Mindsets and Sociological Components of Online Higher Education
There are multiple hurdles to be overcome in order for society to fully embrace the concept of online higher a course in miracles. There is natural resistance to the concept because in many people’s minds there are significant questions that are unanswered. How will students be assessed? Who will be admitted? How can we be sure that students are honest? Will online degrees be of the same quality of the traditional degrees? How will top universities react to this trend? Time will eventually answer these and other questions regarding online education. What is certain is that demand for online education is beginning to boom and traditional universities will have to develop their own propositions or miss out on the opportunity to maintain their leadership in the education and development arena.
Universities and Society have much at stake when it comes to higher education. Enabled by the technological developments in communications, IT and networking, societies around the world are becoming ever more dynamic and competitive. Expectation for timescales are constantly being reduced and demand for immediacy in most areas drives many changes in our world today. As these changes happen, and as society begins to embrace these new technologies to satisfy traditional demand for goods and services, it is important that educational institutions develop the ability and systems to keep up.
Online education should be one of the most viable applications of the web. Only the appropriate systems, accreditations and assessments would need to be developed in order to achieve the quality standards that the traditional universities are renowned for. However, traditional universities tend to be conservative in their approach; they have lagged behind other for-profit organizations like the University of Phoenix that currently captures over $300 million in annual revenue. It is this type of organizations that has taken the lead in delivering online education, in spite of its questionable academic rigor and accreditation.
Demand is growing for education amongst many people that traditionally had little access to higher education. The “Baby Boomer” generation has been a big market driver for online education. Also the upcoming generations of young people see online delivery of products and services as something natural, so online education for them does not seem alien.
So far, online education has been steadily growing at rates that most studies show at 30 or 40 percent, which is 15 to 20 times faster than traditional university education growth.
Trends in Online Offerings
The uptake of more traditional degrees like BA/BS in Arts and Sciences has been less than enthusiastic. The reason for this is that most of the students willing to undertake a BA or BS level degree will probably be of an age more suitable for traditional education, and this lack of demand reflects the lack of offerings in this area. Another issue to be considered has to do with the practicalities of coordinating the different disciplines and departments required for these courses, which are difficult enough off-line. Successful online propositions for these courses will have to be extremely committed to resolving these issues and have the support of what could be considered the most tradition-bound faculty.
