Saturday, August 14, 2010

Online Degrees Making Universities Obsolete says Bill Gates

Online Degrees Making Universities Obsolete says Bill Gates

Online Degrees Making Universities Obsolete says Bill Gates

Posted: 14 Aug 2010 11:15 AM PDT

Online degrees have been growing in popularity over the years, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates think that will continue in the future. During a Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, California, Gates predicted that the traditional means of getting a higher education at universities will dramatically change over the next five years. He predicted that the best college education could soon be available online and for free.

"Five years from now on the web for free you'll be able to find the best lectures in the world," he said. "It will be better than any single university."

Gates argues, "The self-motivated learner will be on the web. And there will be far less place-based [college] things...College -- except for the parties -- needs to be less place based."

He offered an even broader opinion that students young and old should be credited for their gained knowledge no matter the source--whether it's from the Internet or earned through an MIT degree--and a means to "highlight" those credits.

But he didn't diminish the role of traditional schools for students K-12. He reportedly spoke "glowingly" about charter schools where children spend up to 80% of their time getting an education.

Instead, Gates was more concerned about students after they graduate high school, stating that higher education need to be less "place-based." He also pointed out two major problems with the college system: the cost and level of difficulty in gaining entry to the upper-level institutions, and the overall size of the text books.

He pointed out that the equivalent books in Asia are three times smaller, yet the United States is far less superior in many ways with education. He concluded that the only way to get control over and expand education is to embrace technology.

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