In the push for a community college, Erie County keeps pointing out that it would be:
the first new stand-alone community college in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1993.
There might be a good reason for that.
What are some changes since 1993 that might affect how education is delivered?
- Amazon began selling books online in 1994.
- Google began in 1998.
- YouTube began in 2005.
- Massive, Open, Online Courses (MOOCs) began in 2006, though the first one most were aware of was in 2011 (A course on artificial intelligence by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig).
- The first iPhone was released in 2007.
- The Khan Academy began in 2008.
Is it possible Erie County residents could take advantage of those opportunities to learn anything they want to know like everyone else in the world is already doing? Are Erie County residents somehow incapable of doing what everyone else, everywhere else can do?
The number of low cost and no cost courses available right now is staggering. Anyone who wants to learn can learn. If any student, of any age, wants to learn, there’s nothing and no one standing in the way.
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