Many skeptics of the quality of online education believe that it is too detached and removed from human interaction and too dependent on a student’s own will to read through piles of emailed materials. Less than ten years ago, those skeptics would have been right, but online education technology has come a long way since then.
As early as the 1930s, distance education existed to help those who could not receive an education traditionally. Radio distance education was launched, but quickly failed. Attempts at a television-based education fared better than its radio predecessor, but it wasn’t until the popularization of personal home computers and the internet that distance education found firm footing. Jones International University became the first accredited fully online school in 1996, paving the way for other online universities to follow suit. At the time, online education consisted mainly of emailed readings and assignments. There was practically no human interaction at all, aside from the electronic text blurbs that the instructor would send every so often to enrolled students.
Today, online schooling technology has bridged the gap between campus face-to-face interaction and the isolation of at-home learning, creating more of a virtual classroom than ever before. Live chats allow students to participate in real-time discussions with the professor and other students through chat room settings, or instant messaging systems. Even pre-recorded lectures are easier to digest than the emailed Word documents of old, as students can catch the meanings behind the information that only a human voice can emphasize. Even universities that still rely on readings for teaching have found ways to update it. Slideshow lectures are increasingly common, and present readings in a fun and interactive style to keep the attention of students.
Degree programs that call for outside work, such as nursing degrees that require clinicals and science degrees that require lab times, are fulfilled locally with university-approved facilities. Students usually arrange practical lab work with the university, and the university will provide suggestions for local places where the students can complete their lab work. Or, students can suggest a lab to the online university and arrange for credit this way. With either method, students can complete a majority of their education online and finish their outside lab requirements locally.
With virtual classrooms becoming more and more like the campus classrooms, there will be little left for skeptics to criticize in the future. After all, many people do their banking, shopping, and business online. Why not education as well?
