The numbers are extraordinary.
Pew Internet & American Life Project compiled a report on the use of the Internet in daily life. The report states that 88 percent of Americans use the Internet in their daily lives. Moreover, 64 percent of Internet users admitted that the loss of Internet access would affect their day-to-day activities. Social media and networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, have experienced an astounding 774 percent increase between 2006 and 2007, states a 2007 comScore study. In fact, NetRatings, Inc., a respected provider of Internet media and market research, reported in May of 2006 that the number of individuals using MySpace had reached a staggering 38.4 million unique visitors. It is evident that the integration of technology into daily life—from obtaining research data to making weekend plans—has altered the way we live our lives.
It would be easy to say that we have fit technology into our way of life; however, the opposite might be the more accurate statement. Perhaps, it is technology—with its infinite innovations and commanding presence—that has triggered our own transformation. There are obvious signs. Technology is part of the way we speak. When we need a piece of information, the common suggestion is to “Google it.” Technology is also part of the way we hear and see. Commercials for cell phone companies capitalize upon the situations created by a possible dropped call or poor reception, while multimedia images flood our daily lives. Therefore, why shouldn’t technology be part of the way we think and, ultimately, learn?
Distance learning is currently one of the most profitable sectors of the technology world.
In a report by Hezel Associates, eLearning was designated as the fastest-growing sub-sector of the $2.3 trillion global education market, and the distance learning market for higher education institutions is expected to surpass $69 billion by 2015. Online enrollments have soared, as an estimated 3.5 million students took at least one online course during the Fall 2006 term, according to a study by The Sloan Consortium.
More and more students, whether first-time freshman or non-traditional adult learners, are logging on to pursue their degrees. Who can blame them when online education offers its constituents a convenient, alternate way of learning? While the factors of flexibility and convenience have proven to be quite attractive to many online students, distance learning has actually launched a new way of learning.
In the online classroom, students are held to the same standards as in the traditional classroom. However, virtual students also have instant access to additional resources, such as instructional video modules, research reports and case studies, reference guides, podcasts, and message boards, to aid in their comprehension of classroom material. In fact, complementary resources can be built directly into the learning process.
This use of multimedia resources within the learning process has pushed students to do more than analyze given material but synthesize it. A student’s interaction with material from a traditional classroom often focuses on critical analysis; students are asked to analyze classroom documents and extract necessary information. Distance education, on the other hand, compels students to synthesize large amounts of material from a variety of sources. Online students not only peruse provided course content, but are linked to a mass of supporting resources, which can range from video instructional modules to daily blogs written by industry experts. The point is, online students are propelled into a pre-existing academic discussion and, thusly, must be able to evaluate the many perspectives for their credibility and worth. This type of learning encourages the online student to engage with the material and construct an advanced understanding of the relationship among scholarly texts, secondary references, interpretations by modern media outlets and group dialog.
Acknowledgement of this shift in the learning process highlights another budding development in the way we learn. Unlike its predecessor, distance education enables learners to take their education into their own hands. Many online programs boast about the advantages online students have for initiating and proceeding through class assignments at a pace convenient for their schedule. In actuality, this transfer of the focal point from the instructor to the student creates a much more powerful effect. It alters the entire learning experience.
Student-driven learning, in many ways, empowers the student with a sense of motivation. Learning can be customized to an individual’s preferred style of instruction—whether audio, visual or interactive. It is this departure point from traditional education that opens the door for what Don Tapscott, author of Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation calls the merging of education and entertainment. The convergence of two such influential mediums shows an awareness of the evolved state of academic priorities in the latest generation of learners. Students of the digital age who do not have to adjust to technology’s effect but rather are socialized by its influence at the earliest of ages, see the integration as natural. Tapscott, however, is careful not to dismiss the important role the instructor plays in a student’s learning process. He notes that the teacher remains “essential for creating and structuring the learning experience.” As in traditional education, online instructors function as invaluable resources for students’ development of analytical, critical-thinking, communication and evaluation skills. Nevertheless, student-centered education places greater responsibility upon the learners to pursue their education. These students, who are raised in an environment where education is supported by technological resources, must maintain a high level of critical evaluation and form complex structures in order to comprehend and discern between source material, mediated resources and personal opinion.
Lastly, the rise of online education has made the learning process a life-long experience. With its convenience and functionality, distance learning makes education easily accessible to individuals of all ages. Where education was once isolated to the years of childhood and young adulthood, it has become an option available to learners of all ages.
As technology continues to integrate into our daily lives, online education will undoubtedly further assimilate more and more into our culture, bringing with it increased educational opportunities for persons of all ages and fascinating transformations of pedagogy itself.
References
Hezel Associates., LLC. (2005). Global e-learning opportunity for U.S. higher education. Retrieved January 23, 2008, from http://www.hezel.com/globalreport
Net Rankings, Inc. (2006). Social networking sites grow 47 percent, year over year, reaching 45 percent of web users, according to Nielsen//Netrankings. Retrieved January 23, 2008, from http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_060511.pdf
Pewter Internet & American Life Project. (2004). The internet and daily life: Many Americans use the internet in everyday activities, but traditional offline habits still dominate. Retrieved January 23, 2008, from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Internet_and_Daily_Life.pdf
Tascott, D. (1998). Growing up digital: The rise of the net generation. Retrieved January 23, 2008, from http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/jan98/feat_6/digital.html
The Sloan Consortium. (2007). Online nation: Five years of growth in online learning. Retrieved January 23, 2008, from http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/survey07.asp