According to a recent Sloan Survey of Online Learning, 70 percent of
colleges reported that competition for students interested in online
learning is increasing, and 58 percent of all colleges surveyed agreed
that online courses were strategically critical.
In the United
States, as parents struggle to find a way to pay for tuition and room
and board at even more modestly priced community colleges and state
schools, it is likely the demand for online learning services will
continue to grow.
“It is the opening up of education that
ultimately makes a flatter or a more robust economic world possible,”
said leading education expert Professor Curtis J. Bonk, professor at
the School of Education at Indiana University and author of The World Is Open: How Web Technology Is Revolutionizing Education,
which will be published in July. In the 21st century, education trumps
economy as the key card to participation in the world.”
The World Is Open
contends that the rise of the Open Educational Resource movement is an
exciting development made possible by the Web. Universities such as MIT
have already placed large educational resource materials on the Web,
free to use by people anywhere in the world.
The ramifications of
the open educational system are profound and far-reaching, beyond the
shores of America. From Nebraska to Nairobi, people across the world
who do not have access to libraries or textbooks can find educational
resources at their fingertips.
“Now anyone can learn anything,
anywhere, at any time. We can work online from research vessels in
Antarctic waters to ranches in South Africa,” said Bonk. “In the coming
years, billions of people will be utilizing the Web for at least part
of their education.”
For more info: http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/index.asp
