Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63429
Learning Equation HARRY SIEPLINGA/GETTY "blended solution." Such techno-traditional methods are creating what may be a new generation of supercharged stu- dents, able to access and absorb more knowledge than their 20th-century counterparts even imagined possible. "Don't Stand in Front of the Train" The reality of e-learning has been less revolution than evolu- tion, one in which students can take advantage of the strengths of both online and offline learning interactions. And like evolution, Durand believes that e-learning is not something educators can discourage; they can only hope to mold it so that it most effectively suits their needs. "Those who don't wish to participate in the online cours- advancement akin to the years after the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. As a result of that inven- tion, knowledge could be disseminated to a large audience, rather than to the upper class and clergy alone. Today, tech- nology is playing a similar role. It is creating opportunities for education for those who might otherwise have to do without, believes Andy Rosenfield, the founder and CEO of online education provider UNext/Cardean University, head- quartered in Deerfield, Illinois. "Few things are as globally demanded as higher educa- es don't have to," Durand points out. "But I tell them, 'Just don't stand in front of the train.'" In fact, there is a sense among e-learning's strongest advo- cates that education is currently experiencing an era of tion, but most people in the world have no possibility of going to college simply because of where they were born," says Rosenfield. "The profound value of technology-based education is that it can offer education to those who might not otherwise have access to it. What you see today is only a tiny precursor of how big the market for online education BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2002 41