subject: Top Eight Trends In Online Education Currently [print this page] Just like many other things, online education has been changing. Observers and experts opine that online education, among many other gains, will be gaining a lot of stature. Employers will more seriously consider applicants with an online degree than before. More people will start, or have started already, to include online education programs into their career plans. Other than this, the way online learning is delivered will undergo a lot of change. In fact, it has been changing in a lot of places already. Here are the top ten trends in online learning for the near future.
More attention from employers
There was a time when compared to a brick-and-mortar classroom degree, online degrees were considered qualitatively inferior. Hence, applicants with online education would find it difficult to secure jobs. Employers have already been changing their perception and in the near future, online degrees will receive more recognition.
More enrolment
In the past one year, enrolment for all online courses increased by 21 percent while for overall higher education, it grew at a relatively paltry rate of just two percent. This trend is here to stay.
Podcasting becomes more popular
Almost 50 percent of the younger U.S. citizens use podcasting as an educational tool. The usage, in the coming years, is going to grow and spread into other continents.
Open source learning to become more popular
Learning Management Systems (LMS), still, are a paid educational tool in many countries. However, learning systems are soon going to shift to being open source and become more accessible for anyone who cares to learn. Open source learning management systems such as Open Class have already gained a lot of popularity and this clearly points to a trend.
Hybrid programs to become more popular
Online education systems just would not mean tutorials, presentations and podcasts. It would also mean face-to-face interaction sessions. Hybrid learning sessions are on the rise and students can take the advantage of both technology and human interaction.
Text books to get phased out
Digital content distribution technology is going to improve by leaps and bounds and this is going to make learning real fun and easily accessible. Technology is going to make content available to all sorts of devices "" Smartphones, tablets, computers, laptops et al. When students find it easier to learn, textbooks may slowly pave the way for digital content distribution technology.
Cloud-based learning systems
Learning systems are likely to be hosted into the cloud. Open Class are one of such examples of cloud-based learning systems. This will make learning modules and programs less dependent on physical infrastructure.
Collaborative learning
Just like a classroom learning situation, students in an online education program can interact with other students and experts through a variety of tools such as video conferencing, chat-sessions, note exchanging technologies, online seminars and so on.
The spread of online education courses may not, however, be uniform across all the continents. This is purely because of the varied perception in different countries.
