As digitization of education - use of laptops, USB devices, tablets, smart mobile devices, multimedia audio-visual equipments, MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), social media etc - continues to grow, will there be commodification and depersonalization of education? Professor Chris Hackley of Royal Holloway (University of London), explains how digitization is happening and influencing the educational and academic landscape but the central authority of the academic or teacher should not get diluted in the process. Even though large population of students are tech savvy and rarely engage with print media preferring internet-enabled devices to access information but wholesome and all-round education also require personal level engagement and thought sharing through direct interaction between students and academics. Marshall McLuhan pointed out, A medium is not merely a means of transmission - it influences the character of the message. Although MOOCs has been successful in expanding the reach of education to larger audience globally but their high non-completion rates testify to most students need for direct engagement with the teacher. Professor Hackley concludes, There is no turning back the tide of digitisation in higher education, but the integrity of the process demands the presence and authority of the academic. The media will obliterate the message, unless there is room in the digital university for the reassuring voice of the academic author and their skills of argument, inspiration, content curation and creation. Read on... The Conversation: Does the age of online education herald the death of academics? theconversation/does-the-age-of-online-education-herald-the-death-of-academics-31123
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 06:58:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015