For most recent high school graduates, the temptation to take a little time off for fun, relaxation or travel is ever present. Many want to work and save in order to pay for at least a portion of their postsecondary education, while others simply wish to get away from academia for a while and sort out their options. Unfortunately, every delay in earning a degree can have adverse consequences on a person's future ability to be financially independent and secure.
It's no secret that a college degree at the bachelor's level is almost a requirement for obtaining gainful employment in most industries today, and the sooner a degree is earned, the sooner one can embark on establishing a career. Online undergraduate degree programs have become a standard part of the academic landscape in great part because they afford high school graduates the ability to have their proverbial cake and eat it too.
The truth of the matter is that online undergraduate degree programs offer the same level of competent instruction without the imposing schedules, long commutes and location based research associated with traditional campus based programs. Students can work on their curriculum anytime they choose, for the most part, be it on a lazy afternoon or at three in the morning. The benefit is that online undergraduate degree programs won't interfere with travel plans, part time or full time employment or almost any activities that might not be possible with campus based learning.
We live in an information age where research for most fields of study can be conducted from the comfort and privacy of a person's own home. In the infancy of online education several years ago, online resources provided by distance learning educators were cumbersome to navigate and offered little outside of what was absolutely necessary to learn the requisite information presented by the courses offered. Today, that's no longer the case, and most online institution's web based resources rival those of even the best brick and mortar colleges.
As far as personal instruction is concerned, having online access to faculty members is facilitated with greater ease through distance learning universities. Because of their very nature, online colleges and universities make finding the right person to speak with, question or if need be, interrogate much less demanding than hunting down a campus based professor with a one hour window every other Tuesday.
Online college courses are more popular than ever, with enrollment reaching a record high in 2006, according to a report released by the Sloan Consortium. The report, entitled "Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006" gives the results of a recent study based on responses from more than 2,200 colleges and universities across the U.S. . You can read the full text of the report at www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/index.asp.
In recent years online enrollment grew at a much faster rate than the general college student body. But last year's Sloan report showed a lower percentage rate of growth, prompting speculation that growth in online courses has started to level off.
Those concerns were proven groundless with the release of this year's report, which shows no indication of a plateau in the growth of online enrollments. More than 3.2 million students took at least one online course in the 2005-2006 school year. This record enrollment is a whopping increase of over 800,000 more than the 2.3 million online students the year before.
The report brings some other interesting facts to light:
- Online students are generally older than the more traditional student, and are often working adults with family responsibilities.
- The majority of online students are undergraduates, although the proportion of online graduate students is a bit higher in comparison to the overall higher education population.
- More than 96 percent of the very largest institutions with 15,000 or more total enrollment offer online courses. This level of enrollment is more than twice the rate of the smallest institutions.
- About 2/3 of the very largest schools have fully online programs versus about 1/6 of the smallest institutions.
- 62 percent of chief academic officers believe that the quality of online instruction is equal to or superior to that of face-to-face learning.
- While a majority of chief academic officers believe online courses are high quality, only 4.6 % of chief academic officers thought there are no significant barriers to widespread adoption of online learning.
- 2/3 of academic leaders believe a lack of discipline on the part of online students is a critical barrier to online learning.
- Barriers to online learning include faculty issues, with the acceptance of online learning and the need for greater time and effort required for teaching online as important barriers. On the other hand neither a perceived lack of demand on the part of potential students nor the acceptance of an online degree by potential employers was seen as a critical barrier.
With a record online enrollment growth on a numeric and percentage basis, any fears that online enrollment levels are leveling off can be laid to rest. Each year, ever increasing numbers of students are finding that online courses are an integral part of their learning experience. And while the rate of increase is sure to eventually slow at some point, it appears that online education is here to stay.
Both Shay Rosen & Jesse Whitehead are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Shay Rosen has sinced written about articles on various topics from College Education, Marketing and Communications and Careers and Job Hunting. For ?source=866_art_hsg"> online and campus based degree programs and educational resources, visit 866MyMajor.com. For more on. Shay Rosen's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.
Jesse Whitehead has sinced written about articles on various topics from Online College, Elearning and Online College. Jesse Whitehead earned his B.S degree with honors from a prominent online university in 2005. For more information on how