The virtual dimension of higher education

#onlineeducation #highereducation #futureofeducation

Our time – the information and knowledge based society – offers new kinds of opportunities and challenges, especially since we have stepped into the 21st century, and we left behind the 20th century (both metaphorically and in reality).

“I believe that information technology will empower people of all ages, both inside and outside the classroom, to learn more easily, enjoyably, and successfully than ever before. (…) Improving education is the best investment we can make because downstream benefits flow to every part of society.” (Bill Gates: The Road Ahead)

I. Introduction. The emerging virtual study environment.

Our time – the information and knowledge based society – offers new kinds of opportunities and challenges, especially since we have stepped into the 21st century, and we left behind the 20th century (both metaphorically and in reality). Due to the achievements of information society the sources and resources of knowledge and information has widened significantly. This has a significant effect on the way we learn, consequently this aspect is one of the most significant contextual factors of education in general (and of higher education – as the focus of our present discussion is that of higher education.)

Info-communication technologies are gaining a more and more important role in today’s society, in almost all aspects of today’s life. OECD in its year 2001 growth project report, speaks of “ICT-driven productivity growth”1 as a characteristic feature of economic growth of developed world countries by the end of the 1990s. Thus the role and place of ICT in every sector can be considered as an outstanding dominant feature. When we say every sector, consequently (and emphatically) it includes education also.

Within the context of information society, education inhibits a very significant and emphatic place, as education is the unavoidable key factor to make people to be able to effectively participate in (and meet the challenges of) information society, and consequently contribute to the overall economic prosperity of their country. Information society’s most characteristic feature – that of the widespread use of ICT at all spheres of lives – indicates a generic connection between ICT and education. This connection has two directions (rounding up in a circle): one is how ICT supports education, second is how education has to focus on teaching the use of ICT.

For Hungary, the revolutionary development of information technology – affecting almost all spheres of life –, the highly increased number of students in higher education, and furthermore the objective of aiming to conform to the expectations of the European Union all point toward the direction of the necessity of creating the new model of learning (specifically – considering the objectives of the present discussion – a new model of higher educational learning and consequently a new paradigm of education).

The present discussion aims to analyse the possibility of virtual higher education in Hungary in the context of information society and the Bologna process and in the context of the possibilities and tasks of Hungarian higher education in relation to informatics, eEurope and eLearning.

The interrelated nature of ICT and education results in a changing (and reforming) way of traditional educational methods and forms – at all levels of education. The changes radiate to all spheres of education: the institution, the student, the teacher, and education (the teaching process) itself change also. Jörn Witter points out the changing nature of schools and teachers in the new ICT environment: „What should schools do? Schools must teach how to use various media, even their own, in an active way, making sure not to exclude any form of media. School is the only atmosphere in which the active and creative use of the media can be tested and organised without pressure of time, without sanctions and without any external intention of utilization. This objective demands action-oriented forms of learning and teaching that change the role and function of teachers.”2

Cseko, K., 2004. The virtual dimension of higher education, In: Nyíri, K. (ed). The Global and the Local in Mobile Communication Conference, Pre-proceeding Conference Volume, Budapest, T-Mobile Magyarország - MTA Filozófiai Kutatóintézet.

Read the full paper here, or download from here.