Online learning lawsuit

Lawsuit forces Web2 learning strategies: Hardly surprising news, but very significant in my view. The FLOSSE blog in Finland points to a student from Capella University filing a lawsuit against the university for its use of an LMS (WebCT) that the student believes to be inaccessible and therefore discriminatory…

I read this over at Trey Martindale’s Blog at Teachable.org and had to investigate further…

As I read it I had to laugh. The student who is filing the lawsuit wants to get a degree in Information Technology Systems Design! If the student can not figure out WebCT how is he going to make it in the real world?

But then as I read the original post that Trey linked to and the lawyer for the student says he is representing a disability (read the comments), which opens up a whole bunch of questions. Online learning can be a good thing for some with disabilities, but as with anything, it can’t please everyone. Where do we draw the line? Can online learning be everything to everyone? Should it?

I am a big supporter of online learning, but this is clearly evidence that it doesn’t always work for all situations.

In my opinion (this in just my opinion at this point in time) a college education has become a right, not a priviledge. Right now the best schools are immuned to some of the “problems.” But there is a mentality that any student should be able to get any degree they want. I remember clearly a conversation with one student who was failing 2 business classess. The student was in tears. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of mentioning that there were other things to study besides business. The student became indignant and said “but I work hard!” The story ends well as I suggested the student take an F in one class so they can make a C in one and then retake the one with the F over the summer. This worked and the student finished the program. But this attitude speaks to a bigger issue. I want to be a football star, but a almost 40, I am not physically capable. Had I made different decisions in my youth perhaps those options would be available to me, but they are not - becasue of my choices and my actual abilities. Personally, I think letting students study whatever they want, but not necessarily are good at, actual can put the student at great risk down the road. Sure they get an education, but if they have to struggle with the subject matter the rest of their life or if they change disciplines, did education really occur?

Now I am not saying that we should assign people to carrer tracks, but what I am saying is we need to get back to realizing the a college eduction is still a priviledge and not a right. Again this is just my current opinion, which can change

However all that said, I am glad there are blogs like teachable.org and people like Trey out there who struggle with these issues and examine emerging technologies to see how they can better be used in educational settings.

18 October, 2005 |

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