Where is Technology Leading Higher Education?

"The rush to create large, free online classes has generated anxiety at universities around the country. With finances already tight and with a surge of movement toward online learning, universities are being forced to move quickly to change centuries-old models of learning. Terms like historic, seismic and revolutionary now pop up in descriptions of the challenges that higher education faces in the coming years."

"Internet connections, computers and cellphones have become faster and cheaper, providing easier access to online material and creating the potential to speak with, work with, and learn from nearly anyone in the world. Information, once something people had to seek out, now flows relentlessly to them. In education, lecture capture and lesson creation have become easier and cheaper, and online storage has made retrieval cheap and easy. Free tools like Moodle, Jing, YouTube, and Twitter have provided new means of information sharing and collaboration. Smartphones and the iPad have provided portable means of accessing and creating information, making learning more portable than ever."

Some reasons Colleges are becoming obsolete:

• College costs have skyrocketed while at the same time their budgets keep shrinking
• The convenience of online attracts students
• Students today are used to being online and going digital
• Online education can offer more and reach more people.
• For-profit schools compete for students
• Anybody now can teach from anywhere to anyone.

Read the complete article: Where is Technology Leading Higher Education? | MindShift