In a thought-provoking piece in the Chronicle last week, Kevin Carey looked at what colleges can learn from the decline of newspapers. Carey notes that 20 percent of college students, about 3.9 million people, took an online course in 2007. While we don't have numbers for 2008 yet, many smaller studies indicate that this percentage has risen in 2008.
With a premium on convenience, and tuition costs at private institutions skyrocketing, demand for online courses is expected to increase. As will the supply; over the next few years, students will have more access to online, less-expensive course options than ever before. As Carey points out, well-known institutions like Yale, Stanford and MIT are already offering excellent lectures and courses online, for free. YouTube just launched an EDU channel where all these lectures can be found, on-demand.
While most top tier institutions will continue to retain students based on selectivity and prestige, what becomes of average public schools vying for a larger population of mass enrollment? How do we still encourage classroom experience and physical presence in learning as online options become more available and enticing to digitally-savvy students?
Just as the decline of our newspaper industry has been drawn out over the last decade and a half, we are not likely to see immediate threats or major changes in classroom structure. But we are likely to see a big increase in the choices available to students in how they learn and participate in their overall college experience. How do we use technology in a way that enhances learning modes without losing sight of the value of our traditional classroom constructs?
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