President-elect Barack Obama Holds Out High Hopes for Distance Learning
America's technological and economic, future rests on the education of today's higher education students, as well as tomorrow's high school students. These students are choosing distance learning degree programs in rapidly increasing numbers. But does the next president of the United States support online degree programs?
In fact, President-Elect Barack Obama strongly supports technological and conceptual developments that support secondary and higher education throughout the U.S. His campaign platform strongly emphasized enhancing the role of distance learning. One of the ways in which he intends to succeed in his mission is through getting Internet access to schools nationwide, as well as to enhance the availability of broadband Internet access to schoolchildren at home as well as in the classroom.
This strategy is part of the president-elect's plan to stimulate economic growth. Mr. Obama intends to use federal monies to make these goals a reality. In addition, he plans to lower the penalties for schools whose students don't earn the test scores mandated by President George Bush's No Child Left Behind legislation.
These steps may not be enough however. Many school districts already have adequate access to broadband Internet, but have not successfully implemented Internet technology into the classroom and learning experience. The successful use of technology isn't based solely on its availability, but also on teacher attitudes toward its usefulness, and their creativeness in including computer technology in classroom teaching and lesson plans.
Another of Mr. Obama's plans for improving the educational future of college students is to make the Pell Grant more accessible to economically disadvantaged students. In his speeches, however, he has not yet made clear whether or not he would welcome offering this federal aid money to students enrolled in online colleges and universities. If he does advocate this path, he will offer tens of thousands of students the opportunity to work while they earn a degree online.
President-elect Obama also announced plans for simplifying the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA). While this is useful, merely simplifying the application will not be enough. Students who earn scholarships for college should be able to use these for any accredited traditional or distance learning degree program in the United States. Scholarships should be made available to anyone enrolled in an accredited university degree program.
Furthermore, the future president plans to offer $4,000 to any college student who performs at least 100 hours of community service sounds very appealing. It remains to be seen, however, whether he will extend this gracious offer only to students who attend traditional college degree programs, or if non-traditional students will receive these benefits as well.
While Mr. Obama states that he is a supporter distance learning, he criticizes for-profit schools, many online universities and colleges are for-profit, stating that these programs drain money from non-profit institutions of higher learning. Therefore, although he states that he supports distance learning undergraduate and graduate programs, it's difficult to know with certainty that he will support them both financially and verbally.
About the Author:
Educational author Tamita Amor is closely following President-elect Obama's words and actions concerning secondary and higher education. Of particular interest to her and her audience at degreeboard.com are the future president's plans with regard to distance education degree programs. Stay tuned for the latest updates concerning Mr. Obama's plans for the future of education in America! Visit President-Elect Barack Obama Holds out High Hopes for Distance Learning.
