“If Bill Gates is excited about online education, you should be too,” says Anna Malczyk, a communications executive at GetSmarter- a South African online training firm.
The internet has changed the way we live and the way we work. So, asks Malczyk, why hasn’t the education sector caught on? It’s true that online education has expanded and that it’s a popular learning platform for non-traditional students, but in other ways, says Malczyk, the online education sector has a lot of catching up to do. In other words, online education needs to become much more global and much more expansive.
Bill Gates, a champion of the online education movement, believes that the internet can “dramatically improve global education,” but a few things need to be done first. The amount of information and content on the Web is vast. Students often pull from this storage of information and college educators are beginning to make their courses and other learning resources available for free online.But, what Gates suggests and Malczyk reiterates is the need for structuring. “It’s not enough just to have good content,” says Malczyk, “it needs to be organized in a useful way and backed up with a solid teaching support network.” Once this is done, the real learning can start. And, unlike in a traditional classroom, students across the globe will be able to have instant access to whatever learning resources and materials they need.
In addition, technology needs to be both better implemented and further expanded. Working out of South Africa, Malczyk sees this first hand. She calls underdeveloped computer skills and limited access considerable obstacles to South Africans. But, she notes, the potential undoubtedly exists and needs to be further developed. Moreover, says Malczyk, with iPads and other E-readers fueling the shift towards online education, educators need to continue thinking of innovative ways to utilize technology for learning.
The online education sector needs to catch up in order to fulfill its mission of educating students digitally. It needs to continue to expand in order to further provide all deserving students-across the world, with an accessible and flexible way to learn. Malczyk like Gates believes that education is “the next place where the Internet will surprise people in how it can improve things.”