Education in 2024 – can we now have it all thanks to the expansion of online learning?
Amanda Geary Pate asks if degrees are still as valuable as they once were given the plethora of online learning opportunities available for those wanting to upskill
Having a degree and a university experience has long been since as the pinnacle for school leavers and this has been the case for decades.
But with the wealth of online learning and digital education training options open and easily accessible, it has long been on my mind that there could possibly be more out there.
Around a decade or so ago, having started to become more aware of the range of online learning platforms that were springing up at the time (Khan Academy, Knewton, Lynda.com – now part of LinkedIn Learning), my views on this started to shift.
After following a very traditional academic route myself, and more than a decade into teaching undergraduates to Honours level by this point, I wondered if there were more options out there.
I recall discussing this with a business-savvy friend over coffee …
“Maybe people would not need degrees in the future?” I pondered.
She looked confused – and unconvinced.
My own subject area of Journalism was one that was ripe for such an approach – having evolved in the UK from an industrial apprenticeship model of training-by-doing (authentic assessment and active learning, effectively) during the 1990s to becoming a ‘graduate’ profession.
While this was to be celebrated for my own first profession, and for the amazing, inspirational cohorts of Journalism students that we taught, I wondered why students might put themselves through a three-year (or four-years in Scotland) degree programme when they could take a series of practical professional courses – and all online.
In designing and delivering practical professional skills and knowledge in a university environment, I was well aware of my own commitment – and that of my academic peers – to ensure that our degrees were robust and that graduateness was embedded in all that we offered.
From a subject-specific point of view, if media graduates don’t have the ability to have critical understanding, to analyse, debate, and see events in context – then it can be argued that wider society and democracy are both facing challenges.
One aspect of this thought process for me was about cost to the students, but also about time – being able to get out there and get on with it.
While my friend was not convinced, I have often thought about that conversation.
Fast forward to more recently and the pandemic years, it is widely accepted that the shift to both blended and online learning – in higher education alone – has been colossal.
One recent study has shown that online learning have become even more popular as it provided new learning opportunities through a range of teaching approaches, it has accelerated the use of online learning tools, and also the levels of research into online education has soared.
At the time of the pandemic I reflected on the value of degrees in all subjects – which tapped into my thoughts many years earlier on this.
I discussed it with a fellow academic – mostly with reference to my own subject areas of Politics, History, and Media and Communication.
“Would, or could, these degree subject areas last?” I asked.
The wise professor felt strongly that these subject areas still belonged in the domain of universities and the abilities they gave students, and future graduates, to think, reflect, collaborate, debate, and propose, remained to be very valid both today and in the years ahead.
I am minded to agree with the professor.
Degrees and the university experience remain to be a valuable one.
It leads to a fantastic opportunity to see the world in a different light, to be part of a different community to ones that we have previously experienced, to further our horizons, and join networks and communities to which we can remain wedded for the rest of our lives.
It is a formative experience.
And, I believe, education is – and should be – a formative experience.
It is something that – as I used to say to my own students – you can add to the backpack of experiences and knowledge that you can carry with you as you navigate your life’s journey ahead.
But I believe that degrees provide a great foundation of knowledge – both at undergraduate and postgraduate level – online learning and training courses are the icing on the cake.
It helps you to further your knowledge, stay current, and access different professional and personal communities.
These opportunities may come through non-credit bearing online courses, micro-credentials, or even attending webinars and events.
So maybe it isn’t about one or the other.
Perhaps we can take a trope that is often used in a different context – and an area that relates to my own past research about women and careers – perhaps we don’t have to choose one or the other?
Perhaps the point is that we can now have it all when it comes to education?