As the traditional classroom setting becomes more and more obsolete, students are becoming increasingly comfortable with learning online. According to a recent edu-marketing survey, nearly half of all respondents said that they had taken at least one online course, and 44% of those said that they had done so because it was required for their job. This is good news for educators who want to offer courses online because it means that there is now a much larger audience that they can reach. It also means that students now have many more options when it comes to the courses that they take, which can be both a benefit and a challenge.

Why Online Courses Are Popular

The popularity of online courses is mostly attributed to three factors: 1. The perceived value that students get from online courses; 2. The increased accessibility of online courses; 3. The fact that students can complete an online course in a short amount of time.

Students appreciate the value that online courses provide because they see it as a more cost-effective way to learn. For example, one survey respondent said that they had taken an online course for job-related reasons, but that they had also realized that it was “a great way to learn something new in a short amount of time and at a lower cost.” However, this could simply be because the courses that these respondents had taken were relatively inexpensive—the price of an average, four-year university education. It could also be that the courses were offered by a university or a college that the student had already attended and therefore felt that they were already familiar with.

Accessibility is also a major reason why online courses are more popular today than they have ever been before. The internet makes information much more accessible than it has ever been before, and this has greatly enhanced the ability of students to learn. In fact, many students feel that online courses provide them with a better value in terms of access and information than traditional, brick-and-mortar courses do. It would appear that, for the first time in history, a greater percentage of people are getting an education than ever before.

The Perceived Value Of Online Courses

Perhaps the best feature of online courses is how valuable they can be to students, even those who may not have the advantages of a traditional 4-year university education. Today, with all of the information available online, anyone can learn anything that they want to know, at any time, and in any area that they choose. This can be both a challenge and an opportunity.

The opportunity that digital information provides is certainly there, but so is the challenge of deciding what to learn and how to learn it. Fortunately, the internet and online platforms such as Coursera provide millions of hours of content that you can access for free. This content can be customized to fit your goals and needs and provides a means of self-paced, on-demand learning.

Therefore, instead of spending your days in a classroom with a handful of other people, maybe you should consider checking out some of the amazing online courses that are available and using that time to further your education and career.