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The Explosion of Distance Education
In the next few years there will be over 2.3 million U.S. students enrolled in online courses. Distance education is growing over 30% a year and is expected to exceed $69 billion by 2015. Online students cost less to acquire, less to education, retain, and graduate. Plus they are more likely to continue their education. These are certainly compelling reasons to seriously look at how your school can add distance education offerings.
What Programs to Offer?
A U.S. Department of Labor report indicates that 80% of the jobs in 2010 do not exist today. A large percentage will be in technology. Technology training lends itself perfectly to online delivery. Foreign students are high consumers of U.S. education. However, many are blocked from coming to the states to study Online education would provide them easy access to a U.S. degree. The global demand for higher education will top $215Billion by 2025. The multi-platform schools are heavily into online education. However, distance education programs and courses can be offered by just about any institution, regardless of size.
The Right Way to Add Distance Education
There are five key areas for successful online delivery: 1. Adapt your curriculum to an online environment, 2. Use distance-education trained faculty. 3. Choose the right technology. 4. Be sure you have the right help desk and student service support. 5. Use marketing strategies and admissions reps that are trained to sell distance education.
Can You Add Online Programs Yourself or is Outsourcing More Effective?
Doing it yourself requires investing in software, hardware, online curriculum developers, course development, teacher trainer, 24/7 help desks, and more. Many schools don’t have the human or capital resources to do that. Working with specialists speeds up the process and saves money. Regardless of the size of your school, you can effectively enter the distance education market.
Next Steps and to Find Out More
Tell us the programs you are interested in. You may want to offer your current programs in a distance education format or plan brand new programs. Complete this on-line form for more information. An article about the Five Biggest Mistakes Schools Make in Distance education will be sent to you.
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