Educating Online

Personally, I see a lot of potential in online education, although it is not yet where it could be. I do have experience with online education - I took a couple of online classes during high school, so I have some idea how such education works.

My first thought towards online education was the easy one - how it could be used to further education in America, but I would rather focus on the potential in other areas, such as underdeveloped and under-educated countries. Especially in rural areas, where it may be harder to have access to in person education. So I see it as an great asset for undeveloped rural poor countries, and for adult education in others, both developed and underdeveloped.

Of course, I would not argue that we should just give kids laptops and give then access to online education and have them start learning in these developing countries. I think there is more work involved in getting the education set in place in such locations than actually developing an online educational system. Especially when there is a large education gap, especially in adults, I think online education will probably be the way to go in catching up. As with the topic on education reforms, I believe there are already enough wheels turning with online education that people are developing ways to make it an even more effective tool for learning.

In developed countries, I think online education is most useful in adult education. At that point most adults are working, probably have families that they have to support and night classes have been really their only option so far. But with online education, they can learn at home or in the evening and do not have to go anywhere except for tests and such. There are already colleges like Phoenix University that cater to such an age group.

Though, with personal experience, I do accept the criticisms of online education. Some people learn better in a classroom setting, and I personally would never take a class that was critical to my degree online. I see potential for the form of education, but currently I do not think it teaches as well as a traditional classroom setting. I think it is most useful when combined with in class learning, used as an extension but not that only thing. But I think with the growth of technology, online education will become even more viable in the real world.