Publications – Page 19 – Digital Learning Dispatches

By Professor Mark Brown

Has the Internet killed the classroom? Are the days of the traditional classroom numbered? What is the long-term future of our schools, institutes of technology and universities in the Digital Age?

Virus

This brief opinion piece explores these questions in the backdrop of a recent New Zealand Government proposal to allow children to attend an accredited online provider, instead of traditional schools, via the Internet. This quite radical proposal would allow any registered school, higher education provider or an approved body corporate to be able to apply to be a “Community of Online Learning” (COOL).

On the surface this would appear to be another digital nail in the coffin of the traditional classroom. There appears to be no stopping the spreading virus of online learning as new digital technology now infects and strikes at the very core of our education system. With over 35 million people registering for MOOCs in 2015, and now this recent New Zealand proposal, it would seem that the traditional classroom and lecture theatre is finally destined to go the same way as Kodak.

Yeah right!

Let’s not fool ourselves, as arguably most people still believe that face-to-face teaching is better than online learning. Put bluntly, online learning is widely perceived to be an inferior mode of delivery, even by many contemporary educators.

You can read more of this article on Professor Mark Brown‘s Linkedin account.

By Professor Mark Brown

The leaving certificate results were very much the focus of attention in Ireland this week. However, let’s not forget about the parents, caregivers and other family members who may also aspire to pursuing further study and/or returning to university for a higher qualification. After all, university-level education is not just for today’s school leaver.

Computer

Results of the annual Babson survey in the United States indicates that almost 6 million students are now studying some or all of their courses at a distance. This figure does not include the increasing number of people undertaking free online courses (MOOCs). A recent report on the state of the Massive Open Online Course estimates that in 2015, 35 million people enrolled in these courses, which is almost double the number from the previous year. Notably, Australia’s recently launched Strategy for International Education (2016) estimates that by 2025 the world’s relatively untapped borderless skills market of online learning will be in excess of one billion students.

This figure begs the question what is driving the growth in demand for new online and flexible models of higher education and how we at DCU are meeting this need?

You can read the full article on Professor Mark Brown’s Linkedin account…