On-Line Education
On-line education refers to the use of the Internet for the delivery of long distance education. Electronic education allows people to study without having to be physically on a campus.
As educational costs have increased over the past several decades, the ability to train and educate students without the necessity to house them and provide classroom facilities has become a greater incentive to establish on-line education services. Aside from issues such as expense and access, Internet based education offers collaborative benefits that are not easily attained in a traditional classroom setting. For example, real-time chat room software permits students from diverse locations and cultures to communicate. This almost instantaneous interchange can be incorporated into a course, to provide both a practical learning experience (such as language study) and an exposure to another culture. Hundreds of institutions dedicated to on-line learning have been established. An example is The Virtual On-line University. As well, traditional academic institutions are incorporating on-line education into their educational delivery repertoire. Examples of the latter include Diversity University (DU MOO), the University of Missouri (Zoo MOO), and the University of Phoenix (Pueblo MOO).
The interactive and multimedia nature of on-line education attempts to provide an enhanced educational experience. The Internet can take the best of the classroom experience--plus the use of textbooks, videos, CD-ROMs, and the presence of a dedicated leader to facilitate a fruitful and stimulating interchange of opinions--and extend its reach to the world. The Internet facilitates outside communication and collaboration, and provides access to diverse external sources (and so diverse points of view) of information. On-line education is student-centered, rather than being teacher-centered, as is often the case in the traditional classroom setting.
Typically, a student enrolled in an on-line education program will pay tuition for a set length of study. Lessons, assignments or chat room interactions occur at designated Internet addresses. Some institutions also provide on-site facilities for students. Others conduct all business electronically and remotely. Some institutions provide their students with computers and the necessary electronic connections during their period of study. This ensures that everyone has the same software and hardware to provide equal access. Other institutions require the student to provide the needed technologies.
The delivery of education, and interaction between teacher, students, and other students occur asynchronously or synchronously with on-line education. Asynchronous delivery is typically done using technologies like e-mail, multimedia Web pages and USENET. Synchronous, or real-time, instruction can be done using MOOs and MUDs and IRC (Internet Relay Chat, a system that enables multiple users to engage in real-time communications). In contrast to some public chat rooms, the educational chat rooms are in general well organized and strictly moderated.
To date, on-line education has been largely the domain of those who have the financial means to invest in the computer technology, and is most prevalent in the United States. Other areas of the world, particularly developing regions, stand to benefit enormously from on-line education. While these opportunities have not yet been realized, efforts are underway to assess the feasibility of limited on-line education in several developing countries.
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