The History of Online Learning

Although the concept of online learning seems new to most students, instructors, and the majority of society, the development of online coursework has been in play for many years. First, a brief history of the computing technology in education is required:

• 1930s-1960s: (the exact date is disputed) computing machines are created 
• 1960s: development begins on what would eventually be known as the Internet
• 1970s: some universities begin using computers to assist instruction
• 1980s: the first personal computers become available
• 1990s: the World Wide Web is launched
• 1994: the first online school is established
• 2000s: online learning becomes widespread
• 2020+: education becomes increasingly digitized

"Distance" education existed even long before the times indicated above, as at the time, the technology of "postal services" enabled students to be remotely connected to a teacher. For further understanding of the development of educational methods that date before the timeline that I included, read this article. By both reading the article, and reading the timeline above, it becomes clear the direction in which technology and education are both heading simultaneously. The past century certainly shows the relationship that technology and education share, and can be used as a way to predict the future, and the next decade, of education. As has been stated previously on this blog, it is expected that by 2020, a majority of class will be available digitally.

Even the way learning takes place has changed drastically, and is expected to continue to change. Originally, the Read -> Memorize -> Quiz style learning was considered the only way to "learn" material, and although this style is still used, and arguably effective today, an emphasis on communication, and two-way discussions is becoming a more popular way to learn. One can clearly see how the history of online learning, and the history of learning as a whole, has shape the present day, and how things like social media and new technologies will affect the future of education in the year 2020 and beyond. 

Who Is Using The Internet For Education?

A research conducted by Canada stats, showed that a big portion of adult Canadians are using the internet to get some type of training for educational purposes.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-004-x/2007004/10375-eng.htm#c

The research divided the population into three main groups, this first group are people who went online for some sort of training, education or school related purposes, this groups is about (26%) which is 6.4 million. The second group are all those Canadians that went online but not for education purposes, but for other reasons this is (34%) which is about 8.5 million  Finally the third group are all those Canadians that reported never having accessed internet for personal or non- business reasons which are 7.9 million.

This stats show clearly the massive way in which Canadians are taking advantage of the internet. More than a quarter percent of the adult population was getting online education at the time, this stats were collected in 2005 which is still a pretty big number if we consider the amount of users that keeps on growing every year.

Socioeconomic characteristic 
Education Users 

Average age 
34 years
Sex (% Male) 
50%
Marital status (% Married)
43 %
Education (% university degree)
33 %
Labour force (% employed)
77 %
Family type (% children less than age 18) 
45 %
Location (% urban) 
83 %
Household income greater than $80,000
43 %

This is just to have an idea of what are the kind of people that are more likely to be interested on using the internet for education. This tells us that in fact there is an age factor and that this is being used mostly by young people which could be use to infer that the more young people graduate and the more young people star requiring education the more the online education will increase its demand.

How Students Feel About Online Learning

A research showed that students apparently feel more comfortable taking online classes or at least that's what the study says when it comes to real results where the students had a better performance in terms of average than those who had a face to face (traditional) classes.

This are some of the key findings:http://distancelearn.about.com/od/distancelearning101/tp/Online-Learning-Statistics.htm

1.The mean difference between online and face-to-face conditions across the 51 contrasts is statistically significant

2.Instruction combining online and face-to-face elements had a larger advantage relative to purely face-to-face instruction than did purely online instruction. The mean effect size in studies comparing blended with face-to-face instruction was +0.35. This effect size is larger than that for studies comparing purely online and purely face-to-face conditions, which had an average effect size of +0.14.

3.Few rigorous research studies of the effectiveness of online learning for K–12 students have been published. The systematic search of the research literature found just five experimental or controlled quasi-experimental studies comparing the learning effects of online versus face-to-face instruction for K-12 students. As such, caution is required in generalizing to the K-12 population because the results are for the most part based on studies in other settings (e.g., medical training, higher education).

The stats show that online learning is a more effective way of learning for students, it may not apply in all the areas of study, but the method certainly works. This generation feels much more familiar with the internet and also communicates better using this tool ,since they have developed better this type of communication than any other.

This is where the education is heading, to work with modern tools that are understood by the generations that change their habits day by day.

Are Online Classes the Future of Learning?

Institutions of higher education have increasingly embraced online education, and the number of students enrolled in distance programs is rapidly rising in colleges and universities throughout the United States. In response to these changes in enrollment demands, many states, institutions, and organizations have been working on strategic plans to implement online education. At the same time, misconceptions and myths related to the difficulty of teaching and learning online, technologies available to support online instruction, the support and compensation needed for high-quality instructors, and the needs of online students create challenges for such vision statements and planning documents.

The online education sector grew 13 percent last year and had been growing at about 20 percent in previous years. Nearly one in four students take at least some college courses online, up from one in 10 in 2002. Two million students, most older than the traditional 18-22 year-old undergraduates, take all their courses online and two million more take one or more online course.

Most online course offerings tend toward vocational subjects like business, legal and health care training. Students needing hands-on experience.

There is a link on the online classroom:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb4EKtQg-XQ

Past and Future of the Classroom

This article is about past and future of the classroom .For example,When it opens in 2002, Westview High School will be the Ferrari of high-tech high schools. It will have a short-range wireless network so students can access the Internet from their laptops anywhere on the school grounds. There will be 400 personal computers for 1,000 students -- with more PCs on the way -- and numerous handheld devices, such as the Palm organizer from Palm Inc. And there will be virtual classrooms, allowing students to log on from home to check assignments and participate in chat-room discussions.

Hudson Public School District, just outside Boston, is a case in point. Sheldon Berman, the district's superintendent, authorized a pilot program using Palm handheld computers in a few classrooms several years ago. Students man their Palms with probes, made by companies such as ImagiWorks Inc., that measure temperature and water acidity so they can test pollution levels at local streams. Back at school, they download their findings onto a computer and analyze the data.

Sensing the trend toward mobility, companies such as Palm and Handspring Inc. are aggressively marketing their handheld devices -- which sell for several hundred dollars less than the average PC -- to the K-12 market. 

For now, I’m eager about the future. I wonder just what else we can do with all of this newly-available technology,and just how much of it we’re willing to invest in to make sure we produce the best possible education for our students.

Ethics use of Technology in Social Media and Education

In today's organizations, ethical challenges relate to areas like fraud, right to privacy for consumers, social responsibility, and trade restrictions. For Information Technology (IT) specifically, these can translate to considerations on how technology is used to violate people's privacy, how automation leads to job reductions, or how management information and its corresponding systems are used and abused for personal gain. In the last 25 years, people have seen an overwhelming technology infusion affecting business, education, and society. Virtually all areas of the society have been transformed by the usage of technology. The change is important from an ethical perspective in terms of who Information Technology (IT) workers are today and what their tasks are. Higher education, specifically in business schools, needs to take some responsibility in preparing students for the ethical usage of information technology and the underlying information within those systems.The use of discussion teaching in an online ethics course is described. The course AC435 Ethics for Accountants received the dis on tinction of being recognized by Quality Matters in 2009. The course utilizes groups to bring about interaction of case studies in an eCollege course management system. Virtual world communications are practiced in the course giving actual social interaction experience to students. This touch of solving realistic ethical dilemmas is a favorite for students.

This video is about the effect of technology on education:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYMAULd2vhg

Effects of Globalization on Education

As the major formal agency for conveying knowledge, the school features prominently in the process and theory of globalization. Early examples of educational globalization include the spread of global religions, especially Islam and Christianity, and colonialism, which often disrupted and displaced indigenous forms of schooling throughout much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Post colonial globalizing influences of education have taken on more subtle shapes.

In globalization, it is not simply the ties of economic exchange and political agreement that bind nations and societies, but also the shared consciousness of being part of a global system. That consciousness is conveyed through ever larger transnational movements of people and an array of different media, but most systematically through formal education. The inexorable transformation of consciousness brought on by globalization alters the content and contours of education, as schools take on an increasingly important role in the process.

I found an interesting video about effects of globalization on education:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw_PwtnxWi8