Online education is best known for serving older, nontraditional students who can not travel to colleges because of jobs and family. But the same technologies of “distance learning” are now finding their way onto brick-and-mortar campuses, especially public institutions hit hard by declining state funds. At the University of Florida, for example, resident students are earning 12 percent of their credit hours online this semester, a figure expected to grow to 25 percent in five years.
This may delight undergraduates who do not have to change out of pajamas to “attend” class. But it also raises questions that go to the core of a college’s mission: Is it possible to learn as much when your professor is a mass of pixels whom you never meet? How much of a student’s education and growth — academic and personal — depends on face-to-face contact with instructors and fellow students?
Sandra Stark on 08 Feb 10My World GIS™ is a Geographic Information System (GIS) designed specifically for use in educational settings. My World allows learners to explore and analyze geographic data about our world. My World's intended audience is middle school through college geosciences and geography courses involving investigations of geographic data. My World is designed to meet the needs of students and teachers while keeping the constraints of educational settings in mind. It combines the power of a full-featured GIS environment with the support and structure required by novice users in an educational environment.
