Putting the "Virtual" in Education

In the last post, technological determinism in virtual education was discussed. Today, we will be talking about this movement driving specific social changes in today's society and what that means for the future. In his multiple published works, Marshall McLuhan argues that "the medium is the message." This alludes to the meaning that the way information is published says just as much about culture that day-in-age than the information itself and that it shapes the way we think. Way back in the 1960s, McLuhan predicted a joint "global" society through technology and electricity.  Every day, mass broadcasting and the internet connects us to all corners of the world, thus creating a “smaller world” feel and allowing greater education of different cultures. This adds an entirely new aspect to virtual education, wherein educators now assign homework and projects that require research on the internet. Some assignments may even include connecting to others in the class or those in other areas. For example, in 2010 in my eighth grade class, we had “pen pals” from a class in Croatia. Instead of using mail, we sent messages over the internet and shared our cultures and experiences in school without even leaving our classroom. This proves technological determinism’s effects because now I have friends all over the world, and traveling to Croatia is much less daunting – the world feels smaller and much more connected. This type technological determinism is crucial in virtual education because it also promotes ideas of diversity and inclusion amongst people starting at younger ages; Millennials tend to be more accepting of others who are not like them because of this interconnectedness.

Although these strengths of virtual education in technological determinism prove to be advancing and uplifting our society, there are weaknesses as well. Neil Postman, American author, media theorist, and cultural critic in the later 1900s, stated that literacy and cognitive skills regress a result of today’s perpetual viewing of popular culture. I see first hand on my own Twitter and Facebook feeds the constant misuse of grammar and spelling, sometimes to the point where it is barely readable! Sure, using all this new technology to make education virtual and connect parts of the globe is fantastic and overflowing with opportunities to learn and grow, but does the overexposure to “pop culture” on the internet override the good? Have we gotten so lazy in our own corners of the internet looking at memes and cat videos and spelling words as “rn” instead of “right now” that our brains will start thinking like this in real life? I challenge you to make use of our global tools that are handed to us through our smartphones and laptops – learn something new, today and everyday you have the opportunity to.

Technological Determinism in Virtual Education

The technology around us that has developed over the recent years has made communication and the transportation of information exponentially increase to a rate where the access to information is instantaneous. Computer-mediated instruction on higher education can be seen as a positive impact to the very busy and vastly changing world that we are living in. This is due to the fact that it provides a personal and efficient user interface to keep up with our fast-paced lives, helping students succeed in higher education. The reason computer-mediated instruction on education is a positive is due to the idea of functionalism, which states essentially that this media used in virtual education serves a purpose and is useful in today’s educational society. One could counter that point and say that this takes away from human interaction and could decrease the amount of learning going on between professor and student, however, I believe that in today’s world the student needs to be more independent and cannot always access the teacher. Therefore, this does help the student learn and succeed in higher education settings by providing immediate access to content and information about the class.

Computer-mediated instruction on higher education could be a result of technological determinism as well, which states that the media causes changes in society and culture. The technology that exists creates these fast-paced lives and makes life more efficient, as explained before, but that changes society and culture by creating the need to keep up with these changes at the same time. That is why virtual education could be seen as a result of what society has created, and agrees with the fact that it is a result of technological determinism, emphasizing its current help to society. It also coincides with technological determinism’s ideal that media now substitutes as storytellers, teachers, and even parents.

Virtual education on higher education is an innovation and result of a need; the critical mass states that there needs to be a minimum number of people for it to be effective, and mass distributing it to multiple universities across the world fills that need. This branches from the idea of reinvention, which emphasizes the fact that technology is so flexible and is always being redesigned to serve the user. These interfaces stem from the internet, which stems from computers, so these technologies build upon each other’s successes in society and, once again, serve a functional purpose to help make everyday life easier. Virtual education on higher education can be seen as a positive to the vastly changing world we live in.