It's
interesting to speculate what the online learning future will be like
in the decades ahead. It's not at all unlikely that neuropshylogical
interfacing is possible at some point, as in the movie
The Matrix. Certain
experiments in using electrical brain patterns (the physical
manifestation of thought) thought to control machine actions have been
successfully accomplished.
But it's still going to be a while
before we start plugging our nervous systems into computer portals! In
the coming decade, I think we can expect more live interfacing,
multimedia and virtual discussions.
Two researchers
did a scientific survey of 562 online professionals regarding their
opinion about the future of online learning.
Kim and Bonk (2006) indicate that
"When asked about several emerging technologies for online education,
27
percent of respondents predicted that use of course management systems
(CMSs) would increase most drastically in the next five years. Those
surveyed also said that video streaming, online testing and exam tools,
and learning object libraries would find significantly greater use on
campus during this time. Between 5 and 10 percent of respondents
expected to see increases in asynchronous discussion tools,
videoconferencing, synchronous presentation tools, and online testing"
(p. 25).
Results also indicated substantial growth
in use of online programs for
learning future degrees and
particularly for
professional
certifications. The other key expectation is that within the
next ten years, 95% of the participants agreed that online education
will be of the same or superior quality to tradiional classroom
approaches, basically due to expected improvements in technology and
delivery of course materials to online students.
