Education online is a type of distance education and e-learning.
Without a question, the Internet has had a dominating effect on our business, politics, lives, works, plays, and on numerous other things.
Our schools are one of those countless other things. Although some say that the schools came late to the affected group, it will remain a fact that the internet has began to free online education from the confinements of conventional space and time.
A survey titled “Online Learning, Entering the Mainstream: The Quality and Extent of Online Education in the United States, 2003 and 2004” conducted by the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C), a consortium of institutions and organizations committed to quality online education, in 2004 revealed a continuing growth at rates of online enrollments faster than for the broader student population. Higher education entities, in 2004, expected that the rate of growth would continue increasing.
The survey, which was the second annual survey by Sloan-C, was based on responses from over 1,100 colleges and universities and represented the state of online education in U.S. higher education. It concluded that the expected average growth rate for online students for 2004 was 24.8%, which was up from 19.8% in 2003.
"Last year's online enrollment projection has been realized. There are 2.6 million students learning online this semester and there is no evidence enrollment has reached a plateau,"
Jeff Seaman,
Chief Information Officer and Director of Operations,Sloan-C
“Online learning is indeed entering the mainstream. Last year we found that a majority of academic leaders said online learning was just as good as traditional, face-to-face classroom instruction. This year's results confirm the finding and show that schools offering online courses believe their online students are at least as satisfied as those actually in the classroom."
Dr. Frank Mayadas,
President: Sloan-C
Program Director: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation |
