In the Sunday November 7th 2010 edition of the New York Times, a story about the University of Florida's continued growth of use in online education was ran ( http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/us/05college.html?pagewanted=1&ref=technology ).
Such articles and debates continue to become more and more relevant as we move towards, as educator and author Carl Raschke believes, a "hyper-university", in which "Teaching and learning are not necessarily separate functions or professional activities, but points of co-ordination along the same spectrum " (p. 5-6). But the anger at not understanding how this technology can work, and better yet serve students, teachers, and parents alike, continues to drive a stake into the possibilities of what can ostensibly be defined as blended learning, a learning that constructs not only a philosophy of "integrating face-to-face and online learning" but also "Restructuring and replacing traditional class contact hours" (Garrison and Vaughn, p.5).
As the possibilities of how we teach and learn have opportunity to grow, can we not find the common thread that points to an overall good? The economics of the situation will always be there, but this seems to be again a digital divide and an issue of learning with and about the technology available. Please post thoughts questions, and any comments below.
References:
Carl Raschke: The Digital Revolution and the Coming of the Postmodern University.
Randy Garrison and Norman D. Vaughn: Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, Guidelines.
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