Online Degrees - Past, Present, and Future
You may be thinking that this thing they call “distance learning” is a brand new way to get a college degree - another byproduct of the Internet.
Ah, but you’d be wrong…
Sure, the name has changes to Online Degree Programs and they have gotten much more press in the last few years, but you might be surprised to learn that earning a degree by distance learning has been possible for more than 100 years!
Prestigious universities in the United Kingdom, like Oxford and Cambridge, helped students earn a college degree at outlying locations, without setting foot on that university’s campus.
Back in the nineteenth century, Anna Ticknor, a Boston activist, developed a program that helped women to take college courses at home. This was a time when may universities refused to allow women to even enroll, and now thanks to Anna they could get an education. Over time Universities throughout the country adopted similar programs. Students took what were called correspondence courses and graduate from programs even though they were hundreds of miles from campus.
A little know fact about the history of distance education was that during World War II era there was a failed attempt at what was called “radioed correspondence courses”. And this was a foreshadowing of things to come. Colleges never stopped trying to use mass media for distance learning, and with television’s increasing popularity in the 1960s that vision became a reality. Degree programs started being offered through colleges such as Coastline, located in California, which allowed working adults to finish a college education.
Some universities continue to offer televised courses for core courses such as English Composition. Students watch the televised program or videotapes during their free time. The tests that students took for these courses were often offered through the university’s student extension centers, allowing students to schedule a time to come in and take the test during their free time.
Of course, today we have what is certainly the most popular approach to distance learning - the online degree program, which is offered by many online universities. Now with the help of the internet, anyone living anywhere in the world can log on to a computer and access their virtual classrooms, chat with instructors and classmates, and take tests online. It’s all real time and 24/7.
Today, most students who try online degree programs and/or classes like it so much that they never go back to traditional classroom education. That’s because these programs offer so much freedom, flexibility and convenience.
The sad part though, is that many fake degree scams have been threatening the reputation of online degree programs. Often times prospective students don’t know how to tell the difference between a legitimate online degree graduate university and a fake degree scam or a diploma mill.
But if they only head over to this blog, they would “get their education” in those areas, for sure. 
Here is an interesting statistic: It’s called “13 years younger in 13 years”.
In 1996 almost all of the people looking at getting a degree were adult elearners with day jobs hoping to finally get a degree. According to surveys done at that time, most people doing “distance education” were around 38 years old and already had some college credits behind them. The online bachelors degree or the distance learning masters degree was almost unknown.
Now, 13 years later, online degrees are widely accepted and most brick and mortar universities are offering complete online degrees or at the least online classes. And in recent surveys it was found that the average age of those responding was 25 - a full 13 years younger than in 1966. And many students are under 20 (In 1996 none who responded were under 22). And unlike in 1966, when most already had some college, today 22 % of those starting online degree programs have no college experience.
Now for the future. In short, it couldn’t be brighter.
According to a 2008 online learning survey from the Sloan Consortium (an organization dedicated to increasing the quality of online education for institutions, educators and students), online education enrollment rose by more than 12 percent from 2007. That compares to an increase of only 1.2 percent of the overall market in higher education.
In fact, American Sentinel University, which is an accredited online school that provides degree programs and practical education for today’s busy professional, has reported an enrollment increase of 78 percent in 2008.
Thanks to the downturn in the economy, everyone is searching for an affordable way to gain an edge over others in the job market and getting their degree online is one way to do just that. More people are attending online universities because they are changing to a new career where jobs are in higher demand.
And getting a degree online offers a way to get a quality education at a lower cost than most bricks and mortar universities.
engineering online degree
