One of the hats I’ve worn in my career is that of an educator. Whether it was training new attorneys and paralegals, teaching academic classes, or just coaching someone in a current or future role, I’ve been teaching for decades.
And I’ve spent the better part of the past 10 years working to convince law school and paralegal school leaders -– frankly, anyone who’d listen — that online education (aka distance learning) is the future. It’s the big disrupter that the education business needs. Now, with the unprecedented COVID-19 virus, it seems that all of the schools in the world, from K-12 to undergrad and graduate ones, have transitioned online inside the course of a few weeks. Amazing!
But a viral outbreak should not be the reason we finally and fully embrace online education. Sure, it’s convenient right now. In fact, it’s downright safe. But what happens when the virus fades? Will educational institutions return to the status quo?
For the uninformed, distance learning has been around forever. It originated hundreds of years ago with correspondence courses in which instructors sent assignments and received student submissions by mail. Fast-forward to the 1920s and Penn State was offering content on the radio. In the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, we saw a lot of fairly crude intranets pop up in academia that enabled professors and students to collaborate using phone lines. Then, in the late 1980s and ’90s, AOL and CompuServe provided portals to online learning. Since then, the internet has really become a rich source for online learning. Why then have we not embraced it more fully?
The truth is that we have, and it has been growing, but it has been a slow growth. Today, over 95% of schools use some form of online learning, even if it’s a single course. And obviously, the big online schools offer elaborate degree programs. But not everyone is onboard.
While it’s possible not every college course can be taught online (I can’t think of one), what is clear is that there are distinct advantages to learning online. First, for those who are truly looking to learn something, it provides unparalleled opportunity to focus without distractions. There’s something about the ability to take in a lecture, complete a reading, or write a paper in the peace and quite of a comfortable location. I personally discovered — unfortunately, later in life — that I absorb instruction better and learn a great deal more from online classes.
Second, there’s none of the social pressures and distractions that young people put largely on themselves during campus life. I mean, let’s face it, some of us couldn’t wait to go away to school or get away from our parents or escape our neighborhoods. For many, it is the first opportunity to think and act independent of our home environments. But if you think about your 18-year-old self, how comfortable are you today with the judgment that you were old enough, mature enough, emotionally intelligent enough to effectively live on your own at that age (even if the bills were being paid by someone else)? Maybe some are, but definitely not all.
Next, online education is, frankly, more convenient. People who work for a living don’t have the time or the resources to juggle school and work or go from work to a college campus. If you’re a working professional looking to get ahead, online education is a no-brainer. And think about the disenfranchised and the less fortunate. Notwithstanding some of the predatory lending and fraudulent schools, for many people, online education has opened up real opportunities.
And finally, there’s the cost — and this is the killer. ATL readers in particular will appreciate this point. You see, the dirty little secret is that education has become big business. I’m pretty sure that it was not originally intended to be a commercial enterprise. Indeed, I can recall a time when the path to becoming a lawyer — and many other professions — was not through the hallowed halls of academia. You would clerk with or basically intern for a practicing attorney for a few years, learn the profession, and then you could seek admission to the bar. Obviously, there was more to it than that. But it certainly did not cost hundreds of thousands of dollars; that’s for sure.
And the question of why higher education costs so much today should be discussed if not outright disrupted. To be fair, I’m not sure that entirely free college for all is economically feasible, either; but the conversation should be had. I was talking with a colleague about the cost of college today, and we concluded that one reason college has become so expensive is the administrative bloat that has been created to support these institutions.
Online education removes a lot of bloat. It also eliminates the expense of brick-and-mortar real estate, which I have no doubt is also a large line item in any school budget. A virtual classroom today is no different from an in-person classroom. There’s an instructor, students, and a blackboard or screen-sharing feature. We can do online almost everything an on-campus professor can do. So, is there really any need for a college campus anymore?
Colleges across the country have sent students and faculty home and suddenly embraced online education. I don’t know what will happen once this virus subsides. But I do know that if the one good thing could come of the coronavirus it is that academic leaders and school administrators could finally wrap their arms and their minds around a proven academic model that frankly works better for all involved.
I’ve always been a glass-is-half-full kind of guy.
Mike Quartararo
Mike Quartararo is the President of the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS), a professional member association providing training and certification in e-discovery. He is also the author of the 2016 book Project Management in Electronic Discovery and a consultant providing e-discovery, project management and legal technology advisory and training services to law firms and Fortune 500 corporations across the globe. You can reach him via email at mquartararo@aceds.org. Follow him on Twitter @mikequartararo.