ELearning is Re-Shaping Higher Ed

By: Justin Ferriman • February 5, 2014
Filed Under:

distance-learning-jpg

Online education is surely on the rise. The cost effective approach to virtual learning environments just makes sense.

The important thing to remember though is that online learning does not mean that the entire course content is located online. Traditional classroom settings can benefit by supplementing the course content by putting some of it into an elearning module, with the majority of the content still delivered face-to-face.

Still, elearning and online education approaches are only going to continue to gain in popularity.

Back in 2010 (what seems like a lifetime ago), there were roughly 6.1 million students taking at least one course during the fall term.

Given how far our technology has come in just four short years, the education environment certainly is relying upon online course delivery. Keep in mind, this was before the likes of Coursera came about!

Online Education in Higher Ed

Higher educaiton is a market that is surely going to realize some of the greatest change from the elearning model. For example, course textbooks used to cost an absurd amount of money – and would become outdated in a just a couple of years.

Now, with the ebook (and even wiki) approach, there isn’t a need to purchase the textbooks anymore. The major players in this market could take major hit.

The rising costs of education are also a catalyst for the online education model. It makes more sense to work and go to school (on your own time) than to accrue massive debt.

That said, this isn’t meant to be a blast against higher education. In fact, quite the opposite – it is a major player in fueling the industry’s innovation.

References:
Colorado Tech. University

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter