Contact: Carol Halstead, 212-734-2190, [email protected]
According to the US Department of Education, the number of and participation in distance learning programs has almost doubled in the past three years. Entrepreneurial e-educators Michael Milken and Michael Saylor see on-line learning as a panacea -- "free education for everyone on earth, forever," as Mr. Saylor put it.
"Were education only as simple as reading, libraries would have replaced schools long ago," Michele Myers, President of Sarah Lawrence College. "We educators are in the business of forming minds--not just filling them."
Transmitting information is only one of the roles -- and not the main one--filled by a college or university. Through face-to-face dialogue -- often in small classes or one-on-one interaction -- college faculty teach our young people to learn how to learn, to sort and evaluate information, to make judgements about evidence and sources, to separate the important from the trivial and, most important, they must learn to think analytically and creatively, to have ideas, to write and speak intelligently about ideas, and to know how to go from ideas into action. It is not enough for our students to know; rather they should know what to know and have the capacity to imagine.
The two most significant factors that contribute positively to learning among college students are their interaction with each other and their interaction with teachers. Liberal arts colleges offer the most contact time between teachers and students. It is here that students hone their skills to communicate effectively -- the number one quality that corporations seek when they are interviewing candidates.
CyberUs offer great access to a form of education and they're an instrument in the evolution of learning. But will they replace tradtional colleges? I think not.
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