Friday, July 25, 2014

Rethinking What a 'Traditional' College Education Entails: Five Misconceptions About the Online Learning Experience - Tracy Lorenz, Huffington Post

Society's notions of "traditional students" have become antiquated as yesterday's nontraditional student has become today's traditional student. As the student demography and needs change so must our notion of the "traditional college education" experience. In a recent commissioned survey, Zogby Analytics uncovered that, from a student's perspective, the "University of the Future" needs to be accessible, flexible, innovative and job-focused.

• Accessible -- The students want to get and share content online; gone are the backpacks full of textbooks.

• Flexible -- A majority of students want courses offered at all times of the day or night and without fixed schedules to accommodate students who work or just prefer learning at different times.

• Innovative -- Nearly half want access personalized instruction or tutoring online perhaps rendering the traditional classroom experience less important.

• Job-Focused -- Students want a university that is clearly focused on producing students who are prepared to excel in jobs that are needed by industry and society.

Sound familiar? These are the same reasons that drive students to seek degrees from institutions with online programs

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-lorenz/rethinking-what-a-traditi_b_5571263.html