“Where do you go to college?”
“Open University.”
“Where’s that?”
“My bedroom.”
“Pardon?”
Most of us are now familiar with the term “online education” and its derivatives; open university, online courses, etc. Some of us have even enrolled in one, whether it’s an online class or official university.
It’s a revolution in education. Online education has given hope to those who are financially insufficient to access higher education. Also, these online classes are a solution for those who want to explore a variety of topics and those who have a dynamic routine.
Unfortunately, online education in whichever form today still cannot replace conventional education; with buildings, facilities, offline classes to attend and well, “conventional” costs. It will, but not yet.
Online education requires a lot of self-commitment, for starters. Like, a lot. If conventional schools or colleges can force you to attend by tight rules, open schools are not as forceful. Not that open schools don’t have strict rules, but teachers or the institution have very limited communication with the students. Teachers may still be able to give instant feedback, but not motivation (if so, it will sound general, not personalized). Thus creating a distant mentor-pupil relationship.
Another main limitation of online education is the loss of opportunity to socialize. Socializing is an important part of students’ growth as one can benefit from cooperating, or even simply interacting with other students.
Since open education still has a long way to go, people (particularly children) still need access to conventional education. One of our community is helping underprivileged children around its area to have access to school. A family-based foundation called Yayasan Mata Air (Yamair) is funding underprivileged children around Cinere, Depok, West Java up to university level. More about their genuine mission here.