Thursday 9 July 2015

Free Online Education- Can Academic Conventions Be Broken Away

Source -bit.ly/1HQ4aBi
We are living in an era, where we have the opportunity to cherish all kind of conveniences, be that time, technology or even education. Previously the educational course, which used to be barred to attain by the lack of time, money and personal as well as professional responsibilities, today, thanks to the evolving time and technology, that academic degree can be achieved easily. It is actually the  radically evolved online learning, that equips modern students to accomplish a four years long programme within only 2 years.


The E-learning – The Possible Replacement Of Traditional Education

Source - bit.ly/1KQIEir
 We have passed the time when a classroom used to be synonymous to blackboard, chalk, benches, and a group of students. But the time has changed, so has the face of education. A study by The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) shows that, 32% undergraduate students prefer to pursue their study while maintaining their full time job. All a modern age student seeks is an accessible, flexible, innovative and job-oriented education programme.

Now the question is, why the majority of undergraduate learners seem to incline towards the ventures of online education? What does this new mode of education provide students with? Well the e-learning programmes not only deliver a world of education without boundaries to students, but they also bestow an abundance of aspects that make students seek online graduation degrees.

  • The limitations of time & place gets minimized by Online education programmes.
  • For those, who already started to go ahead with their professional careers, online graduation courses make the resources and technologies affordable and approachable.
  • This breakthrough in education allows people from all over the world to acquire not only a degree but also excellence.


However, some contradictory opinions are there to challenge the online learning models, stating that, there will remain a need for traditional college education as it provides students with a plenty of important benefits like students-teacher interaction.


MOOCs - The Mighty Impact


Since their advent in 2011, MOOCs have been creating an immense impact on academic world, becoming a genre of their own. The absence of tuition fees, flexible courses and a without boundary study system have increased the number of students per course. Today MOOCs are hosted by many eminent universities around the world , such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford and so on. 


HarvardX & edX 
Source - bit.ly/1HPkNiw


One of the prominent platforms, that have partnered with MOOCs, is edX and HarvardX is one of the 29 institutions, whose contents appear on edX. Inspite of the its unsteady scale, edx's software, Open Response Assessment (ORA), provides about 2.5 million students with grades and contents. After being skilled and equipped about the ideas that usually come from students , ORA can provide with feedback to students' questions. Commenting on edX and ORA, Piotr Mitros, edX’s chief scientist, states, “ If you asked me, ‘Do you want a school experience where every single piece of text is graded by machine?’ I’d say, ‘That’s a straw-man. Nobody is proposing that.”


What To Say Finally


A letter, published in The Chronicle Of Higher Education, witnessed the view of the philosophy faculty of San Jose State University that described the MOOC as a “serious compromise of quality of education”. Their fear was that MOOC will soon replace flesh-and-blood teachers and the traditional classroom will go into extinction soon. This letter prominently convey that MOOC renders a huge access and flexibility of online learning to the people from every genre.

Source - theatln.tc/1rRXjPa

No comments:

Post a Comment