Thousands of colleges, universities and corporations around the world offer online courses. Education is available anywhere, anytime. While course content leans toward business and technology, other areas are growing, such as education and psychology.

E-learning is expanding worldwide. It is estimated that corporate training will grow from $2.2 billion to $18.5 billion. Due to shrinking budgets and decreased interest in travel, meetings and training sessions, which depend on airplane flights, hotel reservations and time away from home, are being replaced by e-learning.

A number of reasons can be attributed to why e-learning has become a mainstream activity engaged in by most countries, practically all educational institutions and a large number of corporations. These include:

- Increasing demand for equitable education for everyone;

- Providing education for those whose needs can not be met by the formal educational process;

- Establishing sufficient physical locations for learning are difficult, due to the increase of the world's population;

- Desire for nations to be involved in e-learning and compete with other nations; and

- Additional sources of revenue which are anticipated.

Finding Success in E-Learning

Not all programs are economically successful, even though universities and corporations are investing large amounts of money for curriculum development and presentation strategies. Online learning requires more instructor time per student than classroom learning. A number of for-profit e-learning institutions have found they must either charge more or provide an inferior product.


Successful e-learning programs succeed because of the following reasons:


- They satisfy a real need. Philadelphia University in Pennsylvania says its online midwifery course is in demand around the world.

- Good research, financial support and extensive marketing.

The Open University of Hong Kong, using the U.K.'s model, attributes its success to an open-access policy, a large range of programs, emphasis on curriculum development, program planning and quality assurance, credit transfers, a provision for student support, research activities, and international outreach and collaboration. Learners outside of Hong Kong are located in Great Britain (57 percent), Australia (31 percent), the United States (7 percent), China (4 percent), as well as Macau and Ireland.


- Almost all revenues come from student fees. Capital expenses such as buildings, labor and electronic libraries are provided by the government. Large endowments from business and commercial organizations are ongoing.

Online programs should also consider the following:

1. The need for interaction is imperative. Courses with little interaction have high drop-out rates. E-mail, chat rooms and discussion boards remove the feeling of isolation and provide opportunities for discussion.

2. Instructors who know how to interact online with students, and are willing to give the time and effort involved, are successful. Too many students in any online activity destroy the relationship required between instructor and student. Also, responding to a great deal of e-mail almost becomes an impossibility. There is a need for professional development for online instructors.


Conclusions

E-learning is not a passing fad. Students indicate online courses can be as effective and even better than campus courses.

Generally, e-learning programs are successful and are expanding. E-learning opportunities will continue to grow as well. And for some learners, it may be the only option.

Material excerpted from “Online learning” by Dr. Sylvia Charp. The original version can be found at http://www.thejournal.com


These are few approaches you can use when starting your online learning program. E-learning combined with creativity, good research & extensive marketing can give good results and help to build successful learning community. As you can see all you need is imagination, some knowledge and business skills to realize your ideas. Good luck!




Inga Guseva, Sales and Support Manager specializing in Education Software.
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