instead, increased interaction online between students, teachers, and tutors is facilitated through the use of various tools. This is the model we see as the future of online education programs.

 

Example: The Open University of the United Kingdom

The Open University is one of the worldís leading e-universities, having grown tremendously since its creation, and now boasting 180,000 students interacting with OU online from home. This program has absolutely no entrance requirements apart from being 18 years of age. It is therefore extremely accessible to all individuals interested in pursuing higher educational achievements.

 

The open university offers classes which use a wide range of media materials, from televised or streaming media classes to courses on videocassette. In this way, it is still transitioning to what we would call the E-University of the future, where all materials are available online.

 

While the OU has attempted to increase online interaction between students, tutors, and teachers, it has not solved this problem quite yet. It therefore uses regional centers throughout the uk, where students can come in for more interactive help on their coursework. The reliance on these interactive centers has bounded the growth of the program, keeping students within the uk or in neighboring european countries. This has also been a blessing for the OU, allowing it to avoid many of the problems we see facing online distance education programs as they evolve.

 

İİİİİİİİİİİİ We will discuss the problems facing online distance education programs starting here.