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Online versus on-campus education:
Why online may be the superior choice for your education
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If you're considering going back to school for graduate studies, have you considered enrolling in an online program? If you have, you're in good company: Nearly 3.2 million higher education students are now taking courses online.
For the past several years, the number of students enrolled online has been growing substantially faster than the overall higher education student body. And this trend shows no signs of leveling out. Nearly 3.2 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2005 term — that's a nearly 50 percent increase over the 2.3 million reported the previous year.
The trend isn't that surprising. The increasing need for higher education to achieve career advancement attracts a student who's a little older than the typical college-age campus co-ed. Usually, they are holding full-time jobs, raising families and participating in church, community and social activities in addition to pursuing a degree. Online learning eliminates commuting time and offers them the flexibility to fit their education into an already over-crowded schedule. But are online students receiving as high quality an education as their on-campus counterparts? In most cases, the answer is a resounding "yes"!
A 2006 study by The Sloan Consortium found that the majority of Chief Academic Officers (62 percent) believe that the quality of online instruction is equal to or superior to that of face-to-face instruction. Moreover, the number of respondents who answered that it was superior to traditional learning was 40 percent higher than in the 2003 survey.
The study supports what many online students already know — that online learning plays a very important role in education today. Of the survey respondents, 73 percent feel that online education reaches students not served by face-to-face programs, such as working adults and others who traditionally have not been able to access higher education. |
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