Various organizations are scrambling to add courses that can
be followed, viewed, consumed and practised by students across the globe, using
the internet as medium to share content.
Distance education itself is nothing new. We are all
familiar with the Open University or The University of London International
Programme.
Internet entrepreneurs however hope to widen access, and
this provides us with yet another medium to access education and offer learners
another way to learn.
Several US universities began sharing their course contents,
notes, lectures and podcasts a few years ago. But the difference now is that
the latest providers aim to make online lessons more interactive and structured.
This offers several opportunities for learners of all ages
in Pakistan
One, it allows the curious and those interested to follow a
course of a particular area at their pace and convenience. Two and perhaps more
importantly, it gives an idea to high school students of what exactly to expect
once they enter university. As a volunteer for Possibilities Pakistan, I give
advice and feedback to students on their admission essays and personal
statements. Most candidates have little or no idea of what higher education
study in their chosen areas actually involves. These online courses could offer
students an insight, and save them the time and frustration of being stuck in a
programme for which they have little interest.
Third, such ventures allow truly exceptional students to
move beyond the classroom and their peers. One of the problems of lecture style
teaching is that it is a blunt instrument. While some students may struggle in
a particular course, others may be frustrated by slow progress. Online courses
allow for the weak to revise at their own pace, and for the more motivated to
move ahead.
First off, we have Udacity.
Udacity offers a range of science, maths and computer science courses,
available for free online. Students who complete whole modules receive a
certification of completion. Udcacity is developing its own course material and
setting its own final exams.
Next we have Coursera.
Unlike Udacity, Coursera has formed partnerships with 34 universities who
together are putting up online courses. Courses cover a range of disciplines
from pure science, math, economics, film and literature. However, courses on
Coursera start and finish on fixed dates, so look up upcoming programmes and
when they start.
edX is similar to
Coursera that it offers a varied range of subjects across various disciplines.
However, edX offers students the option of sitting an invigilated exam via
Pearson VUE across the globe. Students will then have an official, examined and
certified document that accredits their studies. For one of its inaugural
courses, an edX course final exam came across a Mongolian high school student
who scored a perfect score.
Perhaps the most well-known portal is not even focused on
higher education. The Khan Academy
offers learners the opportunity to not only view lectures, but complete practise
exercises that focus on repetitive excellence rather than just completing topics and moving on. A wide
range of secondary and high school maths, science and social sciences is
covered along with test preparation such as SAT and GMAT. Though several teachers have been critical of some of the content that Khan has uploaded and the methodology of teaching them.
The guys at the Marginal Revolution blog have now setup the Marginal Revolution University. Right now
they are offering a course in Economic
Development. They will add more courses related to Economics at a later
date.
Moving on to something slightly different, sing at the
moment myself is Memrise. It uses meme’s
to help you remember information. It is particularly relevant if you are
looking to build your vocabulary of a foreign language, but courses are also
offered in a wide range of other subjects.
Now you may argue that this
is all well and good but not really relevant to Pakistan. They are some impediments. Most striking of
which is the obvious problem that all these platforms tend to use Youtube and
that of course is banned at the moment!
However, the thing is that in Pakistan where educational
opportunities are extremely limited, for those who have access to the internet
and the requisite motivation, information regarding alternatives to traditional
schooling must be made available.
I don’t see such
programmes as complete substitutes for secondary school or higher education. At
best they can complement learning that takes place in traditional brick and
mortar schools. I do see such programmes as possible substitutes for say
private tutoring. Imagine if many of these lectures could be translated or
dubbed over in Urdu, Pushto, Sindhi etc. The Khan Academy is already in the
process of dubbing over lectures into various languages of the developing
world.
Youtube, ITunes, platforms such as those listed above are
helping to transform online learning. There will be many naysayers; however, at
the minimum educational institutions in Pakistan should at the very least make
students aware of such opportunities. If nothing else, you can go ahead and try
something new.
With an estimated 25 million Pakistanis online, even a very very small uptake would translate to quite a large uptake.
Links to the organizations listed above:
Coursera - https://www.coursera.org/
edX - https://www.edx.org/
Khan Academy - http://www.khanacademy.org
Memrise - http://www.memrise.com/
Marginal Revolution University - http://mruniversity.com/
Udacity - http://www.udacity.com/
Perhaps you know of other free online courses or resources?
Do share in the comments below.
