12/19

The Ivory Tower and Online Education

The Ivory Tower: Is it worth the cost?

In a CNN documentary, “The Ivory Tower”, addresses the question, “Is college worth cost?” With the thousands of students applying for college, the reality of college tuition becomes real. No longer is it a question of “Will I get in?”, but a question of “Can I afford to go?”. CNN analyzes the costs for the real-time students who are currently carrying the burden of yearly tuition, “when student loan debt in the United States grew to over $1.2 trillion and tuition increases continued at nearly triple the rate of inflation.” Young adults have been raised to romanticize the 4-year undergraduate degree as the ultimate goal. Often, students forget why the idea of a college education is so valuable–building skills and an education that will push them towards a successful career. But with big name, ivy-league colleges, attending a 4-year institution seems like the only pathway to gaining respect and landing a job. CNN, however, begins to analyze that new options for the every-day student that we didn’t have 20 years ago. Today, nearly all young adults have access the online world. For students in particular, technology has brought us more options than we could have imagined.

In the new age of technology, we are seeing more and more students being able to access endless bounds of information, right from home, than ever before. With what is called MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses, the temptation to earn a meaningful education without the burden of expensive college tuition is too great. In fact, we have found that many students are turning to MOOCs to receive a quality education. “Total enrollment in online courses has consistently increased since 2002.”, the Babson Survey Research Group says. “the proportion of students taking at least one class online continued to rise to 32.1 percent in 2011.”

There is a disconnect, however. Many students find that there is a disconnect in student-to-teacher collaboration, an important aspect of classroom learning. In fact, this detach could be the reason many students find it hard to complete a MOOC course. “One of the biggest barriers to broader acceptance of MOOCs cited in the survey were the low retention rates for such courses. For example, one class offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012 saw only 5 percent of students complete the course, out of 140,000 who signed up to take it.” What can be done to resolve this disconnect? We believe the solution is simple. With the incorporation of easy-access student-to-teacher collaboration and real time study solutions, the MOOCs can be reinvented. Students will be able to access quality, distinguished education without setback of college tuition. At iQ technologies, we are building our own “Ivory Tower.”

References:

-“Is college worth the cost?”
-“The Growth Of Online College Education And Changing Attitudes About MOOCs (INFOGRAPHICS)”.