Is Online Education Proving to Be Successful - Essay Example

Is online education proving to be successful? Module Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Success of online education 3 Introduction 3 Overview 3 How online education works 4 Findings and analysis of online education success 5 Conclusion 10 Recommendations 11 References 13 Success of online education Introduction Higher education has undergone a drastic transformation that embraces the digital era. Through the digital generation, communication has been easier than ever. Online education is the use of electronic technology in teaching and learning (Mitchell 2010, 23). It is also called information, and communication technology learning web-based Education and internet based learning. It uses various hybrid methodologies and formats that include the internet, Compact Disc-ROM and other electronic media, software and online learning (Anderson 2008, 87). Online education is the use of the internet in presenting education content. Their instructors provide automatic feedback to the students. In most cases, more concern is on learning content rather than communication between the teacher and the students. With this information, the paper will explain how online learning works and analyse whether online education is successful or it is prone to fail in the future. Overview Online education involves the use of educational technology, information technology, communication technologies and organized electronic media in teaching students. This learning system can occur inside or outside the classroom and can be an instructor-led, self-paced or asynchronous learning. The hallmark of this online education system is that it favors distance learners since it is flexible and has blended learning process (Palloff & Pratt 2007, 44). The system can range from a scale of none online education to complete online education. This system appeals to young learners who embrace technology and E-learning. Online education became common in the 21st century following the increased demand of people to learn. Most universities offer various online certificates and programs online. It has become an easy and convenient way through which institutions make profit at the same time learners’ benefit from the reduced distance. The system is cheaper and saves much of the time. Access to the internet and the skills of utilizing the system are the principal factors that see success in utilization of online education. May students have graduated with online degrees and masters (Castano-Munoz, Sancho-Vinuesa & Duart, 2013, pg. 245). Others are increasing enrolling for both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in various institutions. There is an increased competition between various institutions in order to provide the best quality and attract more students. This competition is healthy because it improves the quality of education. Regardless of the efforts done, there are challenges that the online system faces that question the future of online education (Metz, 2010, pg.20). How online education works Designing and establishment of the instructional environment is the first step taken when serving a new student with online education. This instructional environment poses challenges to the new students and even the institution of higher learning (Mitchell 2010, 60). Likewise, decisions on supporting the online system infrastructure pose a challenge. Teaching of the faculty members is, and provision of support personnel is required. The designing of the system infrastructure and puts into consideration how the instructors will deliver the instructions (Mitchell 2010, 65). In this scenario, interaction leave and infrastructure required will be governed a number of factors including whether the time that class will take place is different and if the place environment is different. Consideration is on the exact time of loggings and participation in online interaction, network resources, and availability of computers and students` requirements during the process (Shelton & Saltsman 2005, 87). Findings and analysis of online education success The paradigm shift in technology has made advances to education system. Education is accessible to most potential students. There is an increased demand for online education opportunities. This has proven online learning successful and in the future, it will have more demand because of its accessibility. Statistics done in 2010 by Sloan Survey of Online education revealed that the enrolment rose by one million learners from the previous year and at least 30 percentage of all university and college students pursue at least one online program or course (Mitchell 2010, 76). This has been attributed to the online system that is flexible and does not require traveling.it is also famous because of its accessibility, customised learning experience, and it is personalised. Still there is a projection of three-fold rises of this number because more and more people are embracing this system (Haley & Heise 2008, 67). The table below shows progressive enrollement of students in traditional and online education in United State of America. Table 1 Total Student Headcount in All Distance Education and Traditional Education Course Sessions Fiscal year Distant Education Tradition Education Total % of Total headcount 2005-06 328,372 2,630,207 2,958,579 12.48% 2006-07 392,355 2,694,149 3,086,504 14.56% 2007-08 483,884 2,810,572 3,294,456 17.22% 2008-09 611,689 2,923,137 3,534,826 20.93% 2009-10 649,518 2,758,831 3,408,349 23.54% 2010-11 675,760 2,570,688 3,246,448 26.29% 2011-12 643,255 2,388,913 3,032,168 26.93% At the same time, long distance is accelerated by the system that saves time and money. It makes the world a small village to live and study. Along with the numerous benefits, the online system has spurred a new set of demand from a wide range of stakeholders that include instructors, students, advocacy bodies, and regulatory institutions. This shows the success that the online education system has received (Capdeferro & Romero, 2012, pg. 30). Academic accountability and transparency are integral things that have catalysed online learning. Because of the increased number of those enrolling for online certificates and degree courses, universal standards of quality have been uplifted (Arinto & Akthar 2009, 55). In regard to that, the online programs must adhere to set standards despite the quality offered differing from one institution to another. However, advocacy groups and students are seeking for more consistency, excellence and accountability (Mitchell 2010, 82). Research has demonstrated that E- learning can be just and effective than classroom instructions. The table below explains some of the factors that favour online education. Table 2 The Top Seven Reasons why Students took a Distance Education Course in the Fall 2012 Term in USA. The course was convenient with my work schedule 22.5% The course met requirements for the associate degree 22% The course met requirements for transfer to a 4-year college or university 19.5% The course would improve my job skills/expand my job opportunities 13% I had a personal interest in the subject 9.2% I enjoy learning on a Computer 7.8% I had success with a previous distance education course 7% The course and content quality has also proven success. The escalating focus on accountability and transparency has also mounted focus on improved course and content quality. Learning management tool has been used to assess and amplified the quality of course and content offered through online learning (Palloff & Pratt 2007, 77). This system challenges students, offers them progressive academic development, and yields academic satisfaction and success. Evaluation of a number of key factors such as time and task, information retention, answer confidence, grades and satisfaction, helped to determine the quality of learning offered ( Sigal 2013, 24). Through periodic use of the tool, the instructors can continuously monitor, evaluate and optimise course content in order to help students overcome academic hurdle and address difficulties timely. The future challenge lies on how the credentials of the online education will be awarded and which courses and programs will be accredited to be offered online. The success of the online learning is tailored to the role of the instructor. This influences the academic success and satisfaction of the students. The reality is that the technology will not replace the teacher even in full online circumstances (Shostak 2010, 97). With effective education tools, instructors have new ways to engage and teach students with demand on time. With the day-to-day progress and advance of online programs, the instructors are compelled to strive for excellence and quality course content. Most institution blends nowadays classroom instruction with online learning because online education has seen tremendous success (Shelton & Saltsman 2005, 87). To support and monitor the efforts of the instructors, academic analytic and assessment tools are employed by administrators to analyse the individual performance of the instructors and the areas they need to improve. By this ongoing assessment both in the students and the instructors, the institution can achieve higher standards and cultivate an environment of quality education (Kidd 2010, 63). The online system offers adoption of teacher to student and student-to-student collaboration model. This has influenced in a mighty way the way teaching and learning is done, and learning has continued to evolve. This has further proved that online education has evolved successfully (Finkelstein 2010, 93). Collaboration tools that are used include the social networking, wikis and blogs, user generated content, video conferencing. These tools have seen a change in learning where instructors can teach using more than one medium and eBooks have replaced printed books (Mitchell 2010, 51). This shows how modern technology has been embraced in the education sector. The success in online education can also be attributed to the movement from the video lecture model of learning to a highly interactive teaching model based on frequent questions instructors to provide active online support for the learners. This system cannot be matched with the traditional classroom model. The research done on the effectiveness of training languages online showed that students learn languages faster online (Kidd 2010, 63). The learners find more motivated to learn through this system because it is interactive and stirs competition between the interacting learners. This makes learning of languages even easy and fun to understand. The pie-chart below shows response on satisfaction of the online course among the users. Conclusion Online education has shown to offer enormous saving of both travelling time and money. This has made it see a major success and create a huge demand. Notably, online education has shown improvement of education in the vast majority of learners even though some courses do not demonstrate improved quality through online education. The range that online education has replaced the old classroom teaching is adaptable and ranges from none to complete online education. The global online learning industry has generated profits to institutions, therefore, propelling competition to offer better quality of education to the learners. Most universities have adopted the online courses and programs in order to be at par with other institutions in order to reduce unnecessary costs and allow convenience. Online education has drastically shortened the time learners take to line in relation to offline education model. The tutors at the same time can attend to more students in relation to the offline system. The learners also have a chance to engage in better interactive teaching methods. The challenge in the future is to ascertain the exact systems and strategies to deliver education content and assess the type of instruction system in education market. The credential aspect and transparency might pose a challenge in the future. All these factors point to the success of online education in the current educational system (Peat & Helland, 2004, pg. 56). Recommendations With the increased demand of online education, improvement of the system to have better quality of education is paramount. There is likely to be a paradigm shift of education to complete online education in the future. This means that a lot has to be put in place to ensure success. The following are some of the recommendation that is aimed at improving the system. First, the learners participating in the system should connect at all times. This means that the E- learning should never place or state-based. This will ensure continuously learning process of the learners as they interact. Second, there is a need to make the online lessons fascinating and share materials online. This will motivate the students to utilise the online resources and participate more in the lessons. The system will be done to ensure the use of the textbook is eradicated, and the learning centres for online should be available to all students all the time. The connection aspect and interaction of students engaging in E-learning is paramount for the success of the system. Since the curriculum taught throughout the universe is the same then there is a need to connect as many students as possible. The online conversation in such a situation can be robust, and learning will be more relevant and enjoyable with a high number of students and teachers participating. Finally, there need to be a comprehensive system in place that will determine the quality of education provided and the system that will determine the transparency and accountability of the course content. This will act as a watchdog in order to avoid students graduating with programs and courses that are to accredited or have not acquired the necessary skills and knowledge. This is following the high number of online education programs that are mushrooming and are not regulated without any body, through this, the online education system will face a bright tomorrow and quality teaching and learning will be achieved. References Anderson, T. (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. Edmonton, AU Press. Arinto, P. B., & Akhtar, S. (2009). Digital review of Asia Pacific, 2009-2010. Montréal, Orbicom. Capdeferro, N, & Romero, M 2012, Are Online Learners Frustrated with Collaborative Learning Experiences?, International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning, 13, 2, pp. 26-44, ERIC, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 November 2014. Castano-Munoz, J, Sancho-Vinuesa, T, & Duart, J 2013, Online Interaction in Higher Education: Is There Evidence of Diminishing Returns?, International Review Of Research In Open And Distance Learning, 14, 5, pp. 240-257, ERIC, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 November 2014. Finkelstein, M. J. (2010). Dollars, distance and online education: the new economics of college teaching and learning. Phoenix (Ariz.), Oryx press. Haley, K. L., & Heise, K. (2008). Building the successful online course. Charlotte, N.C., IAP- Information Age Pub. Kidd, T. T. (2010). Online education and adult learning: new frontiers for teaching practices. Hershey, PA, Information Science Reference. Mitchell, R. L. G. (2010). Online education. San Francisco, Calif, Jossey-Bass. Metz, K 2010, Benefits of online courses in Career and Technical Education, Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers, 85, 6, p. 20, MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 November 2014. Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco, CA, Wiley / Jossey-Bass Peat, J, & Helland, K 2004, The Competitive Advantage of Online versus Traditional Education, Online Submission, ERIC, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 November 2014. Shelton, K., & Saltsman, G. (2005). An administrator’s guide to online education. Greenwich, CT, IAP-Information Age Pub. Shostak, A. B. (2010). Creating the school you want: learning @ tomorrows edge. Lanham, Md, Rowman & Littlefield Education. Sigal, A. (2013). Advancing library education: technological innovation and instructional design. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10837902. Read More