3.1 Challenges to maintaining the human touch in educational  (Page 2/5)

Technology has opened up avenues for online learning throughout the world. For the past seven years online enrollments have grown at rates far in excess of the total higher education student population with over 5.6 million students taking at least one online course during the fall 2009 term - an increase of nearly one million students that were reported the previous year (Allen&Seaman, 2010). In Texas, The Higher Education Coordinating Board is encouraging schools to provide online degrees and Commissioner Raymund Parades has suggested this could result in a statewide digital university (Texas universities may increase . . ., 2011). In fact, in August, 2011, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order that instructs state agencies to cooperate in establishing the Western Governors University Texas, an online school that would provide an affordable, flexible way for Texans to earn university degrees without a need for state funding. However, Aoun (2011) argues that while online education will ultimately become an important component part of a system, it is not the silver bullet that leads all of education. Instead, he argues that both online and place-based (face-to-face) delivery systems must come together to effectively meet the needs of students.

I am not against the increasing use of technology, nor am I against online teaching and learning. I am reminded of the first time we tried to feed solid food to our little grandson, Austin. He closed his lips, shook his head and there was no way that spoon with its “delicious” rice cereal was getting into his mouth. The next day, we had a similar encounter. However, he must have gotten a little taste, because over the next few days he grew to actually look forward to his cereal and any other food that accompanied that spoon. Today, at three years old, he is a confirmed chocoholic! What he was afraid of at first, he now is learning to appreciate.

My reaction to online teaching/learning which currently assails all of us at our universities is not unlike Austin’s reaction to that first spoonful of solid food. At one time I was totally and completely opposed to online teaching/learning – all I could do was shake my head violently and scream, No, No! This made me think I was clearly not in the right place; but was instead in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, I realize that being in the right place at the right time does not preclude living in the midst of inner chaos. Today, while I may not fully embrace online learning, I am becoming more comfortable with this notion. Enough to rationally consider the potential it brings to education. After all, the enemy of education is not online programs. Instead, our enemy is not building these programs on sound research-based principles. Because it is so new, there is still much to be learned regarding online or virtual learning. While I have few answers, I am beginning to search the literature and am pondering the questions we should be investigating in order to use new technology wisely in our university classes. Some of the questions we should be asking include: