Online Learning

Wow - I just finished reading this online learning article (see: online learning.pdf on WebCT) and there are so many interesting facts in there that I didn't already know! I really enjoyed how it went over advantages and disadvantages, as well as gave statistics and even predictions into the future. Some of them were creepy - but probably so true! Something I noticed early on was the fact that 76% of online courses were computer courses. Kudos to us!

One thing I took note of was the mention of teleconferencing and videoconferencing. I can't imagine where my board would be if these 'luxuries' didn't exist. Since my school board is so remote, we rely heavily on tele- and videoconferencing. I can't remember one PD Day that didn't involve videoconferencing. We videoconference all the time to our Director of Education since she lives 4 hours away! I can't even begin to think of what my school did to communicate before any of that existed!Another thing I found interesting was the mention of I-Appliances. To me, these are things like IPods and Blackberrys. This is going to sound strange but it reminded me of my doctor's appointment yesterday. The doctor and I were talking and she was about to perscribe me something, when she decided that she wanted to double check the dosage on the perscription. Low and behold, out pops a blackberry and her tiny little 'touch pen', and she looked up the dosage for the perscription. I don't know if I was more concerned that the amount of medicine that would enter my body would depend on this tiny little I-Appliance - or shocked, that she actually relied on this tool in her day-to-day life. I just thought that was an interesting story to show how much of an impact these I-Appliances will have on our future.

A couple things I was confused about included the mention of the phrase "Just-In-Time learning". What does that mean? Just in time for what?I was also confused by the statement in the Predictions section that stated "No Tombstones for Teleconferencing". Does that just mean that it's here to stay?Overall, I found the article very informative and straightforward. It was extremely interesting to read about the future of all these technologies, and the effect it could have on learning and education as an institution. Something to ponder...will education become completely online in the future? Now, I'm not saying 10 or even 20 years, but what about 50+ years down the road - will there only be IClassrooms?