Every time a new communications technology has been born, from printing presses to radio and television and now the Internet, farsighted and creative thinkers in education have been ready to use it for teaching purposes. In the last century alone we have seen technology advance from simple radio broadcasts to television in the 1950s, both of which were quickly drafted into the educational enterprise. When cable television systems began proliferating, Tennessee businessman Chris Whittle founded Channel One, which following several ownership changes is still providing news, lesson material and other programming for in-school broadcasts. Truly, educators have always been among the earliest of the early technology adopters, using anything they possibly can to augment and improve the education of their students.
Today it is not just about delivering lectures and audiovisual teaching materials to rooms full of students. The Internet lives up to its educational promise by providing many different ways that people can learn, from unstructured and freeform studies to degree programs from leading universities, public and private. The technology has also spawned an entirely new kind of education provider, the online-only school, and corporations have adopted these ways and means to deliver their own training and education to employees. The options and opportunities are virtually unlimited, which is quite in keeping with the nature of the new medium of the Web.
Targeted technology
Online training has not stopped evolving since it began right at the dawn of the Web era, the early 1990s, when the graphical Web interface was added to the Internet architecture. In the early days of the Internet, there were not many high-speed connections and it was difficult to get video going both ways for videoconferencing. Today, with most people using high-speed internet connections, the educational enterprise can be improved with one-on-one counseling sessions, teacher-student interaction, group meetings online and other trappings of community that are important in some classes.
With the Internet as classroom, all study materials can be delivered as PDF files or other readable formats, and students can even record classes and lectures. All of the computer technology can be targeted toward the delivery, retention, archiving and recall of study materials, lectures and research, saving time, money and quite a bit of paper, as well. As further advances are made in Internet and computer technologies (bigger and better displays, eventual 3D monitors, etc.) they will be integrated into the education providers’ offerings. Even today, large wall-sized screens are being installed into meeting rooms and lecture halls that will bring live, life-size interactivity to Internet education.
Multiple paradigms
With the advent of all this computing and communications power, the standard model of education (teacher lecturing class) can be accomplished in a distributed manner, with class members either at school in the classroom, or at home signed in over the Web, or even at some other location with an internet-connected computer or smart phone. (There will be fewer and fewer reasons that students will have to miss class, and they may need to create new excuses about batteries dying or Wi-Fi signals being unavailable!) There is room with the new technology for multiple paradigms to flourish, and advances will be made by trying out a variety of settings and setups. Experimentation is always a strong contributor to progress, even as necessity is still called the mother of invention.
There are many companies out there in the for-profit education field now, many more than just five or ten years ago. The Internet has provided a means by which smaller, less well-funded organizations can begin to bring their own teaching and instruction to those that want it. At the same time, it has provided yet another channel (in addition to regular day schedules, night schedules, distance learning, special schedules, etc.) for established schools, public and private and at all levels, to bring their educational offerings to more and more people.
Bottom line
It is not exactly about the Internet when we speak of the evolution of education, but the Internet is currently the medium that offers the best quality for distance learning. In a few years, it will be the next generation of communication, whether it is 3D holographic, or four-wall-monitor immersive technology, or a combination of things. Educators will always keep their eyes open and their minds aware of techniques, tools and technologies that can help people learn and help the world advance past the horrible effects of ignorance. Right now, the Internet lives up to its educational promise every time a student switches to an online schedule instead of dropping out. To add to that, there’s also an influx of people pursuing online training options who would have otherwise thought they were done with education!
LearnQuest provides complete education solutions for organizations that need to train their staff on the latest business skills and Information Technology tools, methodologies, and languages. Through private online java training, LearnQuest can tailor all aspects of training to the goals and objectives of the client and the background of the participants.
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Posted under Software
This post was written by Jill Worth on August 29, 2010
Tags: computer software, education, html5, internet business, java, Software, technology, web design, web development, xml