Some things never change. With all the innovations in technology throughout the years and the withering away of grand institutions like religion, the sense that life is always evolving hangs constantly around us. But some things are consistent and give us a sense of stability throughout the ages.
School and learning, while in their many forms and with their many historic problems and exclusions, have always been about people getting together. In ancient Greece or Rome, scholars gathered to talk. In the middle ages, the monks were already assembled in groups to foster education. And in modern times, school-aged children and grownups have mustered the courage to get out and get an education. Because education is more than reading on your own, it’s about being together to learn from others.
All the technological strides in the world can’t take the place of school, the community of education.
Or can they?
The University unveiled a new program this week that will debut this fall. Many programs at the University come and go, but this one is special: It’s the first ever degree program available completely on-line.
All courses and correspondence can be done without really ever leaving home. It’s the real-world equivalent of Dot.Com Guy, the man who said he’d live without leaving his home and who gets everything he needs from the Internet, including groceries. Well, now he can get a masters degree in Applied Information Management to boot.
The idea of on-line degrees is both creepy and cool. Imagine getting a psychology or sociology degree on-line with no human interaction. Isn’t that a bit ironic? And the interaction that spices up the classroom atmosphere is so often amazing. How much does someone learn just through listening and interacting with peers versus reading a book?
Yet, it’s cool. Many students have taken University courses on-line. In fact, the Distance Education program at the University has grow in popularity each year. In fall term 1997, there were 217 participants. Last term 412 people enrolled. And they’re doing it for all types of reasons.
The main point, though, is to have a class where you never go to class. Courses such as Economics 201 and 202 or Political Science 201 and 204 are available on-line. And the work is about the same. The experience is much different and perhaps more efficient. Students can take more work than they have time for or can take classes for summer school while they are in Europe. If a student has a scheduling conflict, he or she can take a Web course and avoid the time conflict. There are many more applications for these on-line courses and degrees than just people who can’t physically get to school. They can be fantastic for people who have the discipline to work by themselves.
And it’s not all devoid of human contact. While you don’t hear a professor’s lecture, a writing class could have an e-mail chat about someone’s paper, for instance. Think about how much interaction you have with people via e-mail or through surfing the Web. Virtual communication is vital to our modern world.
One day an on-line degree may be as common as a traditional one. And it’s not nearly as cheesy as those Sally Struthers’ commercials where you can learn to be a bookkeeper or legal assistant with just a few courses at home.
This one degree being offered on-line is just a test. It’s a masters degree, so people taking the sequence will probably have been traditional students who have sat through the “real” classroom experience. They have been there, done that, and now they are moving on to more exciting things. Like using your computer to interface with the world.
And while we toil in classes every day, that may not be the case forever. Times for education are finally a’changin’.