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Online education opportunities are taking the internet by storm. Of all the general trends in online education, the biggest one is that interest is growing so rapidly. A study by Ambient Insight Research predicts that as many as 81% of the post-secondary student body in the United States will be enrolled in some form of online learning by . That’s almost double the 44% studying online, at least part of the time, in .

Another very appreciated trend is the increased opportunity as enrollment climbs. For the fall semester of , 6.7 million American students enrolled in at least one online-course, according to the Babson Survey Research Group’s Survey of Online Learning. These online courses included everything from electives to structured online masters degree and doctoral programs.

In its early days, E-learning opportunities, especially complete online degree programs, were limited to information-rich subjects, such as business and medical records, but advanced internet technologies now make it possible to study music, art, the sciences - almost anything - online with the same ease.

Possibilities for Global Education

Taking online educational programs has become very much a global interest. The internet has erased geopolitical boundaries in so many aspects of daily living that it hardly seems surprising that education seems to flourish without boundaries. Place and time are no longer limiting factors.

Want to study French at the Sorbonne but can’t realistically get there? Online programs teach just about anything on the planet. There’s no need to travel to Tanzania to learn what Jane Goodall knows; her work is available online at a computer near you.

International studies focusing on business and law are extremely important courses of study these days and students all over the globe can learn internationally by enrolling in the many online programs dealing with such subjects. Students can share the online classroom with classmates studying in Kansas, Kenya, and Katmandu all at the same time.

Online masters degree programs are an outstanding way to develop a stronger resume and they’re now available worldwide. Advanced degrees often bring promotions, bigger paychecks, and stronger negotiating power to the job. Since the classroom is always just a keystroke away, time zones lose their importance in the online classroom. Gone is the worry of juggling work and study, since online classrooms are open 24/7.

High Quality of Online Programs

Today’s high quality of online programs makes the online learning concept all the more attractive, even to the most skeptical students. For example, in the US, all schools must be accredited by state or regional governing bodies that approve and regulate curriculum, degree programs, and other important educational factors. The regulations governing online programs are the same for those of bricks-and-mortar classrooms.

Some of the world's most prestigious universities are opening their learning opportunities to online study for students looking to earn credits as well as to those who want the learning opportunity without the need or expense of the credit. Students enrolled at, for example, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) may take a blend of courses in the classroom, the lab, and online. They’ll earn credits for all their coursework and will pay the required tuition for them, regardless of the method of delivery. Students not formally enrolled at MIT can also take the same online classes although they will not be graded, will not earn any college credits, and will not pay tuition or other educational fees to the school. However, the education is the same, it’s free of charge, and, for a growing number of students, that’s a perfectly desirable arrangement.

Classes taken for free online with no expectation of earning college credits are called MOOCs, or massively open online courses. They are available for free to everyone. Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and Stanford are some of the more traditional universities offering MOOCs.

Through its Free Education Initiative, the Saylor Foundation offers entire degree programs online at no cost to the student. The foundation’s curriculum consists of degree programs for the ten most popular courses of study in the US. A very high quality of online education is maintained by buying textbook copyrights, videotaped lectures, and other resources from world-class educators; the material is then vetted through a peer-review process before being accepted as part of the curriculum.

Outside the US, online programs are accredited and regulated by the educational governance bodies of each nation.

Benefits of Online Learning

The opportunity to enroll in universities through online degree programs from around the world is a highly desirable benefit of online education. Flexibility of time and space is a very attractive benefit of online learning but there are also other benefits that may not seem quite so obvious.

It’s impossible to learn online without mastering the technology it takes to deliver the education. Without a person-to-person classroom interaction, an online student learns how to solve problems, manage time, and meet deadlines independently, and all these are traits that will transition to the workplace once the degree plan is complete. In a tough job market, many employers will value the self-starter more highly than a candidate who hasn’t demonstrated similar personal initiative.

Online learning allows the students to customize the learning process more than stationary classroom learning does. Traditional students may spend a semester or two studying abroad but the online student can accomplish the same learning experience online, with no interruption of work or family life.

Online learning may not meet the needs of every student but it certainly increases the opportunities for many people who would be excluded from the learning process if not for online study opportunities. It’s clearly understandable why its popularity is growing, enrollment is increasing, and more courses of study are being offered online to students of all ages everywhere. Online learning is by far the trendiest way to get an education today.