With online education courses giving students the flexibility to study remotely and granting them access to world-class teaching from the comfort of their own homes, it is no surprise that participation in online degree courses has grown rapidly in recent years.
What Is Online Learning?
Online Learning is a simple form of education that encourages learners to learn anywhere. It helps to gain complete knowledge with the help of the latest technologies. It is also understood as distance, online, or internet learning that suits everyone. Online learning is helpful for students and professionals who want to acquire diverse skills with customized learning.
Online Learning has various advantages for educators and learners, requiring only a computer or a mobile device and an internet connection. Anyone can buy a course that interests them and study it remotely. It has also enabled individuals to pursue, receive, and impart knowledge effectively at minimal expense.
How Online Learning Can Benefit Your Industry
With everything going digital, education is still catching up as students enjoy personalized and Online Learning. The recent pandemic has abruptly shifted billions of students from their classrooms and triggered an interest in eLearning. Even schools are embracing online learning techniques and keeping up with changing times.
Online Learning engages and moves toward more interesting formats, depending on the latest technologies, such as gamification and Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR), to hold learners’ interest. This article will show some unexpected developments in the Online Learning sector.
Reasons Why Online Learning Is The Future Of Education
Adaptive Learning
Adaptive education is a learning style where resources and all assignments are customized per the student’s needs. With eLearning software, the performance of adaptive learning is mainly accomplished by selected algorithms and reviews. As Online Learning continues to grow and keep learners interested, this new concept will help students learn new things while offering them the personalized courses they want.
Social Learning
We have heard of and used social media. Social learning takes its base components of human interaction, including group dynamics and modern technologies, to make education easy and keep learners engaged. Unlike classroom teaching, social learning is all about technology, learning with videos, and reading books. It is more efficient, productive, and straightforward.
Social learning apps have been developed that are loved by users. An eLearning app development company will understand your requirements and offer excellent and well-designed online education software. Some well-known online education software development companies understand students’ needs while keeping business requirements in mind and are developing software that suits the requirements.
Video Learning
They say three types of learners—visual, auditory, and kinesthetic—excel best in education. As we all have experienced, videos and vocals give an effective learning experience as they practically demonstrate the subject. It served as one of the best reasons for students to learn online. Auditory learners who loved to hear the subject while learning was the only group adequately served by the standard course delivery method. One can see the practical effect and results of video-based lectures in the form of instructional videos.
Microlearning
Regardless of age, we are never excited about large, multi-phase projects. Similarly, students in collaborative classrooms have found much greater success by splitting learning materials into manageable pieces. Otherwise known as microlearning, professors have found that breaking study material into modules produces smarter and faster retention. For an instant, a 2-hour long lesson can be divided into four 30-minute sessions. Microlearning is demonstrative of a movement that goes beyond eLearning into the domain of traditional classroom areas.
Learning Management Systems
Managers generally use what is known as a content management system (CMS) to build and store digital content in many institutes and schools. The concept of CMS for study materials has recently extended globally to Online Learning platforms such as a Learning Management System (LMS). An LMS benefits professors and other eLearning faculty who can design, document, and register courses and study materials. In a technology-based and digitalized world, eLearning plays a big role. Users can go digital, and study required courses online. Leveraging the capabilities of an LMS, organizations are creating lesson plans and managing courses easily, thus doing away with the old analog ways thanks to LMSs.
Types of Online Degrees
There are generally four different types of academic degrees you can earn online. Many online schools also award certificates at the undergraduate and graduate levels. These include:
- Associate Degree
- Bachelor’s Degree
- Master’s Degree
- Doctorate Degree
- Certificate Programs
- Associate Degree
You can work in various health, technology, or administrative jobs with an associate degree. An associate’s degree typically takes about two years to earn, making it easier to obtain alongside other life commitments.
Many associate degree programs provide a foundation to earn a bachelor’s degree if desired.
Bachelor’s Degree
A bachelor’s degree prepares you for entry-level careers in almost any field you choose, providing endless career options upon graduation. It typically takes four years to complete a bachelor’s degree.
Master’s Degree
Earning a master’s degree allows you to focus your studies on a more specific area or specialization, which can qualify you for a higher-paying career in your field. You are eligible for master’s programs once you complete your bachelor’s degree.
It typically takes about two years to finish a master’s degree. Once complete, you can pursue the next level degree — a doctorate.
Doctorate Degree
A doctoral degree is the highest degree you can achieve. You can earn a doctorate in almost any subject. You must complete original research demonstrating your expertise in your chosen field to obtain this degree.
Once finished, a doctoral degree will qualify you as an expert and allow you to contribute original research to your study area.
Certificate Programs
A certificate program allows you to begin learning about a specific field without pursuing a degree. It also can prepare you for a career in the trades. Depending on the certificate, it can be a fast way to learn a new skill or about a different area of your current industry.
Best universities offering online degrees
- University College London – 20 fully online programs: online Teaching degrees, online Medicine degrees, and more.
- Columbia University – 12 fully online programs: online Business degrees, and more.
- University of Edinburgh – 66 fully online programs: online Medicine degrees, online Law degrees, online Social Sciences degrees, and more.
- Johns Hopkins University – 88 fully online programs: online Engineering degree, online Natural Sciences degrees, online Computer Sciences degrees, online Business degrees and more.
- The University of Manchester – 32 fully online programs: online Medicine degrees, online Business degrees and more.
- Northwestern University – 12 fully online programs: online Medicine degrees, online Social Sciences degrees and more.
- King’s College London – 25 fully online programs: online Medicine degrees, online Social Sciences degrees, online Law degrees and more.
- The University of California, Los Angeles – 10 fully online programs: online Engineering degrees and more.
- University of Sydney – 28 fully online programs: online Medicine degrees, and more.
- Monash University – 33 fully online programs: online Medicine degrees, Online Teaching degrees and more
- University of Texas at Austin – 10 fully online programs: online Engineering degrees, Online Computer Science degrees and more.
- University of Glasgow – 22 fully online programs: online Education degrees, online Medicine degrees, online Business degrees and more.
- Georgia Institute of Technology – 21 fully online programs: online Business degrees, online Engineering degrees, and more.
- University of Sheffield – 24 fully online programs: online Medicine degrees and more.
- University of Birmingham – 67 fully online programs: online Humanities degrees, Online Social Sciences degrees, Online Education degrees, online Design degrees and more.
- University of Leeds – 12 fully online programs: online Engineering degrees, online Humanities degrees and more.
- University of Nottingham – 15 fully online programs: online Humanities degrees, and more.
- University of Southampton – 12 fully online programs: online Medicine degrees, online Computer Science degrees and more.
- Boston University – 39 fully online programs: online Business degrees, online Natural Sciences degrees, online Social Sciences degrees, and more.
Conclusion
As an online student, you can save money on costs that in-person students often pay, like transportation fees and campus housing. That said, college tuition is higher than it’s ever been. Many online colleges are priced competitively with traditional in-person schools.
Like on-campus students, online students are eligible for financial aid. Note that your school must be accredited for you to qualify for federal financial aid.