Week 10 - Virtual Schooling

Hello Blog -

Here are some of my thoughts on virtual schooling.

Definition of virtual schooling (from our wiki): "Any time a teacher or student uses Internet technologies to deliver/receive instruction over a distance."

Virtual schooling is an interesting topic to me. I've had conversations with friends and family about how much money Universities are spending on new "brick and mortar" buildings. It seems strange to invest so heavily into physical places to meet for instruction when technologies are making those same places obsolete (see: libraries going digital). On one hand, I believe that there can be no substitute for face to face learning (social interaction is still important). However, if one professor can publish/broadcast their lectures to a large audience (via the internet), will the demand for large numbers of professors decline? It seems like the leading expert in a given field will corner the market for virtual schooling simply because there is no size limit for virtual classrooms. Assessing/grading would certainly be an issue for a class of 1,000 (or something ridiculous), but that's one of the few cons I can think of (especially when compared with the millions of dollars that could be saved if schools stopped breaking ground on new expansion projects). The idea of making the very best instruction available to all is an intriguing one to me.

To recap:

Pros for virtual schooling = unlimited class size, very best instruction potentially available to large audiences, distance/physical barriers hardly an issue (Global classrooms? You know how they have those earpieces for the UN speeches? I bet theres some software program that can do something similar), time hardly an issue (can access instruction at 3am in your pajamas)

Cons for virtual schooling = infrastructure required (high-speed internet?), probable subscription fees (could be just as expensive as current "brick/mortar" system), lack of social interaction (probably the biggest con), grading/assessment could be daunting for large classrooms

I probably missed a few things there, and I'm really providing a lot of uneducated guesses, but it's interesting to imagine both the possibilities and potential impact that virtual schooling brings to the table. IIRC, Wikipedia has a link to Wikiversity - an inspiring example of what virtual schooling could become.