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Online education and the disruption of the traditional education system

Online learning has started to move into the mainstream. Stamford, MIT and others have been offering online classes for years but  in the past few years the idea really stated to take off.  While it may seem obvious that the Internet might provide a great conduit to educate, it has taken dozens of years for the approach to gain traction. As online education improves there are clear signs of disruption in the traditional education system.

Udacity CS344 - Introduction to parallel programming


The model for online courses is a powerful one. A single set of materials can be created once and distributed at almost zero incremental cost. Some courses are self paced and fully automated. Others are supported by a teacher and staff that grade submissions, provides help on forums and may hold group chats. Some colleges/courses are experimenting with a hybrid model that leverages the Internet to deliver the portions of the course best suited to it, such as lecture notes or pre-recorded lecture videos, and gets students together in person for group work, discussions and lab hours.

A common theme in online education is experimentation and innovation. Like charter schools, online education appears to be innovating at a pace that is threatening traditional education.

Minnesota's department of higher education stepped into a public backlash last year when they told teachers it wasn't legal to take courses on Coursera. There is also resistance from teachers, San Jose State University faculty recently voted against joining edX.

I'll make the not so crazy prediction that the next few years will bring us a wide range of push-back against online education. Expect more legislation, stories about "concern" over quality, and other efforts to slow online education. Education is a huge industry and the entrenched players are likely to move quickly to expand their online efforts.


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  1. UnknownNovember 18, 2016 at 2:39 AM

    A common theme in online education is experimentation and innovation. But what can we tell about traditional education? What is the difference between online and traditional education? Find the answer in main difference between online and traditional education

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