3-4 October 2013, Athens Concert Hall. “The Global Economic Crisis and its consequences on the national educational systems: Can the online education contribute to overcome the crisis?”
Introduction
Public higher education faces an unprecedented financial crisis not only in Greece but also in the rest of the world. Many analysts predict that financing levels will continue to decrease to the point where a number of colleges and universities may be forced to close. Some universities are finding a way out of this morass through online classes. Growth in online education is now outpacing traditional enrolments especially in the States. Why? Because it is well-suited to the needs of an increasing number of learners, extending access and allowing students to both work and study.
Although graduate programmes have seen the largest growth in online learning, significant increases in online undergraduate programmes are expected over the next decade. Unfortunately, many universities remain averse to such change and hold to tradition and a classical notion of education. The institutions that will “smell the change” and move their programmes online will succeed. They will ensure job security for their faculty, and extend access to underserved and under-represented students who need education to advance in their jobs, raise a family and provide a quality education for their children.
Online education isn’t a solution for all, but it must be a major component in solving the financial crisis higher education is facing.
By Anastasia Spyropoulou, anastasia@eltnews.gr
The university of the future
The World Wide Web has caused the biggest change in education and learning since the advent of the printed book a little over 500 years ago and has made the process of obtaining an education without regard to time or location easier for the student. At the same time, it has challenged tertiary education institutions that provide this education. In online distance learning (ODL), both instruction and other educational processes occur via a computer. These educational processes are student services, training, and support.
Given the influence of rapid globalization and the emergence of knowledge-based societies, the universities of the future will bear virtually no resemblance to those of today. Or so argued GUIDE’s (Global University In Distant Education) members (more than 200 universities were represented), who gathered in Athens from 3-4 October 2013 to speculate on how the sector may evolve to meet future challenges.
All academics in the panel discussions and in the audience agreed that it is often difficult for people to adapt in times of rapid change. People tend to defend their methods, values, and beliefs and are not willing to take risks, so a solid resistance to the changes that may be created by implementing Online Distance Learning programmes should be expected.
They also agreed that the universities of the future will have to become more entrepreneurial to meet the needs of young people with new learning styles as well as the needs of older people who may need continuing education throughout their life. “The next generation of students is expecting that higher education will be available at their fingertips via commercial devices that access the Internet. The universities of tomorrow should be able to adapt to their students and not vice versa, much as Google and Yahoo can customize Web searching to personal preferences.”
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Learning Technology
“Higher education platforms should be able to adapt to the people, to the students who come there for help, in a variety of ways, not just in consumer ways but in learning style, for instance, and in preferences of learning materials.” During the past few years we’ve all seen the explosive growth of massive open online courses, or MOOCs. These new businesses started developing expert-led courses that cover typical university or college-level topics like introduction to computer science, psychology, history and many more. The demand for MOOCs stems from an enormous appetite for branded, high-quality education among students around the world who cannot afford expensive private education. The MOOC industry began with a strong focus on excellent content and the delivery of a complete and integrated learning environment. You can take an online course and interact with peers, submit exercises, find supplementary material and interact with experts at your own pace.
“Why wouldn’t a company accept an employee who has completed curricula taught by a Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Cambridge professor, delivered at no cost through a MOOC?”
The concept of education in a classroom setting began way back in ancient Greece, when philosophers were free to talk about various topics in the agora and people would gather around to listen. They then moved to a more isolated setting where exchanges of ideas would take place. This is the core of true education. If one did not like the speaker or the discussion, one would merely leave it.
A similar situation is possible in our days. If you don’t like the teaching style of your university instructor, you can ‘attend’, virtually, the lectures of American or European top universities teachers through a MOOC.
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Online instruction
Educators in the audience were told that universities would have “to consider entirely new paradigms” to survive and stay relevant in the future. This will not be done by bringing students to campuses only but also by using technology in order to provide learning and skills for people in the workplace with family responsibilities.
Online instruction is not putting your face to face lecture notes online. You spend a considerable amount of time reading and writing. The interaction is not only with the instructor but also with your classmates. You must read in order to do the work and writing is especially important to communicate ideas clearly. The student’s writing must be not only substantive but also must demonstrate analytical abilities and problem solving skills. The assessments are based on tasks that require excellent language skills and implementation of the material to solve a problem. Collaborative work is an important part of team learning. Intelligence is no longer about how much information you can retain but about how this information can be used for critical thinking and problem solving.
In one of the coffee breaks a university teacher from America told me: “There was a time when professors were respected but now when a student complains it is the instructor’s fault and not the student’s for not studying. The rigor has been watered down and substituted with an easy “A” to keep paying students happy. As an instructor I would not dare send a paper back marked with red ink showing all the errors unless I also point out the positives about the paper. Even if there are not any positives I still have to find something good about the paper. What happened to a student accepting where they currently are academically and then taking the feedback and improving on the next paper? Gone! Those days are gone. However the situation is different in online distance education.
Online classes can be thought of as a “classroom of one”. The instructor needs to respond to the student, and the student must accept responsibility for their learning. The success of those courses, or failure, depends on both the instructor AND the student. That’s why I enjoy teaching on line courses.”
Online coursework is no easy route to getting a degree. Online courses actually require a great amount of discipline, time management, and organizational skills. Online courses reinforce a level of discipline that enables one to excel in these areas - because one is accountable to manage one’s own schedule and progress without having that constant push from an external source. Thus, you gain skills that are going to make you more reliable and dependable to an employer. This is primarily because in online courses, you have to motivate yourself to do what is necessary to get the task done. Hence, you resultantly carry that mindset over into your professional prospects.
Greek students attend the second day’s programme
The second day of the conference, the auditorium of the Athens Concert Hall hosted secondary school students, from various Athens areas, who wanted to be informed on what higher education options would be available to them in the near future. The students, who were accompanied by their teachers, were all fluent in English, enjoyed the presentations, and took part in the question and answer sessions.
Conclusion
Teaching is about transferring (and exchanging) knowledge. Online course delivery should be thoughtfully considered from multiple perspectives. An online learning delivery system requires a willing and motivated student, a knowledgeable and hard-working faculty member, and administrators who supply the “stuff” needed to make students and faculty members successful. Online education is not for students who can’t read and write well, do simple mathematics, think conceptually, or exercise self-discipline and deferred gratification.
About GUIDE
GUIDE Association – Global Universities In Distance Education - was founded in Italy, in 2005, by Marconi University with the aim to develop and support international cooperation and open and distance learning worldwide. By strengthening the role of higher education institutions as innovation and development drivers, GUIDE promotes the implementation of innovative results, insights and best practices in order to identify present, emergent and future needs of regional and international stakeholders and highlight potential areas for strategic partnership and transnational cooperation.
