In recent years online enrollment grew at a much faster rate than the general college student body. But last year’s Sloan report showed a lower percentage rate of growth, prompting speculation that growth in online courses has started to level off.

Those concerns were proven groundless with the release of this year’s report, which shows no indication of a plateau in the growth of online enrollments. More than 3.2 million students took at least one online course in the 2005-2006 school year. This record enrollment is a whopping increase of over 800,000 more than the 2.3 million online students the year before.

The report brings some other interesting facts to light:

- Online students are generally older than the more traditional student, and are often working adults with family responsibilities.

- The majority of online students are undergraduates, although the proportion of online graduate students is a bit higher in comparison to the overall higher education population.

- More than 96 percent of the very largest institutions with 15,000 or more total enrollment offer online courses. This level of enrollment is more than twice the rate of the smallest institutions.

- About 2/3 of the very largest schools have fully online programs versus about 1/6 of the smallest institutions.

- 62 percent of chief academic officers believe that the quality of online instruction is equal to or superior to that of face-to-face learning.

- While a majority of chief academic officers believe online courses are high quality, only 4.6 % of chief academic officers thought there are no significant barriers to widespread adoption of online learning.

- 2/3 of academic leaders believe a lack of discipline on the part of online students is a critical barrier to online learning.

- Barriers to online learning include faculty issues, with the acceptance of online learning and the need for greater time and effort required for teaching online as important barriers. On the other hand neither a perceived lack of demand on the part of potential students nor the acceptance of an online degree by potential employers was seen as a critical barrier.

With a record online enrollment growth on a numeric and percentage basis, any fears that online enrollment levels are leveling off can be laid to rest. Each year, ever increasing numbers of students are finding that online courses are an integral part of their learning experience. And while the rate of increase is sure to eventually slow at some point, it appears that online education is here to stay.

 by Jesse Whitehead

“It’s only going to grow,” said Richard Garrett, an analyst with Eduventures. “The largest high school graduating class in U.S. history is expected to be 2009. There is going to be a lot of pressure on these students to get education in a competitive market.”

Excerpt fom the Washington Post

With the ever-changing job market and increasing competition for stable, well-paying jobs, more and more adults are seeking additional education to help them in their current professions or to prepare them for a career change. For people who are working full time, online learning, sometimes referred to as distance learning, can be a great choice. 

Taking courses online enables you to pursue an advanced degree without sacrificing the time you spend with your family or the momentum you have in a career track. Online programs allow learners to take courses when it’s convenient for them. Without set classroom time, learners can work on assignments from home, the office, or on the road — as long as they have access to e-mail and the Internet.

The practicality and convenience of online learning has helped it become a popular choice among busy adults. Currently, there are hundreds of thousands enrolled in online degree programs.  University of Phoenix, the largest accredited university in the United States – and leading online university — helps more than 180,000 working adults achieve their academic and career goals every year.
 
Online learning offers many benefits. Most programs have rolling admissions and courses begin frequently so students can get started quickly. Going to school online means no hurried commute to make it to class in time. Students can log on to their course any time of day. And online programs typically cater to adult learners, so courses focus on material that’s important and practical.

Online Degrees are available all over the Internet from valid accepted Universities to fake Diploma Mills that churn out diplomas without need for anything other than cold hard cash.

While the advantages of the Online Degree providing colleges are many the fact remains that the fake diploma mills are adversely affecting the reputation of the legitimate degree providing colleges.

Legitimate Online Degree College vs Fake Diploma Mills:
Universities and colleges online have to be accredited and the best ones like Phoenix University are, but there are again, the ‘life experience’ degree providers like the Belford University that create fake accreditation agencies and then accredit themselves, causing students looking for shortcuts to believe that these are legit institutes and are merely showing them the way out.

However, when all online degree holders enter the practical world looking for a job carrying their ‘online diplomas’ these fake diploma holders cause the legit degree holders to lose out as potential employers lose faith in the ‘online degrees’ so many of which are useless.

The result is what a study reports, “A Vault.com study reports that 77 percent of hiring managers say that an online degree received through an established university such as Duke or Stanford is more acceptable than a degree earned through an Internet only university like Capella or Jones International.” The assessment may be unfair but with so many fake diploma mills employers are unwilling to take a risk.

Some of the ways in which to identify legit Internet Degree Providers?
• Check accreditation of the online degree at US Department of Education
• Check legitimacy of the Internet University at Council for Higher Education Accreditation
• Write to the Diploma Mill Police that authenticates Internet Institutes of Education.

Because early decision improves your chances, you should apply to a college that is somewhat above what you would have otherwise been able to gain admissions to based on your SAT’s, grades and other attributes.  But if you aim too high, or aim for a college that is too popular, you risk being deferred, and then face statistically much worse odds in the regular admissions process.  But don’t lose hope if you are deferred: I know personally two people who were deferred on early decision but eventually got into Harvard, including one off the waiting list.

The other advantage of early decision is that if you do get in, you can basically relax from early December on, and have a great senior year.  You practically must commit a felony in order to have the early decision admission withdrawn. So, you are then able to do all those (school) extracurricular activities that you did not have time for previously.

On the other hand, you give up choice and that “you-never-know” factor.  In other words, you sacrifice that stretch school that you might have gotten into, but didn’t apply to because you were accepted on early decision.  If you believe in luck, then don’t apply early decision, because it is an undeniable fact that college admissions decisions are often quite random, without reason and based on luck.

College tuition continues to rise faster than the inflation rate. Adjusted for inflation, tuition at public universities has risen about 35 percent across the country in the past five years. While public university tuition was frozen in Maryland this past year, it has increased 40 percent in the previous three years. Unfortunately, funding to student grant programs has not risen in tandem with tuition increases. The maximum Pell Grant amount has been flat at $4,050 for five years. Pell Grants cover an increasingly small proportion of tuition, from 77 percent 25 years ago to 40 percent today.

To cover the gap, more have turned to student loans. Paying off student loans is not always an easy task, however. More students are going deeper in debt and it is taking them longer and costing them more to pay it off, as recent legislation has increased student loan interest rates on government loans. Many are having extreme difficulties paying loans off and find that their student debt is having severe effects on their post-collegiate life.

What are the effects? Surveys have shown that significant numbers of young people have chosen to put off buying a home, marrying, and having children due to high levels of student debt. Student debt has a snowball effect; it doesn’t just hinder our economic health in the years following college, but by preventing young people from pursuing graduate degrees and from saving for retirement, it can impact us for our entire lives.

One of the worst effects of increased student loans is that many students cannot afford to go into the public sector. Future teachers and social workers are being driven away from those professions because the salary would be too low to pay off student loans. There is a high demand for those who work in the public interest, but we will not be able to meet that demand if the current trend continues towards higher and higher levels of student debt.

There are a variety of measures we can take to help alleviate this problem. However, we cannot just throw money at this problem; we need to correct the inefficiencies too. One such inefficiency is Sallie Mae and the guaranteed loan program. Instead of directly administering all loans themselves, the federal government guarantees some loans administered through Sallie Mae, a private corporation. The federal government pays interest while the students are in school and pays Sallie Mae the entire balance plus accumulated interest if the student goes into default.

Usually, interest rates are contingent upon the level of risk a lender incurs in giving out a loan. That is why, for example, APRs on credit cards are high if you have a low credit rating. However, despite not incurring any risk on their federally guaranteed loans, Sallie Mae’s interest rates are not low, reaching double digits in some cases.

Not only does Sallie Mae make money through risk-free loans, they make money through the collection agencies they own. If Sallie Mae collects the money from a student in default, they can keep up to 25 percent. For every dollar owed, Sallie Mae can make up to $1.25 if the loan goes into default. Whether you pay your loan or not, Sallie Mae is going to make money.

Needless to say, this arrangement has made Sallie Mae an incredibly profitable company. Their stock price has gone up 2000 percent in the last decade and their CEO is worth a quarter of a billion dollars.

Sallie Mae provides financial incentives to schools that drive their students towards the guaranteed loan program instead of the direct loan program administered by the government. This is unfortunate, because the direct loan program is far more efficient. Studies have shown that the direct loan program costs taxpayers five times less per loan than the guaranteed loan program. However, Sallie Mae’s contributions to politicians have helped keep this inefficient policy afloat.

If more loans were through the direct loan program, then the money saved could help students in a variety of ways. We could raise the cap on grants, we could lower interest rates on federal loans, and we could provide more loan forgiveness for those who choose lower paying jobs in the public sector. Students in debt would also be helped by graduated payment programs. Students pay the same amount on the first and last payment of their loan. Why not allow students to make smaller payments when they are just starting out with a low paying job and gradually make larger payments as they progress through their career?

These are some possible solutions, but there has been little clamor for change. In the past, when Congress has cut student aid, they have hardly done so at their own peril. Despite the importance of this issue to our generation, it rarely registers in discussions of the important issues of the day. Too much debt can hold down our passion, our talent, our dedication and our ingenuity, but it is not too late to demand change.

By Ryan Walden

Before you decide on the college where you want to earn your online degree, you may want to consider where you will eventually be working and where your earned degree will have a better name recognition. Publicly funded and state schools, local to the area of your future employment searches are worth investigating, as they can be less expensive in the long run. This will offer the name recognition that your future employers may be looking for.

If you have done your research and have earned a degree from a reputable, accredited online school your online degree will have the same standing as a degree earned from a typical campus-based one. In fact, for colleges that offer both online and campus-based learning, an online degree is exactly the same as one earned on campus. Nowhere on your degree will it be listed that you received your education online.

As a college educator at the University of Georgia who helps students with their high school to college transitions, Nist should know. After all, she’s seen A+ high schoolers turn into 2.0 undergrads time and time again. But that won’t be you, right?

Of course not! Especially not when you’ve got Nist’s scoop on successful student strategies.

Take action (with texts and lecture notes)
While you may have depended on rereading chapters and rewriting your notes as your main study plan before, things will be different at the college level. “You may have to read 250 pages a week. You can’t reread that three or four times,” says Nist.

Instead, adjust the way you read and take notes. “Since college is a passive activity (you sit there, listen to lectures, take some notes), anything you can do to make it more active is a benefit.” For example, jot notes in a textbook’s margin to highlight key points, reflect on your reading, and review class notes. “Your high school history teacher may have given you a study guide before a test, and all you had to do was memorize it,” says Nist. “Professors in college assume that you know the content; they expect you to synthesize and analyze issues.”

Time is on your side … or is it?
Think about this: You’re going from 7 to 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, of class in high school, to 15 hours per week in college. So why is it that college students are always saying they don’t have time to get things done? As Nist states, “students may have more time on their hands, but they don’t know how to manage it.”

In other words, just because your entire day isn’t bogged down by class after class, this doesn’t mean your schoolwork day is over. “I encourage students to have a 40-hour mindset. Those are the minimum hours you’ll work per week for a full-time job, so you should be a student for 40 hours a week, as well,” she says. Don’t worry–that includes class time, too!
Article provided by The CollegeBound Network

Tools
Before enrolling in a course, make sure you have access to the tools necessary to complete assignments. A word processor can help you to organize your work and communicate your thoughts more clearly. Access to a fax machine, computer with adequate hard disk space and modem for e-mail transmission are “musts” for many classes.

Schedule
Set aside a regularly scheduled time for study. Schedule your studies for a time when you are mentally fresh and able to devote at least one hour to your work. Think of the hour as “reserved time.” If you miss too many study periods, revise your schedule.

Where to Study
You will find it easier to focus in an appropriate environment for study. Find a place that is free from distractions.

Reading Skills
You must comprehend and retain what you read for real learning to take place. At the end of a study session, review everything you have read, making special notes of important points. Reading a computer screen can be hard on your eyes; it may be necessary to download hard copies of reading assignments and communications from your instructor and coworkers.

Communication Skills
Pay careful attention to instructions and be certain that you understand what is being asked. It often helps to develop a brief outline before responding to questions whether they are submitted in writing, via e-mail, orally, or on video/audio tape. Organization, grammar, and the appropriate style are important whichever medium you choose.

If you stay focused on your program and follow a regular study schedule, you should have success with your distance-learning course.

For instructors and learners alike, the introduction of e-learning technologies in the last decade has renovated the all-too-familiar training experiences that endured in organizations for nearly a half-century. From desktop video and instant messaging to just-in-time training using PDAs and iPods, the technologies that are commonly found in organizations and homes are offering instructors and learners a host of new tools that have the potential to dramatically diversify and improve learning. As a result, learning is finally leaving the training classroom and becoming an indispensable ingredient of living and working in our society.
 
These advances in e-learning technology have, however, created new demands on both learners and instructors. The time-tested learning strategies and study skills that most of us developed through 12 or more years of a traditional classroom education can only assist us to a limited degree when courses are moved to e-learning formats. In response, instructors, instructional designers, and curriculum developers have been building an inventory of contemporary skills and techniques for generating useful learning experiences for today’s high-tech learners. At the same time, learners have been informally developing updated study skills and learning strategies in a relatively ad hoc manner.

E-learner readiness

From the challenges of forming study groups in an online environment to new techniques for taking notes while reading PDF files on a PDA, the study skills required for success in e-learning are often beyond those commonly applied in traditional classroom training by successful learners. Many younger learners are actually more capable with video game technologies than theyre are in utilizing online database search engines or learning from interactive chat room discussions. As a result, the e-learning courses that are being used currently in many organizations can present obstacles to learners who have only developed their study skills in low-tech instructor-led classrooms.

As an example, successful learners in high school and college courses have typically developed effective skills for asking questions of and communicating with the course instructor in a face-to-face course format. Yet, when they are offered online training opportunities there may not be an instructor available for feedback, and even if an instructor is available, they are often not accessible for immediate feedback at the time that the learner is struggling with course materials. Accordingly, the pragmatic study strategies used by successful e-learners veers from previous tactics used in the traditional classroom and includes such techniques as using Internet search engines to identify websites that may provide clarification or sending an instant message to a peer in the course while they await instructor feedback.

Without experience or other guidance, most learners—of all ages—are not adequately prepared to learn effectively from the technology-rich training opportunities offered by organizations. As a result, the training investment in high-tech delivery systems and courseware are not regularly achieving their potential impact on learner performance, say Shilwant and Haggarty in the August 2005 CLO article “Usability Testing for E-Learning.” Preparing learners for success in e-learning has become, therefore, a growing priority for training organizations.

E-learning study skills
 
Two essential skills for success in e-learning are adapting old skills and habits from the traditional classroom for use in e-learning and developing and applying new e-learning skills and habits for e-learning. From building a robust vocabulary of technology-related terms to adequately preparing for a debate in online discussion board and building the skills for e-learning typically takes many of the study habits from the traditional classroom and applies them in new ways using technology. For example, learners can apply the Cornell note-taking system even when they’re reading a PDF file they downloaded from the organization’s training library.

In addition to the adaptation of traditional study skills, some technologies have dramatically changed how a learner interacts with their instructors, peers, and course materials, thus requiring the development of some new study skills (see Figure 1). For instance, learners must invent new tactics for creating effective group dynamics when team projects are required in an online environment, such as leading the group through the well-known forming, norming, storming, and performing stages.

By Ryan Watkins