Why Six Students Chose Online Education

As online education continues to grow in popularity, many students of different backgrounds, ages, and locations are jumping on board. U.S. News spoke with six students who have either recently earned their degree online or who are in the process of doing so. Each student's experience was different. Some earned master's degrees, and others worked toward bachelor's degrees. Most students sped through their programs in a few years, while one student spent about a decade earning her degree through a mix of on-campus and online courses. Three military veterans saw the value in online education when they returned to the civilian workforce; two moms squeezed online classes in around their kids' schedules; and one woman set out to advance her degree online, as a 20-something, before she started a family. [See which schools have the Top Online Education Programs.] Most of the online students who spoke with U.S. News sought the nontraditional route for the flexibility of courses. When pursuing your degree online, there's no need to leave work or family to drive to a specific place at a specific time for class, some said. But some of the online students also stressed that as they took classes from home, they needed to be disciplined, organized, and focused to avoid distractions and manage their time. These six students earned—or are earning—their degrees online: Bridget Baldwin: B.S. in business management from Champlain College Bill Chamberlain: M.Ed. in technology education from California University of Pennsylvania Dalene Erickson: M.S. in early childhood education from University of North Dakota David Gowel: M.S. in management from Harvard University Meredith Hart: M.B.A. from Walden University Michael Mayle: M.S. in software engineering from Drexel University Searching for an online program? Get our complete rankings of Top Online Education Programs.

EdX Announces Free Online Courses for Fall Launch

When Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced in May the formation of edX, a $60 million joint venture by the two institutions to provide free online university-level courses, the platform joined a list of services already offering massive open online courses (MOOCs). MOOCs have garnered much attention over the past year with the launches of for-profit online education providers Coursera and Udacity, which both offer a series of courses from top ranked universities at no cost to the user. Coursera, which offers more than 100 courses through 16 institutions, announced in early August that it had reached 1 million registered users. Udacity, which has focused most of its courses in the computer sciences, has revealed that it has more than 700,000 registered users. [Explore free online education options.] Although more than 120 universities worldwide have expressed interest in collaborating with the service, edX will begin offering courses from three universities in fall 2012; the University of California—Berkeley being the third. "EdX will actively explore the addition of other institutions from around the world to the edX platform, and we look forward to adding more 'X Universities' as capacity increases," according to the edX FAQ page. The not-for-profit service has announced seven course offerings thus far for its fall launch, ranging from computer science to chemistry to public health. Students who are familiar with online education courses will be accustomed to some of the features available through edX, such as self-paced learning, online discussion groups, and collaborative learning. [Find out what is the most popular field of study in online education.] But edX differs from most online services in that the platform will ultimately be available as open source software, meaning that other universities and institutions will be able to host the service themselves and changes to the platform can be made by the community of users. "Because it is open source," notes the FAQ page, "the platform will be continuously improved by a worldwide community of collaborators, with new features added as needs arise." The first course, according to edX's courses page, begins September 5. Searching for an online program? Get our complete rankings of Top Online Education Programs.

Put Education Right at Your Fingertips With an Online University Program!

Online universities offer you associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees over the Internet, and some have doctoral and certificate programs as well. The university awards you your degree or certificate after you have completed all required coursework. Since lectures occur almost exclusively online, you will never have to rush miles across campus or schedule your personal life around your classes. Attending a university online means having education right at your fingertips!

Futuristic Learning:

The Institute for Global Futures predicts that online education will soon feature virtual reality teaching, where fantasy meets real-world situations; “teachbots” that offer personalized help on demand; and increasingly interactive, multimedia and multidimensional educational experiences. Online education has enabled countless students to advance their educations and learn the skills that can help them land a new job. But does an online degree or certification change an employer’s view of a candidate’s qualifications?

How Employers View Online Education

Traditional colleges and universities have simply been around much longer, so some employers may not be as familiar with online degree and online certification programs. However, awareness is growing, and hiring managers, recruiters and small business owners increasingly realize that traditional schools offer online programming in addition to on-campus classes. The institution’s name, accreditation status and reputation for quality are often important factors when considering a potential employee’s degree or certification. Many recruiters see no difference between degrees earned online and those earned in traditional classroom settings – as long as the institution is appropriately accredited and reputable. Professional certifications earned online or on-campus are typically viewed equally. With some employers, an on-campus degree might carry more weight if all other qualifications are equal. Recruiters and employers don’t typically know if a candidate’s degree was earned through an online or traditional program, unless it’s from an online-only institution. It’s clear that the quality of a job candidate’s education is of greater concern to employers than the method of delivery. So how does online education stack up to traditional classroom instruction?

The Quality of Online Education

As the demographics of their students have changed to include older and working students, colleges and universities have stepped up to meet their needs with high quality, flexible online programming. In most institutions, the same faculty members teach both traditional and online courses. Online curriculum is often equal to on-campus courses, but enhanced for the online environment, with interactive and multimedia features to better engage students. Some say the quality of online education will soon exceed traditional campus instruction. In fact, a survey of online education experts, published by Educause Quarterly, revealed that 86% of respondents expect that by 2013, the quality of online education will be the same as or better than traditional instruction.3 For the vast majority of accredited and reputable institutions, online education is of equal quality to on-campus programs – and students can be assured that the degree or certificate they earn through an online program is equal to those awarded to traditional students. The only differences are in the convenience of 24/7 accessibility, where students may schedule classes around a busy schedule, and instruction that is specifically geared toward online learners.

The 21st Century Education

We often hear that technology has changed the face of education. But what does that really mean to today’s college student? Here we’ll explore some education trends you’re likely to see, how the quality of online education compares, and how employers view online degrees and online certification programs.