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Choices When Attending A Higher Education Institution Essay

Learning Today: The Lasting Value of Place Main Points

The main point of this essay by Joseph E. Aoun is that while many universities and colleges are offering more classes (and degrees) online, there are other worthy educational innovations that are taking place around the world. "Diversity of delivery systems is a major development" as higher education experiments with new ways to offer education (Aoun, 2011).

For example, the author is saying that "place" will always matter, and that notwithstanding the convenience of distance education, "place-based education" cannot necessarily be replaced (or "replicated," as Aoun explains) in a virtual environment (p. 3). One main problem with online education is that students "are physically isolated from each other," and in an educational setting it is important for students to be able to share their perspectives, their viewpoints, their disagreements -- in a "physical classroom" (Aoun, p. 3).

Moreover, when students are learning in a real "place" they don't stop learning when the class is finished because they can form study groups, have "discussion sessions" along with informal dialogue, and go one-on-one regarding what the assignment and subject is that they are involved with. And when it comes to diversity, when you're tackling a deep topic, perhaps a

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The online student is sitting along at a computer, without the exposure to diversity that place-based education offers (Aoun, p. 32). As Aoun explains on page 3, there is a "global dimension" to place-based higher learning institutions; faculty and fellow students hail from many different places on the planet, and it is those interactions and relationships that help open the eyes of students to the universal nature of knowledge acquisition.
Why did I choose this article? I believe there is value in taking online courses, especially for students who have to work a certain number of hours each day to survive. The convenience of being able to complete assignments and readings in the comfort of one's home is definitely a positive aspect of distance education. But, as Aoun explains on page 4, having a faculty member provide one-on-one real-time tutelage is a huge advantage over emailing a faculty member in an online setting. Also, I agree with Aoun when…

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Works Cited

Aoun, Joseph E. "Learning Today: the Lasting Value of Place." The Chronicle of Higher

Education. Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://theacademiclife.com. 2011.
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