Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The future of the classroom

According to All Things D, Columbia University is starting to create an online curricula across multiple departments in its response to the rapidly growing field of online education. But how will this change higher education?

Already, elite universities across the country and around the world have started putting up lectures to allow wannabe students anywhere in the world to learn from the best and brightest professors. Even Google employee #1, Craig Silverstein, recently left Google to head to the online education start up Khan Academy.

Is online education ever going to replace sitting in a lecture hall? Can an online space create the same interaction with professors and fellow students as a physical space? Or is online education merely a supplement that can add to a student's existing education. Or even better, can it try to level the playing field for students around the world who don't have the means to attend a top tier school?

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