The link between technological education, employment and competitiveness - Part 4 - USA
In the fourth and last part of this series I am going to look at a special case in the US. It is related to Internet courses and the degree to which they replace traditional human taught courses.
At the moment there is two course types:
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Those using the Internet as a supplement to classes where students have to be physically present.
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Those that are undertaken completely by Internet.
The degree that the Internet can take over from traditional teaching methods depends on state legislation. At the moment, there is a huge debate going on about how these courses will influence school age children in their behaviour and future employment prospects. Courses that involve the Internet as a supplement -even in large doses- generally draw little criticism, as it is widely understood that the skills involved are absolutely essential not only for the workplace, but to students as individuals.
The main issue is those students that do everything through the Internet. I cannot help but start from the disadvantages of such courses. Here is a few:
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No regular contact with other students of the same age.
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Serious limitation of communication skills.
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Serious limitation of hands-on skills that form part of school courses.
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Absence of playtime with other students as part of school activities.
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Absence of supervision, as I regard computer supervision an impossibility.
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Serious limitation of daily survival skills.
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Serious danger of plagiarism as it is impossible to check what is copied from the Internet.
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Parents must get heavily involved and in most cases replace the teacher.
As for advantages, the only one I can really see is the perfect acquaintance with the medium that is here to stay and has become the necessary tool for all business activities. And of course there is these few cases where students are simply too far from schools, in which case any course is better than no course at all…
To go a step further, apart from the disadvantages above I would say that complete Internet courses could even lead to grave behavioural and psychological problems, an issue that would surface at a later point in a person’s life. No matter how much we use our computers for work, there is a huge range of skills that we learn simply by being present at school. Even being at the class on time is one of them. Moreover, computers are only the means for many technological areas.
At the moment, 18 states allow fully Internet based courses and all court cases have allowed them to continue. Critics say that heavy subsidies from the states are not necessary and it unreasonably for normal courses to receive less funding. I have the impression that the problem does not have to do with states but with those children that live in rural areas with no access to proper schools. Also, I am a firm believer of online learning, but not for children where computers only form part of the huge range of skills to be taught….
What is certain is that discussions are going to continue and that we will possibly see similar cases in other developed countries.
This was the last of the four part series. It is in no way exhaustive and I would like to hear your comments and suggestions.
Link 1: ElectronRun - The link between technological education, employment and competitiveness - Part 1
Link 2: ElectronRun - The link between technological education, employment and competitiveness - Part 2 - India
Link 3: ElectronRun - The link between technological education, employment and competitiveness - Part 3 - UK
Link 4: New York Times
