Peterson said a new “virtual learning” system would become more prevalent in the U.S. in the future as the costs associated with higher education continue to increase.
“Education is a very labor-intensive industry,” he said. “It has become an increasingly significant economic burden on the taxpayer to provide a system of education where we depend so heavily on paid labor.”
Peterson said online courses and new technologies could help alleviate that burden. He pointed to institutions such as the Florida Virtual School, which is projected to have had more than 200,000 course enrollments this year, as an example of the U.S. school system’s transition toward virtual learning. While he praised the ability to customize education, he said online education is still evolving.
“There are tremendous opportunities with online learning,” he said. “The courses that are online today come nowhere near the Hollywood movie level of technology that is conceivable if you put tremendous resources into the process.”
For the rest of the article, go to Harvard professor talks education reform in Steamboat
