Changing Faces of Virtual Education
SummaryText
A study on the latest "macro developments" in virtual education. This is a follow-up on COL's landmark study on current trends in "virtual" delivery of higher education ("The Development of Virtual Education: A global perspective", 1999).
One of the conclusions of the authors of the 1999 report was that the development of virtual education was "more rhetorical than real!" Dr. Glen Farrell, study team leader and editor of both reports says, "This follow-up study concludes that, two years later, virtual education development is a lot more rhetorical, and a lot more real!"In terms of the rhetoric, virtual education is now part of the planning agenda of most organisations concerned with education and training. And the terminology being used to describe the activities is even more imprecise and confusing! On the reality side, there are many more examples of the use of virtual education in ways that add value to existing, more traditional delivery models. However, a remarkable feature of this surging interest in virtual education is that it remains largely focussed on ways to use technology to deliver the traditional educational products (i.e., programmes and courses) in ways that make them more accessible, flexible, and cheaper and that can generate revenues for the institution. As global discussions on closing the "digital divide" have observed, it is not surprising that the report notes that a major feature of the current state of virtual education development is that it depends on where you live. The growth is largely occurring in countries with mature economies and established information and communication infrastructure (ICTs). A lack of such infrastructure, together with the lack of development capital, means that the developing countries of the world have not been able to, as yet, use virtual education models in their efforts to bring mass education opportunities to their citizens.However, the report demonstrates that there are several trends emerging that are likely to bring about radical changes to the way we think about the concepts of campus, curriculum, courses, teaching/learning processes, credentials/awards and the way ICTs can be utilised to enable and support learning. These trends, called "macro developments" in the report, include new venues for learning, the use of "learning objects" to define and store content, new organisational models, online learner support services, quality assurance models for virtual education and the continuing evolution of ICTs. Each of these "macro developments" is defined and described in separate chapters of the report. The final chapter looks at their impact on the development of virtual education models in the future. While the conclusions will be of general interest, particular attention has been paid to the role these developments are likely to have in the evolution of virtual education systems in developing countries.
One of the conclusions of the authors of the 1999 report was that the development of virtual education was "more rhetorical than real!" Dr. Glen Farrell, study team leader and editor of both reports says, "This follow-up study concludes that, two years later, virtual education development is a lot more rhetorical, and a lot more real!"In terms of the rhetoric, virtual education is now part of the planning agenda of most organisations concerned with education and training. And the terminology being used to describe the activities is even more imprecise and confusing! On the reality side, there are many more examples of the use of virtual education in ways that add value to existing, more traditional delivery models. However, a remarkable feature of this surging interest in virtual education is that it remains largely focussed on ways to use technology to deliver the traditional educational products (i.e., programmes and courses) in ways that make them more accessible, flexible, and cheaper and that can generate revenues for the institution. As global discussions on closing the "digital divide" have observed, it is not surprising that the report notes that a major feature of the current state of virtual education development is that it depends on where you live. The growth is largely occurring in countries with mature economies and established information and communication infrastructure (ICTs). A lack of such infrastructure, together with the lack of development capital, means that the developing countries of the world have not been able to, as yet, use virtual education models in their efforts to bring mass education opportunities to their citizens.However, the report demonstrates that there are several trends emerging that are likely to bring about radical changes to the way we think about the concepts of campus, curriculum, courses, teaching/learning processes, credentials/awards and the way ICTs can be utilised to enable and support learning. These trends, called "macro developments" in the report, include new venues for learning, the use of "learning objects" to define and store content, new organisational models, online learner support services, quality assurance models for virtual education and the continuing evolution of ICTs. Each of these "macro developments" is defined and described in separate chapters of the report. The final chapter looks at their impact on the development of virtual education models in the future. While the conclusions will be of general interest, particular attention has been paid to the role these developments are likely to have in the evolution of virtual education systems in developing countries.
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