Perspectives of Online Learning -- Self-Selected Blog Topic

I work at a technologically stunted company.

In the trade show industry, there are dozens of new computer-based products and services on the market. From virtual show directories to touch screen maps to "Twitter" style communications programs, new and exciting things are happening.

The company I work for still uses an DOS-based financial system for their shows. The new and exciting things are simply NOT happening there.

This makes me wonder, a lot, about the technological wonders we are seeing in education and how many of them ever actually reach the students.

I know there are universities that are solely online. And I know that universities like GSU and Olivette offer online courses. But are those schools taking full advantage of everything that is available.

The trade show company I work for has websites for their shows. They use blast emails to market, sometimes to excess. But they are not using Facebook or My Space or Twitter or any of the other services that could "sell" the show in other methods.

I think part of the problem stems from the fact that the owners of the company are some of the least technical people I have ever met. They don't understand the technology, so they ignore it and assume no one who attends their shows gets it either.

For f2f classes and online classes, colleges have the ability to reach multiple students with a single click through email, text messaging and robocalling. These technologies are essential for emergency situations.

But are colleges -- and by extension, professors -- making any better use of technology than the company I work for?

Programs like the Certificate in Online Teaching hopefully open more eyes to how tech can be used and manipulated to better serve the students. It would be interesting to know, however, what percentage of professors are using the technology, what percentage of universities either offer or pay for the technology, and the age and gender of the instructors who are interested in using tech.

As education -- and trade shows -- moves further and further into technology, I think its important that those who are recalitrant users are coaxed along into the 21st Century. The more I study this topic, the more I am realizing how sadly underused some of the options are.