In online higher education, first through for-profit pioneers such as the University of Phoenix (where I teach Critical Thinking), then through public higher education adopting similar technologies, use of class discussion forums has moved from emerging to fully emerged within the past decade. For example, when I first started teaching for an online university the task of "down-loading" class folders (2005) was onerous, somewhat time consuming, and required a rather specific set of technology compatibility requirements between the university's servers and the faculty member's personal computer. However, such glitches that marked online higher education, along with shifting only to e-books for textbooks, were solved over the next several years so that now anywhere in the world, and with any reasonably up-to-date computer, online classes can be fully accessed.
The problems and challenges with this technology are now an issue of the past. Whereas once University of Phoenix students lamented slow download times, lack of full compatibility, and other issues, now such technology is streamlined, smoothly functioning, and even available for access over Internet phone applications so that class discussion can be accessed literally from any location with a consistent cell-phone signal. The challenge at this point no longer rests with the technology itself, but rather with how well such technological use can be incorporated into seemingly busier family and professional lives.
The online higher educational model of places such as University of Phoenix, Walden University, etc. meets numerous needs of access that previously were left unaddressed. Rural communities now have full access to higher educational resources previously out of reach due to geographical location. Online education also allows access to educational resources in a myriad of increasingly diverse vocational settings, e.g. deployed military personnel completing an academic degree, sometimes even finishing coursework in a combat zone!
The technology of online higher education itself is no longer a barrier, but full economic access to the newest technology can still pose a problem. For example, if Microsoft revises its Office software every 3 - 4 years then in order to remain current a student (or even faculty member) must constantly incorporate these expenses into his or her budget, a potentially difficult task in an economy where scare financial resources are already stretched thin. This problem of economic access can become even more pronounced if the latest Internet phones are assumed as normative, yet might be somewhat out of reach for an increasingly larger portion of the population.
In conclusion, whether it's a new Internet phone application (http://www.phoenix.edu/news/releases/2011/04/university-of-phoenix-launches-phoenixmobile-app-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch.html) or just ordinary class discussion forums that can be accessed on any normal personal computer, the technology of online higher education has already moved from emerging to "fully emerged," and therefore questions of economic access are the only major challenge to address.
