Online Learning: The Future of Higher Education?
I’ll admit it: I was the definition of a skeptic when it comes to the legitimacy of online courses in the collegiate setting. As absolutely nerdy as it sounds, I love school. The process of getting to class early, taking notes as a professor lectures and completing assignments on my own time has become a sort of cherished ritual throughout my college career. The closer graduation creeps upon me in three short weeks, the more reflective I have become about my personal educational experience.
This love for the ceremony surrounding academic classes was never more challenged than by my decision to enroll in an online course for the final semester of my senior year. And as a devout believer in all things clunky textbooks and term papers, I feel as if my notions of learning were truly put to the test.
Though the above profession of love for traditional education might make me sound like a tenured professor in a 22-year-old girl’s body, I’m not completely blind to 21st century norms. Outside of a school setting, I love to utilize the Internet’s abundant resources for researching various topics that interest me. Yet it wasn’t until recently that I made a realization: these two aspects of my learning life have remained completely separate until now, as I’ve only known academic learning in a more by-the-book environment.
As a consumer of media and technology and a member of modern society, I’ve realized how important it is for me (and others) to embrace the new while likewise cherishing the old. We live in a world in which the resources available online are only increasing. Thus, our knowledge, ability to learn and the potential to bring about notable change should be as well.
In reflecting on this experience overall, I find it a little ironic that what I take away from the act of taking an online course in many ways reflects what we discussed in the course itself. The online course was considered “Library Science” but focused on the aspects surrounding accessing information in the 21st century. We dug deeply into the realities of open access, copyright issues, the future of libraries and so on.
Never before had I really observed just how I consume the information and knowledge included in my classes and how these methods are either becoming obsolete or progressing over time. Therefore, it was not only the experience of participating in this new type of learning but also the topics we analyzed that opened my eyes to the complex issues surrounding access to information.
While classrooms, blue books and academic buildings still and will continue to hold a special place in my heart, I’ve realized something. As more and more of our lives move towards the digital realm and open access to online information becomes more prevalent, my view and our society’s view on traditional education must likewise shift.
In 2016, a study by the Babson Survey Research Group, published by the Online Learning Consortium, found that “one in four students were enrolled in online courses,” with that number only continuing to rise. Higher education in many ways must embrace and implement a more online-focused teaching system to prepare students for the world outside of the university bubble. If I can learn to embrace this change, anyone can.
