Online Education Continues Rapid Growth

The flexibility, convenience and growing acceptance of online distance education is creating a new trend in how college students attend classes and earn their degrees. Today, almost all public institutions in the United States offer some type of online coursework--either through fully online programs or blended courses where students attend classroom lectures and participate in online class activities.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the number of students enrolled in at least one distance education course increased significantly between 2002 and 2006, from 1.1 million to 12.2 million--and the growth spurt doesn't seem to be slowing down. In fact, the research firm Ambient Institute expects this figure to skyrocket to 22 million within the next five years. By 2014, Ambient predicts that the number of students taking all of their classes online will increase to 3.55 million, while the number of students taking all of their courses in on-campus classrooms will drop to 5.14 million.
In addition to the increased acceptance of online education by students, administrators and employers, University of North Carolina professor Leonard Annetta attributes the growth of distance learning to the younger generations' reliance on technology. In his book, V-Learning: Distance Education in the 21st Century Through 3D Virtual Learning Environments, Annetta writes: "Generation G, the net generation, the millennials, however one might classify them, learn in fundamentally different ways than have students of the past. They have matured in a connected world where information is at their fingertips and entertainment and learning are beginning to become somewhat symbiotic. The growing use of Web 2.0 and social networking is changing how we must deliver instruction."