Online Education: Year in Review

Here’s something we all know: being able to sit at home in our PJ’s taking classes through the internet is pretty much the best thing ever. There are so many advantages to taking online courses that it’s no wonder the industry has been growing since its inception (hmmm, Inception? Perhaps Leo DiCaprio and Chris Nolan have been implanting this “online education” idea in our heads all along… which I personally wouldn’t mind if it was foxy Joseph Gordon-Levitt and there were no ice fortresses involved).

There are a few standout advances that have boosted online education this year. In February Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin basically won the academic lottery when the US Department of Commerce awarded them a whopping $300 million to expand broadband access thus improving online education opportunities for students in those states. More recently the tax bill signed by President Obama last week includes some excellent tax credits and breaks for students.

Another reason online education has been climbing the ranks as a preferred method of earning college degrees is that it financially makes sense. The sour economy definitely prompted people to realize that it simply costs less to attend college at home; you don’t need to purchase a food plan, worry about housing, or the cost of gas to and from university. All the while you are still eligible for financial aid. Not to mention the money you’ll save by avoiding campus parking lot traffic accidents.

More and more people are seeing that online education is a legitimate way of furthering their academic careers. According to the 2010 Sloan Survey of Online Learning enrollment rose by approximately 1 million people this year. That’s a helluva number!

No matter how people have gotten involved, whether it’s because of the economic downturn or dreams filled with hunky A-list actors implanting ideas into their minds, 2010 has been a year of realizing that online education isn’t a trend that’s likely to fade.  As with most concepts that truly work towards benefiting students, online education will continue to expand greatly through 2011.