While online learning is often seen as a way for adult learners to prepare for a change of career or advance skills in their current field, it is increasingly becoming the learning method of choice for younger, more traditional students as well, education experts said during a recent forum—and colleges and universities would be wise to prepare for this shift.
In the fall of 2008, 1.8 million students were enrolled in fully-online degree programs, compared with only a few thousand in 1995, said Peter Stokes, executive vice president and chief research officer for Eduventures, a higher-education research and consulting firm. It’s estimated that 4.6 million students were enrolled in at least one online course in the fall of 2008, he said.
Of the 15 institutions with the largest numbers of fully-online students, 11 are for-profit institutions.…Read More