Students Raise Their Hands on Online Education

Students speak out on Online Education at California’s EVOLVE conference.

When you hear about education in the news, it is rare to see the opinions of the students (i.e. the majority) enter into the fray. Instead, you tend to hear from: politicians, schools, educators, unions, and talking heads.

That was not the case, however, at the January 17th EVOLVE: California Higher Education student conference. The goal of the free conference was to study and discuss how colleges and universities are implementing online education.

The conference webpage cites waitlists, college costs and the decline of education in the US, when compared to other countries, as the main factors up for discussion. These are difficult issues for students to overcome and can be detrimental to their education.

The conference organizers believe that online education, which is being used in some form or another by 96% of universities and almost a third of students, will increase accessibility and reduce costs.

The conference marks the second of its kind in the California area. Last January, Re:Boot California Higher Education also looked to bring the voice of students to the ears of those making the big decisions. It seems they are listening too, as US Senator Holly Mitchell was the keynote speaker at this year’s event.

Personally, I find this form of student activity refreshing. Students are often forgotten when it comes to politician and policy makers. Though they may not have been voting for long (or at all) they do represent a significant portion of the population. Perhaps more student conferences are in order? Perhaps it may get more youth to the polls?

Source 20 Million Minds Foundation 1, 20 Million Minds Foundation 2

Written by

Shawn Wasserman

For over 10 years, Shawn Wasserman has informed, inspired and engaged the engineering community through online content. As a senior writer at WTWH media, he produces branded content to help engineers streamline their operations via new tools, technologies and software. While a senior editor at Engineering.com, Shawn wrote stories about CAE, simulation, PLM, CAD, IoT, AI and more. During his time as the blog manager at Ansys, Shawn produced content featuring stories, tips, tricks and interesting use cases for CAE technologies. Shawn holds a master’s degree in Bioengineering from the University of Guelph and an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.