on line classes

In the last 5 years online universities have exploded in popularity. This leaves us with many questions to ask ourselves. Like how will online learning will replace traditional school buildings? How is this changing educational programs? Will all colleges and universities be compelled to offer classes online? Should all students be required to participate in online learning? Will online students be distinct and different from the students who pursue traditional classroom learning? These questions show how education programs are changing and the need for students to keep up with the changes.

Online learning is growing at an exponential rate and allowing students the flexibility never offered before. I do not believe that the traditional classes will ever be fully replaced by online classes. There will always be a need for a traditional learning environment for advanced hands on labs and classes where high instructor involvement is required. Classes will and are becoming a mix of both depending on the students needs working hand in hand to complement each other. Many companies and now having their employees complete their annual safety, Equal Opportunity and Policy reviews online. The military now has computer based training that allows members to complete their training anywhere in the world at the member’s convenience.

These classes require students to be self starters, motivated and very organized. Students must log in and to complete assignments, competed and respond to other students work and blogs while completing tests in the required time. Online students are forced to become more interactive than traditional students where they can choose to be an inactive member of the class and get lost in a class of 40 to 60 students. For high school graduates this change can to very overwhelming for procrastinators and students that needed constant reminders on due dates for assignments. This is however a very positive changes because the excuse of not having basic computer skills is now a requirement in all universities and most employers today.

I believe all universities will offer some form of online class in the next 5 years. Students must now use their computers to check their grades, register for classes and complete assignments. This is the next logical step in Universities moving towards the future. All students are already required to use a computer in one way or the other for classes now. While the amount of online classes required may be only required for introductory and orientation classes all students will use them.

Currently some students in some professions many be looked at more closely for having an online degree more and more people are getting them and their acceptance will continue to grow. While there will be some online schools that have a better reputation than others university accreditations will help students choose better schools while reassuring employers the quality of the graduates they put out.

The future is very bright for online students and universities in the next few years. If online schools continue to produce high quality graduates and offer students flexible and interactive programs more and more people will choose them. Will they ever replace traditional schools? I doubt it in my life time programs like nursing and architecture need a hands on approach that online classes are able to offer. Students will get all or some of their elective classes online but not all in the near future. Either way it will be very interesting to see how schools change from State Colleges to Ivy League Schools.