Tag Archive for 'online learning'

Online Education’s “1984″ Moment?

Published by Robert Pondiscio on January 15, 2009 in Higher Education, Students and Teaching. 4 Comments

People in the advertising industry still talk about a commercial for Apple Computers that aired once — and never again — during the 1984 Super Bowl.  Even if you weren’t alive then, you know it: Bald, colorless drones march in and sit listening to a projected image of Big Brother addressing them from a huge screen.  An athletic young woman chased by uniformed guards runs in carrying a large hammer.  She hurls it, and the projected image explodes in a blaze of light.  “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh,” the ad concludes. “And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984.“ 

Have you seen the new ads for Kaplan University?  They may not be of the artistic calibre of “1984,” which was directed by Blade Runner director Ridley Scott, but they certainly stop you in your tracks.  A professor stands before his students in a college lecture hall and apologizes.  “The system has failed you. I have failed you,” he intones. “I have failed to help you share your talent with the world, and the world needs talent more than ever. Yet it’s being wasted by an educational system steeped in tradition and  old ideas.” He continues to speak, but now we’re watching his moving image on laptops and iPods. He is speaking to students who are seated at a kitchen table, on a living room couch and a rooftop.  “It’s time to use technology to rewrite the rules of education,” the professor says.  Like the 1984 ad, it’s not until the very last second that you find out the spot is for Kaplan. 

Kaplan University's "Desks" TV Ad

A second ad, called “Desks,” consists of a series of images of old-fashioned school desks, either alone or arrayed in visually arresting settings – on a beach, lined up on a subway platform, on the lanes of a bowling alley, on city streets, and winding their way up a mountain trail.   ”Where is it written that the old way is the right way? Where is it written that a traditional education is the only way to get an education? Where is it written that classes only take place in a classroom?” an unseen narrator asks.  ”That’s just the thing.  It isn’t written anywhere.” 

Whether these ads are successful or not for Kaplan may be beside the point.  What makes them interesting and compelling is what they say about education at large.  They challenge you to look at something familiar with fresh eyes:  Where does it say classes have to take place in a classroom?  Why can’t college come to me?  What’s the point of parking in a lecture hall for hours on end?  This may be familiar stuff for educators, but for consumers conditioned to having every itch scratched on demand, I suspect the message behind the ads will seem simple, compelling and new. Very new.

Are we seeing online education’s 1984?  It’s all but impossible to see watershed moments as they happen, but it’s sure easy with the hindsight of 25 years:  Trivia fans will be interested to learn the Apple spot was not the only commercial for computers to run during the 1984 Super Bowl.  Bill Bixby pitched RadioShack personal computers in one; Alan Alda  hawked Atari computers in the other.

“Days of Children Reading Books Are Numbered”

Published by Robert Pondiscio on October 9, 2008 in Research and Reports. 0 Comments

The days of children reading traditional books are numbered, says the man in charge of a campaign to improve literacy in Britain’s schools.  Jonathan Douglas, the director of the National Literacy Trust says publishers must adapt titles for readers who spend more time on the internet if they want future generations to read.

Britain’s Independent points to new research that shows reading drops dramatically as children get older. “The typical eight-year-old reads nearly 16 books a year but, by the time they reach 15 or 16, this has dwindled to just over three books per year,” the paper notes. “The study, based on interviews with nearly 30,000 pupils aged seven to 16, also shows a growing trend towards reading comics, magazines, newspapers and online articles, and playing computer games, after the first year at secondary school.”

What this means, says Douglas, is that publishers must “reinvent the book.”

Florida Mandates Online Education

Published by Robert Pondiscio on October 2, 2008 in Education Practice and Educational Policy. 1 Comment

Starting in the Fall of 2009, children in Florida will be able to complete their entire K-12 public school education  without ever setting foot inside a classroom.  Indeed, under the terms of a new state law, they must be able to.  Districts are now required to create their own full-time virtual schools, collaborate with other districts or contract with providers approved by the state, the Palm Beach Post reports.

The law is believed to be the most wide-ranging virtual mandate in the nation. “The rest of the country will be watching to see how it goes,” said Julie Young, president and chief executive officer of Florida Virtual School and a board member of the North American Council for Online Learning. By August, school superintendents must settle everything from how to provide the needed technology to how to engage squirmy kindergartners who lack the attention span to sit at a computer for hours.

The state already funds two online schools catering to students in kindergarten through eighth grade as well as the Florida Virtual School, which offers middle and high school courses, notes the Post.