News | Online Education

OERs could revolutionize traditional education models

by admin on 2/15/2012 • Category: Online Education

Many academic technology experts predict that open educational resources (OERs) could signify one of the most profound shifts in higher education ever observed. In particular, the prevalence of online education has tremendous potential to transform the way that students learn in the 21st century.

One man who realizes this perhaps more than most is Rafael Reif, provost of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), whose MITx OER initiative could take academia by storm. In an interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education, Reif explained some of the unique challenges that his institution faces in bringing education into the digital age.

Reif speculated on the potential for initiatives like MITx to change the way that employers view online education.

"The real question is, 'What do employers want?'" Reif told the news source. "[MITx is] not intended to replace [traditional education models]. But of course one can think of, 'What if in a few years, I only take two MITx-like courses for free and that’s enough to get me a job?' Well, let’s see how well all this is received and how well or how badly the traditional college model gets threatened."

In addition to providing students with access to a world-class education, OERs such as MITx could further shape the way that students learn and retain information. Today's students already process data differently than their parents did, and some experts speculate that OERs could challenge the very concept of higher education at a fundamental level.

Some students have fully adjusted to life in the digital age, and no longer perceive academia as the realm of books and libraries.

"I don't read books," Joe O'Shea, president of the student body at Florida State University, told Bloomberg BusinessWeek. "I go to Google, and I can absorb relevant information quickly. Sitting down and going through a book from cover to cover doesn't make sense. It's not a good use of my time, as I can get all the information I need faster through the web."

As increasing numbers of students become more comfortable with the idea of learning online, faculty and universities will likely have to react to the ever-changing ways in which students approach their academic lives. With advances in technology developing at a rapid pace, adapting to education in the information age could prove challenging to many traditionalists in academia.

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