Innovative technology is transforming the traditional ways of education. Just as Napster and later iTunes transformed the way we listen to music, or Wikipedia changed the way we access information, the way we learn is set to change dramatically in the coming decade. A combination of advancements in digital media, digital communication and digital bandwidth has made it possible to deliver learning at a fraction of traditional cost. Text, audio, video and interactive as well as collaborative resources can be accessed by students via the Internet. Teachers and students from across the globe can interact seamlessly in virtual classrooms making traditional universities, with their large overheads, redundant.
Secondly, due to the rise in covid and subsequent lockdowns there has been a head start to the idea of virtual learning through the setup of Virtual Classroom.
Virtual learning and virtual classroom the idea is new but has several advantages and disadvantages for us to analyze its future. A few of them are listed below
- Low Cost: This is the biggest advantage Online education has over traditional education.
- Felxibility and Convenience: Virtual classrooms offer incomparable convenience and flexibility.
- Smashing the geographical barriers: Virtualization of education will overcome all geographical barriers.
- Other technological innovations: Other innovations like the ability to record lectures, create and share audio/video material and form forums, discussion groups etc. will all make the education experience more and more robust.
It is this faith in technology’s ability to resolve these challenges that has spurred multiple colleges and universities to start online programs in the recent past. Even NIIT has launched what it claims to be the first campus on cloud.
The future of education looks bright. Virtualization will help reduce costs to a small fraction of where they are today. Teaching will become more merit-based. Good teachers will be like superstars with a huge following and lot of money. While the not-so-great teachers will find it a lot more tougher.
All in all, virtualization of education will be a boon for the millions of people who can’t afford or access traditional education due to monetary or geographical barriers.