Online education could potentially push colleges up the value chain

The Campus Tsunami

The most important and paradoxical fact shaping the future of online learning is this: A brain is not a computer. We are not blank hard drives waiting to be filled with data. People learn from people they love and remember the things that arouse emotion. If you think about how learning actually happens, you can discern many different processes. There is absorbing information. There is reflecting upon information as you reread it and think about it. There is scrambling information as you test it in discussion or try to mesh it with contradictory information. … How are [colleges] going to blend online information with face-to-face discussion, tutoring, debate, coaching, writing and projects? How are they going to build the social capital that leads to vibrant learning communities? Online education could potentially push colleges up the value chain — away from information transmission and up to higher things.

The New York Times, April 29, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/opinion/brooks-the-campus-tsunami.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&adxnnl=1&emc=edit_th_20120504&adxnnlx=1336154432-GBlyLAdIMVo3lIw59J3z2A