The changing landscape of education

As the landscape of education changes with technology so are the ways that students can learn. Considering in the last five years alone the types of available learning technologies have doubled, gone are the days a student must report to campus to fulfill their goal of a college education.

From an employer’s perspective, one of the biggest indicators of someone’s drive, dedication, and ability to follow through is shown by their completion of a college degree. That reason is often why the initial screening of resumes eliminates those that have not pursued higher education. In these changing times, having someone complete their degree in whatever way worked for them is beginning to take more precedence than how it was done.

Online learning is a growing trend, and according to a Pew Institute survey, college presidents predict that by 2021 most of their students will take at least one of their courses online. That may seem like a loaded prediction, but currently 32 percent of all college students are taking at least one class online.

Interestingly, the completion rate is actually higher for online classes than those of on-campus courses, according to a Distance Education survey. In fact, according to the same survey, 15 percent of college students that took a class online earned a degree entirely online. Furthermore, according to the Institute for College Access and Success, online certificates are the fastest growing post-secondary credential in the U.S, with a 46 percent increase over a five-year period.

The question that many have asked is whether online degrees or certificates are taken seriously by potential employers. The debate is underway, but many institutions have come forward in support of online education.

In a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 79 percent of organizations surveyed hired someone with an online degree in the previous 12 months. In the same survey, 73 percent of organizations said that courses taken online are equally credible to on-campus learning.

Employers are beginning to realize that students are enrolling in non-traditional learning to fulfill their career goals while balancing life’s duties, and technology has helped them do that. Although the average online learner is 34 years old, online students are getting younger. In spring of 2015, 34 percent of undergraduate online students were under the age of 25, up from 25 percent in 2012, according to a report by Aslanian Market Research. That trend is expected to continue.

Many have also questioned if online courses are less difficult than those taken in-person, or if applied effort from instructor and student are less than that of classroom learning. On the contrary, recent studies show this is not the case. Online learning is often shorter than classroom training because it is self-paced, but 64 percent of online instructors say it takes more time and effort to teach online, according to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. In addition, 85 percent of faculty say it takes more time and effort to develop an online course as compared to a traditional class.

What it comes down to is that college and university administrations, faculty and students, along with employers, are starting to jump on the online learning bandwagon. With increased access to smartphones, laptops and Wi-Fi, students can log on anytime, anywhere to work towards their degree goals no matter what stage in their life they may be.