in the cloud

Unfortunately, current practices of our educational institutions—and workplaces—are a mismatch between the age we live in and the institutions we have built over the last 100-plus years. The 20th century taught us that completing one task before starting another one was the route to success. Everything about 20th-century education, like the 20th-century workplace, has been designed to reinforce our attention to regular, systematic tasks that we take to completion. Attention to task is at the heart of industrial labor management, from the assembly line to the modern office, and of educational philosophy, from grade school to graduate school.

Southern New Hampshire’s deep dive into Web teaching raises many questions facing colleges migrating online: How big will e-learning get? What will that mean for campuses? How will it break apart the role of traditional professors?

“They’re the first private nonprofit institution, with a traditional campus and traditional student body, that has really committed to scaling online,” says Richard Garrett, managing director at the consulting company Eduventures.

Southern New Hampshire’s Web-learning wager hinges on marrying elements of for-profit and nonprofit education.

Scientists say that there is no scientific evidence to back up the theory of different learning styles (i.e. auditory, visual, etc) and it might be better to focus on the similarities on how our brain works, rather than how different we learn!

via microkozmos

Delivering courses in cyberclassrooms has gained broad acceptance among top college leaders, but the general public is far less convinced of online education’s quality, according to new survey data released this week by the Pew Research Center, in association with The Chronicle.

Some of the issues on here have already been addressed via software and hardware updates, but the majority are still very relevant. Recommend a click-through if you’re getting any of these devices in your classrooms.

via world-shaker