Internet Education
December 8th, 2009 by Peter GilmourIn 1977 there was no such thing as a personal computer; today there are 1.1 billlion in use. I am typing this blog on one of those 1.1 billion computers in use today. The power to teach and learn through computers is, of course, immense, and the hostility to Internet education is also there. One presenter here at the Parliament focused on the awesome power of the Internet to educate. His church group launched an Internet Education program that reached 215,000 people in 161 countries, and the cost of the program was less than .80 cents per year per student. Amazing. Compare that to tuition bills at any school, and one wonders what the future of traditional education might look like.
Other benefits include the ability of a student to move at his/her own pace. Bright students can move at their speed and other students at their speed. No longer do students need to move lockstep through the learning process. I was reminded of my trip to Australia 23 years ago when I visited the “School of the Air” in Alice Springs. There teachers sat in two-way radio booths and worked with students one on one in isolated sheep and cattle stations in the bush. Students who “attended” the School of the Air were on an average two academic years ahead of their peers in traditional schools. Might a similar phenomenon happen with Internet Education?
Yet another intriguing concept introduced at this session is “peer to peer schools.” People often teach each other. The formal teacher is not the only entree into learning. Many of us learned and continue to learn about computer activities not through formal classes, but by asking each other and learning from each other. A web site: www: P2PSchools.ning.com has capitalized on peer to peer learning offering great opportunities to teach and learn.
“Learn anything, anytime, anywhere” is Internet Education’s mantra!