Monday, January 31, 2011

A Different Perspective on Distance Education

We tend to face the changes of the future with some resistance. This is natural because most people are adverse to change and the bigger the change the greater the resistance. However, it is often useful to view it from the opposite perspective. That is, imagine you are in the future rolling back the change. How good would that be?

So, for the sake of argument, imagine a future where all education is available over the web. People can try different things and find what they are good at. They are not restricted from programs because of geography, program size or space limitations. They can proceed according to their own interests and at their own pace. They can easily fit it into their busy schedules

And then, for some reason, the unthinkable happens. The web goes down. Educators trying to find a back up way to educate people would  say, "Well, if we could get them all in the same room at the same time in small groups we could do it that way." Does anyone really think that could work?

It is hard to imagine a world in which distance education is commonplace having to revert back to the way we do things today. Perhaps the way we do things today is not the best way. Maybe it is just making the best of a bad situation.

No comments: