Thanks to technology and the globalization of education, we live in an age where methods of learning have rapidly evolved. As Don Huesman of Wharton School said, the “non-traditional student is the average student”; education has gone far beyond being stuck on a physical campus in a traditional classroom.

Four education professionals offered their takes on the matter at a SXSWedu panel, using the following questions as guidance: “Are campuses critical to learning?” and “How will campuses need to change to facilitate learning experiences?”

“Campuses teach us how to make identities,” said Professor Ricki Goldman of New York University. Learners experience collaboration, local outreach and develop trust through being constantly surrounded by people.

Social interaction is the first step in participating in a community, and campuses bring together learners to broaden their ability to collaborate. This first step opens the door for being a successful student and professional.

However, there has been an emergence of the virtual classroom thanks to technology. Online classes, particularly with video and live chat, have offered extreme expansion, allowing people like stay-at-home parents or those with serious medical conditions, for example, to further their education.

It allows people to connect around the world, something that before was such a complicated feat.

Before, campuses were the sole way to have an education experience, but with the emergence of these new technologies is the campus going to disappear?

Some say it could, some say it should not; whatever one’s opinion, both virtual and physical learning spaces have to evolve to suit the “non-traditional” students that Huesman spoke of.

For physical campuses, the focus must be on creating spaces ideal for interaction and on the role of technology.

Based on a study done across the country, students want settings in which everyone is able to collaborate and offer something to the group; innovation in the classroom needs to reflect this.

Huesman noted that design needs to communicate values to learners, so this feeling that everyone has something to offer could mean that having a round table with no head is ideal. It sheds the hierarchy of a classroom, creating possibility of verbal exchange between everyone, as well as letting people see eye to eye, which many learning spaces today do not allow for.  

When it comes to technology in the classroom, how much is too much, or how much is necessary for learners?  The panel all agreed that technology has a lot to offer but the important thing is that it does not replace human interaction and isolate learners.

For virtual learning spaces, this is the most difficult part of innovation. Nora Bynum of Duke emphasized the importance of having active exchanges and being able to see eye to eye.

The reason campuses have always been so necessary is because students are given the spaces to actively exchange information, but this is difficult without physical interaction. With the rapid growth of technology this is one of the weakest facets of the digital commons, and what has to be focused on if educators want a successful new learning community.

As of now, virtual learning cannot completely replace physical campuses, but it has offered endless opportunity that has changed the traditional mindset about learning.

Maybe the future calls for no campuses, or maybe some people will never let that happen. As long as innovators in education always keep in mind that learners need to see eye to eye, a bright future could lie ahead for the physical and digital realms of education.