A recent study revealed that 3 million students are studying online full-time, and an additional 6 million taking at least one online course as part of their Degree. If anything, this speaks to the popularity of online studying, which is touted to increase in the upcoming years.
If you are shopping around for an institution to get your degree or to acquire further certifications from, consider schooling online. Why is this choice so popular today? Here are some reasons why online classes have become a darling of the masses.
1. You are Spoilt for Choice
Attending a brick and mortar institution comes with many considerations, including distance. In fact, many people often have to settle for their second choice of school because their top program is far from home, and they prefer not to relocate.
With online learning, this is not an issue. You are at liberty to attend the best program for you at the institution of your choice regardless of your location.
2. Flexibility
Today’s workplace is undoubtedly cutthroat. The hours are long, and you have to prove your worth to get ahead. Part of proving yourself entails bettering yourself and updating your industry knowledge to prove your worth to your employer.
While one way to do this is by furthering one’s education, most people face a huge challenge with this: time. Online studies allow people with other commitments, school, work, or even business to enroll and complete their programs at their convenience.
Asynchronous schedules completely do away with weekly schedules or scheduled online meetings, adding another layer of flexibility to students.
3. Networking Opportunities
Owing to their flexibility, online learning programs attract students from all over the world. This means that students have the opportunity to network with people from diverse academic, professional, and cultural backgrounds.
Globalization has made it easier for people to work or even start businesses in different countries. It has also made most organizations multi-cultural.
Schooling with people from all over the world gives students a glimpse of a multi-cultural workplace and exposes them to other cultures, delivering an all-rounded experience.
With this mode of learning, students can now connect, network, and create long term personal and professional relationships. In time, they can leverage these networks to advance their careers.
4. Ready Support
Once enrolled, students have numerous avenues to get support- often a click away. Here you can get advice and coursework help from tutors, guest lecturers, and professors. In a class setting, the number per class can make it difficult for students to get personalized attention. Not so with online learning.
Aside from getting support from your learning institution, you can also seek help from external sources whenever you feel overwhelmed. Visit homeworkdoer.org to see some of the resources that can be availed to students.
5. Reduced Cost
College is expensive. The choice between accumulating high student loans or foregoing college all together is a common theme for most young people post-high school.
Online education programs are an excellent in-between as they tend to be significantly cheaper than traditional schools.
Without rent, subordinate staff, insurance, and other overheads associates with brick and mortar educational institutions, online education institutions are run more leanly.
This benefit is then be passed down to students in the form of lower fees. This aside, online leaning negates the need to commute and campus accommodation again, slashing the costs of acquiring academic credentials.
6. It Helps You Grow Other Skills
Traditional learning is highly structured and supervised. Online writing is not. With the later, students study at their own convenience, with minimal supervision.
To be successful, this calls for individuals to nurture other skills like self-discipline, time management, self-motivation, self-reliance, and so on.
While these skills will help you complete your course successfully, it does not end here. These are the same skills you will require to succeed in your chosen profession, whether employed or in the entrepreneurship world.
It, therefore, makes perfect sense to start nurturing these qualities as early on as possible, and during your tertiary education is an excellent place as any.
7. Career Progression
For professionals looking for career progression, online courses allow you to study without losing pace at work.
In this way, you can acquire new credentials to add to your resume and work towards salary increments, promotions, and other opportunities.
To your employer, this communicates ambition, initiative, and your preparedness for newer, bigger roles. Traditional schooling, on the other hand, would compel you to leave your job or to request your employer to allow you to work part-time to allow you to study.
This would then interrupt your career, which ultimately slows down your career progression plans.
8. Pacing
Due to limited resources, traditional school set-ups are unable to cluster students according to their learning capabilities. This means that there are one or two classes, and everyone moves at the same pace.
This disadvantages slow learners and inconveniences fast ones. With online education, each student has the freedom to learn at a pace that is comfortable for them.
If working at your own pace is especially important to you and is central to your career plans, online learning is definitely the best choice for you.
9. Offers Inclusivity
Different personality types tend to communicate differently.
Introverts, for example, find it difficult to raise issues, ask questions, or even participate actively in class discussions. This can decrease their level of engagement and, ultimately, affect their performance.
For such students, online education offers the perfect platform for them to learn and actively participate in all aspects of their coursework.
Similarly, online learning platforms promote equity, where everyone in a class has a fair opportunity to contribute to group learning.
This is a feature that often lacks in traditional classrooms where students at the front of the class or the more vocal students get more opportunities to weigh in on class discussions.
10. It Offers Variety
With minimized costs, institutions that offer online education can provide a wide array of courses to students. They are also able to offer several levels of certifications from certificate level to doctorate.
This variety means that you are likely to get a course of your choice and study it to the level you want. Should you want to change your chosen path mid-way, you will still have an array of courses to choose from as well.
11. Pandemic Proof
Online education has created a more pandemic-proof environment for the student. In this day and age of self-isolation, social distancing and even full quarantine measures in place in some locations, this is a more ideal learning solution for many people. According to the Inside Higher Education website, “Many colleges and universities have gone test-optional in college admissions amid the coronavirus crisis”. They also note that “The College Board will offer at-home test-taking for its 2024 Advanced Placement exams, beginning on May 11” meaning that more people will have the opportunity to enroll in premium educational institutions online.
The challenges of online education for students may be difficult to overcome, but there are also numerous benefits to studying online as well. Learning how to plan and implement successful learning strategies may be difficult, but it can be done.
Discover more here – The COVID-19 Pandemic: Revolutionizing Learning Norms