Digital Education

Can digital education replace the traditional campus?

Photo from photoXpress

Have you received a call, email or seen an ad of a school promoting their online programs? About four universities reached me and informed me about their MBA program that fits my schedule. Education has now boarded on the web.

Let’s say, you can get free courses in Harvard; which you could (Harvard Open Courses) but what about the traditional campus studentship? Is it okay for these professors to record one lecture and just play it to students? You may say that it’s good because now they can focus more on research.  However, the internet is a lonely place.

I earned my undergraduate degree on campus. Benefits of college on campus are social and academic. Digital education took away the social part, where students don’t get the pressure of the presence of co-students. In campus, they get face-to-face experiences with people and situations that are relevant in life after school, isn’t it?

Online college saves time and can coalesce with your present life. Work in the morning, class before sleep. You can save money too. Apart from the fraction of tuition fee, all you need is an internet connection. No gas nor commute allowance. No canteen food. No need for looking good means less gel expenses for guys and makeup budget for girls.

Are your pro-digital or pro-campus?

Changed College Education

Is college still worth it?

Photo from hmm360’s morgueFile

We are told about the successful dropout stories of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs; or even J. K. Rowling who never attended college. These people are implying that you don’t really need to graduate from college to be a billionaire.

So what is happening in college nowadays? Since academics is not a priority, students during the first two years of their college education learned very little, close to nothing. Based on the book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, where students’ Collegiate Learning Assessment results were analyzed, 45% of students did not learned significantly. And after completing 4 years of college, 36% learned very little.

The research also shows that students study less compared to students a decade ago, with 50% decline in study time. But the average GPA of students is 3.2, quite high for a minimized effort. It seems that the academe lowered their expectations on the modern day students.

Professors are really researchers, not teachers. They don’t get rewarded for teaching well, but rather they get promotion or pay increase by having more papers published. In turn, they prioritize searching for new information and the teaching suffers.

We all know that college education costs a fortune. Students end up working for the first 5 years or more just to pay their debt. There are various courses offered that are extra hard to hand our money. I’m talking about studying the following:

• David Beckham studies – Staffordshire University, UK
• The Phallus – Occidental College
• Surfing Studies – Plymouth / Melbourne
• Star Trek – Georgetown University in Washington
• Golf Management – University of Birmingham / Florida Gulf Coast University
• The Science of Harry Potter – Frostberg State University
• UFOlogy – Western Nevada College
• Maple Syrup: The Real Thing – Alfred University
• Underwater Basket Weaving – University of California, San Diego
• The Twilight Saga – University of Alabama

To answer my own question, yes I believe college education is still worth it. I’m a college graduate, and there are wonderful and admirable things that I’ve learned and acquired in college. At the very least, college is a great place to meet people. I maintained good relationships, had a smoother interpersonal interaction, improved mindset, better outlook in life, and a more defined personality. These will develop regardless of what field you are majoring in.

And here’s the truth from the words of Time Magazine’s Vartan Gregorian,

..of the current Fortune 500 CEOs, some 99% have a college degree. Similarly, of the Forbes 400 richest people in America, 81% hold postsecondary degrees… the fact remains that people with college degrees still earn much more — and are more likely to have a job to begin with — than people without.

However, it is worth mentioning that the value of money put in college is diminished due to the receding quality of education.

Do you think college is still a good investment nowadays?

More Moments for you:
Comment for Same-Sex Schools Study
Offense Defense: Your Chosen Side?
Unnecessary Technological Upgrades

Sources:
Report: First two years of college show small gains; USA Today
The Myth of the Millionaire College Dropout; Time
Top 10 Most Ridiculous College Courses; Top 10 Useless College Degrees & Classes; Make the list

Boys are Better with Girls in Classroom

And same-sex schools are bad for boys.

Photo from Calista Wang’s flickr

Parents decide on which type of classroom their child will study. It could be exclusive for the child’s gender or co-ed. People will have their own sentiment regarding the benefits of one over the other, but we don’t really until a new study came along to testify.

A study shows that single-sex schools are, apparently, detrimental to the academic performance and social health of boys but not for girls. In fact, it is good for girls.

Boys find girls puzzling, which they really are. But Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, claimed that boys learn better around girls. The classroom setting seems to need the presence of girls. A co-ed classroom with more girls than boys benefit all students, says Prof. Analia Schlosser of Tel Aviv University.

Schools are supposed to prepare students for the real world upon reaching the age of independence. Same-sex schools do not resemble nor emulate a real-life setting. Reality is that there are two sexes, male and female. You cannot condition students that the other sex is nonexistent. You cannot also teach students valuable interaction skills by secluding them.

It is rather disturbing that the study’s findings indicate that boys from single-sex schools are more likely end up divorced or separated by their early 40s. The research argues, at best, that these boys find it difficult to handle girls.

Do you agree that boys need girls in classroom?

More Moments for you:
Post Graduation School Attraction
Horsemeat Maltreat
The Undue Expense of Shoes – Nike, Skechers, etc.

Sources:
WhySingle-Sex Schools are Bad for Your Health (if you’re a boy); The Independent
Keep Boys and Girls Together, TAU Research Suggests; aftau.org