iPhones for Educators

Here’s a great list of creative uses for smartphones in education from OnlineUniversities.com, a site that lists universities and colleges (in the US as far as I can see) offering degrees through online courses.

Flexible and distance learning is going to grow at a huge rate in the coming years and it will be interesting to see  what impact that has on traditional campus-based institutions.  There are a number of drivers:

• Continuing rise in tuition fees for traditional degree courses.
• Trend towards life-long learning.  Once I’m in a career, or looking after family, I can’t afford the time and cost of full-time, on-campus study.
• The power of technology – just like flexible/mobile working, technology enables distance learning to be rich and interactive.
• Removal of capacity constraints and barriers – by removing the physical constraints of classrooms and lecture halls, universities can offer education (and collect revenue) from a bigger (virtual) intake.  And, without those constraints, they can afford to lower educational barriers to entry – the cost of student failure for the institution is lower so why not let students take the risk?