A couple days ago there was some complaints that technology hasn't actually changed anyone's lives, and I made the claim that while we may be paused now while we consolidate some things, the changes are coming. Here's one for you now: In twenty years (by the time my son would be graduating), the centuries-old idea of college will probably be gone.
I've been thinking about the implications of this article for the past couple of hours (since my previous posts), and I think it could very easily cut far deeper than people realize. Once we have ~$100/month college education, why wouldn't an advanced high schooler opt for that instead of standard high school classes as we see them now? And once the mental block of "schooling must take place in a school" is gotten past, what's going to prevent that from going ever-lower in age? Why wouldn't even a middle-schooler prefer to learn math at their own pace instead of locked to all of his or her classmates?
And... once "school" consists to some significant degree of distance learning, what is the purpose of clocking in at a school building? Now, there are answers to that question (two-working-parent households using it for child care, for instance), but it's going to radically rewrite the school social contract.
If this sort of thing even remotely succeeds it'll start rewriting more than just the college social contract, it's going to extend way down.
(Of course today it's just introductory courses, but that is very, very correctable over the timespan I'm looking at here. This is a game-changing price point even if they triple it.)
I think the interesting point to look at is the 'traditional' non-university institutions teaching university-like courses (Nursing, IT, etc.). They tend to move faster then anyone else because of size and their economy is more straightforward in most places. They provide education & accreditation in exchange for tuition. For this reason.
They are moving towards self paced learning via the kinds of 'modules discussed here. They still have buildings and teachers (standing around or answering questions). But the distinction between this and online schooling is much harder to make.
College, and going to school in general, isn't just about taking classes. Getting the opportunity to interact with a diverse group of people helps broaden enriches their education and is great preparation for the "real world."
While some of this interaction could be moved online, I suspect that it would make it easier for people to seek out people that are similar to them since they're not being thrown into a environment where you would have to see your classmates every day whether you find them agreeable or not.
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A couple days ago there was some complaints that technology hasn't actually changed anyone's lives, and I made the claim that while we may be paused now while we consolidate some things, the changes are coming. Here's one for you now: In twenty years (by the time my son would be graduating), the centuries-old idea of college will probably be gone.
I've been thinking about the implications of this article for the past couple of hours (since my previous posts), and I think it could very easily cut far deeper than people realize. Once we have ~$100/month college education, why wouldn't an advanced high schooler opt for that instead of standard high school classes as we see them now? And once the mental block of "schooling must take place in a school" is gotten past, what's going to prevent that from going ever-lower in age? Why wouldn't even a middle-schooler prefer to learn math at their own pace instead of locked to all of his or her classmates?
And... once "school" consists to some significant degree of distance learning, what is the purpose of clocking in at a school building? Now, there are answers to that question (two-working-parent households using it for child care, for instance), but it's going to radically rewrite the school social contract.
If this sort of thing even remotely succeeds it'll start rewriting more than just the college social contract, it's going to extend way down.
(Of course today it's just introductory courses, but that is very, very correctable over the timespan I'm looking at here. This is a game-changing price point even if they triple it.)
I think the interesting point to look at is the 'traditional' non-university institutions teaching university-like courses (Nursing, IT, etc.). They tend to move faster then anyone else because of size and their economy is more straightforward in most places. They provide education & accreditation in exchange for tuition. For this reason.
They are moving towards self paced learning via the kinds of 'modules discussed here. They still have buildings and teachers (standing around or answering questions). But the distinction between this and online schooling is much harder to make.
College, and going to school in general, isn't just about taking classes. Getting the opportunity to interact with a diverse group of people helps broaden enriches their education and is great preparation for the "real world."
While some of this interaction could be moved online, I suspect that it would make it easier for people to seek out people that are similar to them since they're not being thrown into a environment where you would have to see your classmates every day whether you find them agreeable or not.
In twenty years (by the time my son would be graduating), the centuries-old idea of college will probably be gone.
The idea of college as it exists now isn't very old. The idea of centers of study and learning predates not just computers, but also books.