- Why go to university for your learning?
- Why pay a university for your learning?
- What are learning institutions for?
These are the three questions which round off Week 10a of H800 and I think they are so fundamental it’s worth having a bit of a think about them before moving on. There follow some initial jottings, not at all a worked-out view!
I might consider first, why did I decide to do H800. It’s a course about Technology Enhanced Learning, and arguably, I’d be able to find about this by doing my own research, reading books and articles and asking people. One reason is that it’s a kind of short cut - other people are doing the research for you and pointing you in the right direction. Therefore a lot of time is saved and I can achieve more than would be possible on my own (the old ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ argument).
The opportunity to participate in a community of learners is a reason that might motivate some students. When I was studying Italian last year, we used a course book that could be purchased much more cheaply than the course but many students took the view that we just wouldn’t be motivated to get through it without the group ethos. If honest, we could probably add that being assessed, both formally and informally, is part of the motivation as well as conforming to a structured study plan.
However, all of these are reasons for doing any kind of course, not necessarily a university course. The extra value we get from a university is being taught by people who are paid to be scholars in their discipline – so people whom we can expect to be up-to-date, critical and active participants in their field. Whether this is important or not is bound to vary with an individual’s reasons for studying.
So, I think this kind of answers the third question, as far as universities are concerned anyway. As to why pay, this is really a political issue, isn’t it? If universities are institutions which consist of people critically engaging at the forefront of new developments in various fields, then someone has to pay their salaries. Whether this should be the student or society as a whole … well, I do have an opinion but this isn’t the place for it.
Comments
OER'S
Hi Sue,
Thanks for sharing your interesting thoughts about this topic. I was intrigued by this question as well. Why pay (quite a lot) money for a University? Especially when OER'S are beginning to set foot on the ground, as we say in the Netherlands. I have looked at the OER websites and I was quite impressed by the quality of it. I especially looked at the "education" part of the courses. The set up is quite familiar and is built in a proper eLearning environment. Guiding a learner step by step to certain learning outcomes...yes I was impressed. However, I came to the conclusion that I still would pay for my OU course which I am doing at the moment. The official assesments and the offcial degree is still appealing to me. The quality of the information, available rersources, tutor guiding, use of software is of a high standard which I am willing to pay for. I do feel privileged that I 'm able to study and I do have an opinion as well about how Universities can be funded...but you are right. This message would be much longer and it is indeed not the right place for it. Society though, has always benefited from innovation which starts in my opinion at educational institutions like the OU. Please forgive me my rambling on about this, but I found your post interesting to read. Time for a cold beer!
Thanks for sharing and happy blogging,
Eugene