What’s Really Going With Online Higher Education?

W

Dr. Fred DiUlus, online education pioneer and CEO and Founder of Washington DC based Global Academy Online, Inc. , discussed online higher education and its’ future in an interview with the Journal of Online Education.

According to Dr. DiUlus’ research performed through CEFE, Center for Ethics in Free Enterprise, a not for profit division of the Academy, 90% of students around the world who have experienced both traditional and online education rate the online experience as superior or as good as the traditional classroom experience. In essence, the online experience is the most preferred by students. The myth that a degree obtained through an online degree program is not as credible as a traditional classroom education is simply that, a myth.

The myth is held on to, according to DiUlus, by college administrators and professors “who perceive the risk as too costly to their own careers and fear unnecessarily for the school’s reputation…and they are unwilling to change”. Only in the last two to three years has online higher educations been broadly considered an opportunity. DiUlus states “the school’s ability to support infrastructure and the declining financial health brought about by tight fisted legislators and benefactors are seriously impacting them.” He goes on to say, “they are being drawn to online education not because they consider it worthy or they changed their minds about it, but because of necessity to survive economically.” However, DiUlus has seen a growing number of what he calls “transformational leaders” enter the ranks of college presidents in recent years. They are the change agents.

When DiUlus is asked what he holds for the future of higher educations, he states, “colleges and universities as we know them will cease to exist in a generation transformed by technology and 24/7 continuous education online”. Dr. DiUlus goes on to say “my feeling is that before this decade is out, I will be able to pull out my school device (a combination of a phone, iPad, iPod, laptop, Kindle, Nook or whatever and access any field of interest, study it, have a lecture on it by the finest professors in the world, and view it all on my desk in a 3D or holographic image, interacting with the image at will. This technology already exists today.”

To read the entire interview, simply visit the publisher, Global Academy Online and click on the Journal of Online Education.

XXXXX

About the author

LaFonda Oliver-Bowen
By LaFonda Oliver-Bowen