Many people are wanting a degree than do not have the time or the cash to go to one of the traditional colleges. The Online learning has been growing, and students clearly want options. There seems to be a growing interest in online education.
Yes, and maybe even better, Anya Kamenetz, 30, author of "Generation Debt" and "DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education" told an audience of faculty and students at Richard Stockton College on Tuesday. She said the accessibility, cost and quality of higher education must change to meet the demands of a growing global population.
"I believe we are at a tipping point," she said, citing reduced state aid and mounting student debt at a time when most jobs that provide a middle class living wage require a college degree.
Her proposed solution is a more innovative use of resources ranging from YouTube to the Open Courseware Consortium to give students more options.
How might that work?
Rather than assigning a term paper, a professor has students write Wikipedia entries on Latin American authors not represented in the online encyclopedia. Those articles are then peer-reviewed by users of the site.
A publisher makes the online edition of a textbook available for free to read, but charges for downloads or printouts.
A group of students from anywhere who want to learn about something get together online and develop their own program.
"We are going from one path to many paths," Kamenetz said. "You can design your own path."
Read the full story
Ivy League Online Degrees
