Education for all

No, we’re not talking about a wacky ‘free education’ system, we are talking about access to world-class ‘distance’ or ‘remote’ learning.

Distance learning allows you to study anywhere in the world without having to leave your home – it’s a form of education in which the main elements include physical separation of teachers and students during instruction and the use of various technologies to facilitate student-teacher and student-student communication.

Distance learning allows students to pursue academic qualifications while working a job or carrying out their personal schedules. It facilitates learning from home without the additional costs of accommodation and travel.

This is done through the use of virtual meeting and conference platforms.

Is it effective? Well, 85% of surveyed online students said that they found distance learning the same as or even better than traditional classroom-based courses. The global online education market is also projected to reach US$350 billion by 2025 (World Economic Forum).

Advantages

For Papua New Guinea, there are obvious advantages:

  • access to professionally run and structured BEST school, college and university courses and degrees anywhere in the world;
  • flexibility in learning: being able to work and study at the same time; 

  • avoiding peer group pressure, distractions, cults and politics, such as we often see in schools and universities in PNG; 

  • broadening horizons - interaction with like-minded, focused students (and teachers) within PNG and possibly from all around the world; 

  • no need for boarding schools and boarding fees – remain within the home and family;

  • for early learners, the ability to take additional lessons outside the traditional school structure and therefore accelerate learning; and 

  • given our recent COVID-19 experience, it’s the way of the future.
“The future will be about pairing the Artificial Intelligence of computers with the cognitive, social, and emotional capabilities of humans so that we educate first-class humans, not second-class robots.” (OECD)

Considerations

We all know that free education is a myth, and if something is free, then it’s worth nothing anyway.

So, of course, with e-learning there are costs involved. The cost of distance education and the virtual classroom will vary depending on the individual’s needs. However, there is one thing for sure – the cost of a poor education is even greater. Education is an investment in the future, that pays off in the future.

Apart from cost, here are a few other considerations:

  • the need for a laptop and mobile phone for connectivity; 

  • the need for a stable and reliable internet connection; 

  • lack of physical student-to-student interaction (it’s a good thing/bad thing); 

  • the need for a high level of discipline, focus and motivation to succeed (this goes for any education model).

The world is changing

According to Forbes magazine, distance learning in the USA is skyrocketing, as it is in other parts of the developed world. In the USA:

  • online colleges and universities enrol nearly 2.79 million students—almost 15% of all U.S. postsecondary learners; 

  • in 2021, about 60% of all postsecondary degree seekers in the U.S. took at least some online classes. Around 30% studied exclusively online; 

  • approximately 62% of students at online schools identify as female;  

  • nearly 8.5 million U.S. students take online classes at public higher education institutions.

Learn more about distance education

The following links provide useful information for those interested

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