{"id":435284,"date":"2010-03-16T16:26:53","date_gmt":"2010-03-16T20:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=40557"},"modified":"2010-03-16T16:26:53","modified_gmt":"2010-03-16T20:26:53","slug":"classic-college-vs-online-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/435284","title":{"rendered":"Classic college vs. online learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Their Web sites could hardly be more different. One urges students to join a community of online learners \u201cto keep pace with the changing world.\u201d The other points to Chaucer, Einstein, Freud, and Plato atop its home page.<\/p>\n

The representatives of two distinct approaches to higher education met at Harvard last week to present their philosophies on learning.<\/p>\n

The president of the University of Phoenix<\/a>, with a for-profit model and a digitally connected student body, and the president of St. John\u2019s College, a small, liberal arts school that emphasizes classroom dialogue around the classics, outlined the merits of their respective models during a discussion at the Harvard Graduate School of Education<\/a> (HGSE) on Thursday (March 11).<\/p>\n

The event, titled \u201cClassic College Meets Online Opportunities: Whither the Future of Higher Education?\u201d seemed destined for some tense moments.<\/p>\n

And while the event\u2019s moderator, Joseph Blatt<\/a>, HGSE lecturer in education and director of its Technology, Innovation, and Education program, said there might be \u201csparks,\u201d the discussion was devoid of fireworks. Instead, the presidents explained their respective approaches to higher education and agreed that the future has room for both.<\/p>\n

Society still needs a place where learners can focus on the classics, said the president of St. John\u2019s<\/a>, Christopher B. Nelson. An alumnus of the college who once practiced law, Nelson noted that the college\u2019s curriculum, which is based on the study of the Great Books, revolves around intimate classroom discussions. Simply referred to as \u201cThe Program,\u201d the curriculum offers students a critical foundation in the liberal arts.<\/p>\n

Talking about what\u2019s ahead for higher education, Nelson said, \u201cThe future will always have room for an education in what it means to be human.\u201d<\/p>\n

Works by the Greek poet Homer, the biblical Book of Moses, and literary classics such as the \u201cThe Epic of Gilgamesh\u201d are fundamental texts that address issues such as heroism, love, betrayal, and friendship \u2014 all subjects that have \u201ca remarkably contemporary feel,\u201d said Nelson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe at St. John\u2019s have said we think we know better than the typical 18-year-old what a good education is,\u201d he said, \u201cand we refuse to flatter them and pretend that they know more than we do about what is best for their education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Founded on the back of the electronic age, the University of Phoenix offers more than 400,000 students the opportunity to learn in a largely digital environment, at their own pace, from any location.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students don\u2019t make a distinction between physical and virtual learning,\u201d said university President William J. Pepicello. \u201cWhat they tell us is \u2018it’s all the same to us,\u2019\u00a0 \u2018I want it when I want it, where I want it,\u2019 sort of like their experience in the rest of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many students benefit from the traditional college campus experience, almost 75 percent of higher education students in the country, said Pepicello, want and need something else. Such \u201cnext generation learners,\u201d he said, have goals such as security for their families and the respect that comes from having a college degree. Many have schedules and responsibilities that make a typical campus experience impossible.<\/p>\n

In addition, he said, they \u201cdo not expect that they have to know everything. They only need to know how to access the information at those times when they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pepicello argued for a move away from the \u201ccottage industry\u201d of higher education, where knowledge is \u201cowned\u201d by the faculty and then transmitted to students, to a more collaborative model based on a sound technological infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowledge is everywhere,\u201d he said, \u201cand we need to be able to manage that within the structure of higher education, if we are to keep pace with the rest of culture.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Their Web sites could hardly be more different. One urges students to join a community of online learners \u201cto keep pace with the changing world.\u201d The other points to Chaucer, Einstein, Freud, and Plato atop its home page. The representatives of two distinct approaches to higher education met at Harvard last week to present their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-435284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}