Apr. 21, 2010

Educating the Knowledge Society

The knowledge society we have entered differs greatly from the industrial society we leave behind. In the industrial society the principal resource was energy, and its tools were artifacts such as forklifts, cranes, trucks, trains, automobiles, and airplanes. It allowed us to extend the human body.

In the knowledge society, the principal resource is information. As has often been noted, information is a special kind of resource. It can be weightless, invisible, and in many different places at once. The knowledge society is driven by the creation, storage, delivery, manipulation and...

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Apr. 20, 2010

Managing the Proliferation of Information

The amount of information generated and transmitted electronically is almost overwhelming. Between the end of 2005 and the end of 2007, for example, the number of text (SMS) messages generated per year grew from 81 billion to 363 billion, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association®.

In fiscal year 2007, the Library of Congress served up 614 million page views of its Web site, and the Library’s online historical collections included 13.6 million digital files.

All this information must be dealt with by an electrochemical contraption that weighs three pounds, more or less,...

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Apr. 19, 2010

Educating the Knowledge Worker

Higher education in the U.S. has become increasingly attractive to foreign students. In 2005-2006, for instance, there were about 565,000 foreign students studying at U.S. colleges and universities. Fifty-eight percent of those students were from Asian countries. Although all societies contribute to the evolution of education, economic and workforce experts claim that North American, Western European, and Australian universities produce graduates with unique capabilities.

The “knowledge worker” college graduate was first defined by Peter F. Drucker in his 1959 book, Landmarks...

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Apr. 16, 2010

Challenges in Accrediting Online Schools

Most accreditors in the U.S. agree that the fundamental principles of quality they use to judge traditional education institutions apply to electronic distance education institutions as well.

For example, the integrity of an institution’s conduct in all its activities, honesty and accuracy, adequate financial resources to run programs and the like are applicable to both traditional and distance education institutions. But accreditors admit certain characteristics of distance education make it unique and present challenges for the institutions and accreditors alike.

One...

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Apr. 15, 2010

Distance Learning Is Growing Internationally

Online education is still nascent but growing fast in two of the world’s largest countries: India and China.

The online education market in India in 2008 was estimated to generate $200 million in revenue, and industry experts predict it will reach $1 billion by the end of the decade. “Online education addresses some of India’s shortcomings: a dismal education system, limited reach, and a severe paucity of faculty,” according to Business Week.

In China, online courses currently supplement some K-12 traditional classroom learning. Three major obstacles are hampering growth in...

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