“Long distance learning” is a technology that allows high school students to take college classes without having to attend the institution. In essence it is a virtual classroom directed by a real professor in real time. A camera located in the actual classroom transmits the feed to the high school classroom through television sets which allow the students to see, hear and talk to the professor as if they were actually there.
This technology makes it possible for high school students to advance their college careers before they graduate. It changes the way we perceive higher education; students no longer have to wait until they’re out of high school to start college. It mainly facilitates the process for kids in rural areas that do not have immediate access to a university. They do not have to travel long distances which may interfere with other educational demands.
The effectiveness of computers in the classroom is a open question, not fully supported by the notion that their ubiquity outside learning environments is proof of their viability in the selfsame.
ReplyDeleteThe effectiveness of online college classes and distance learning is also contested. There are many reasons for this form of educational experience, not the least of which is that is is highly profitable for institutions that employ it. However, sufficient study has not occurred to prove generally that online learning environments are superior (or inferior) to their analogue counterparts. It may ultimately rest on the type of course content being delivered and the nature of cognitive skills being used.
The wholesale adoption of technological learning facilitation, however, smacks of Winner's 'technological somnambulism', p. 5.