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Mobile Internet, Apps And Online Universities: Education’s Change Agents
There was a time in my school and college days when using your mobile phone during classes and study time was considered sacrilege. Then came the smartphones and the apps, and education has changed immensely. Old timers resisted this change for as long as they could but it is just not possible anymore as more and more students are getting reliant on the smartphones to study and learn more than what their course entails.
Image Courtesy: Sean MacEntee on Flickr
Infact, everyone now recognizes what an important tool smartphones and tablets can be for education. There is a worldwide increase in smartphone usage by students and it is symbolic of the changing nature of education. Meanwhile, India seems to have also caught these winds of change, as Kapil Sibal plans to introduce Aakash 2 in the market soon. Other tablets like Kloudpad and Funbook are being marketed with education in mind. The affordable prices of tablets like these will get an entire generation into online education. With such a major shift, it is highly possible that one day a student might realise that he/she doesn’t need school anymore because everything they want is on the Internet. There already exist services like Coursera, Udacity and EdX which are ‘proper’ online education tools being backed by major Universities. Quality education is becoming free for all and this is a good thing. We all know the education system which we went through was broken, at least visibly so in India. The online education trend is correcting it by allowing students to take up subjects that they want instead of some random subject like ‘Moral Science’ and ‘Foundation Course’.
Coming back to smartphone and tablet usage among students, it is very easy for someone to write a high school chemistry app for students and charge a dollar for it. The sheer number of students who would like to have such kind of information with them all the time would gladly pay or get their parents to pay for it. Parents will always pay for anything if it has to do with education, a fact that educational product marketers have not missed. Why else do you see all these coaching classes in the country charging hefty fees to basically teach a student what he is supposed to learn in school and college. Apps and online education mean freedom from such hefty fees and an ability to learn on your own, something a lot of people are doing these days. Many people are learning trades and arts on their own, assisted only by the goodwill of people on online forums. It is not difficult, it is just very counter-intuitive in a country obsessed with degrees and pay packages.
Online Colleges provides an infographic showing how schoolkids are using smartphones in the US and the trends in education assisted by apps. Check it out below.
Provided By: OnlineColleges.net
I absolutely enjoyed my school and college years but if I was to be a teenager again in 2012, I would definitely drop out of College in favor of Online education.
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2012-08-16 08:12:55
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ollege days when using your mobile phone during classes and study time was considered sacrilege. Then came the smartphones and the apps, and education has changed immensely. Old timers resisted this change for as long as they could but it is just not possible anymore as more
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