Earlier this month, a number of representatives from state and private universities all over California met in Los Angeles at UCLA to discuss the merits of an online college education. Educators and administrators met in response to Governor Jerry Brown’s demand that more online college education classes be created to save money and expand enrollment. This is no aberration. More and more universities are offering online classes of some form and several online universities have flourished, given public demand. So let’s take a look at some of the reasons that more and more people are enrolling in online college classes to meet their education goals.
- Availability of coursework: Oftentimes, students are limited by the types of courses they can take at their local university. Online college classes give students from all over the world the chance to study what they want.
- Professor-student interaction: Anyone who has attended college knows how limited a professor’s office hours are. If you can’t make it within that one hour on a weekday afternoon because you have class or work, you’re usually out of luck. Online college classes give students the chance to communicate with their professors through a wide variety of platforms, including online chat or email.
- You don’t fail if you miss a class: College classes are usually held once or twice a week, which is good if you can make it to class each week, but if you get sick or have an emergency, you can fall way behind. Even if you do the reading, missing a lecture and class notes could be detrimental to your grade. Online college classes allow you to access your course materials – including lectures, quizzes and readings – anytime you want.
- Familiarity with the internet: Let’s face it – we do so many things online today that online college classes provide the best learning model when compared to the traditional classroom. In addition, online classroom discussions through chat provide a way to collaborate and learn from one another that simply isn’t there during a lecture in a big hall.
- Flexibility: Online college classes are becoming more popular as students are enrolling in school part time. Unfortunately, although it would be fantastic to take four years off and spend that time learning the classics and taking electives, most students can’t afford to take the time off. They have to work or may be raising a family, and going to a class at a particular time each week would simply be unmanageable. Online college classes democratize an education, so more than just the select few can attend.
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[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’][/author_image] [author_info]Heather B is part of a team of writers who write content for many different blogs and news sites.[/author_info] [/author]
