The Effectiveness Of Online Learning

Online learning isn’t exactly new to the internet. And, it isn’t hard to see why it has become so popular in recent years. Students can fit in courses around everything else that they have to do – including full-time jobs, children, and other commitments. They can log into their online portal and get to work on the course.

Another huge bonus for online courses is that they tend to be cheaper too. When an education institution isn’t footing the bill for rooms, heating, and teaching staff, there can be a significant saving.

Aside from those two great reasons, it turns out that learning online might be even more effective than heading to class.

Retention Rates

It has been suggested that due to the engaging content, and the amount of control the student has over the speed at which they consume information, retention rates are higher. The Research Institute of America found that with e-learning, the retention rates vary between 25%-60% higher.

Learn More

Online learning has opened up a whole world of options. You can take a course on Women’s Studies and online finance masters, PhDs, and so much more. Not only do you have more to choose from, but IBM found that online course participants learn up to five times more material. This has much to do with learners having autonomy over their working speed. They can move more swiftly through material they are comfortable with, and take more time over the content that they aren’t familiar with.

Greener

For those who are conscious of the global impact of in-person learning, then online learning makes perfect sense. The OU found that online courses cost up to 90% less energy and up to 85% fewer C02 emissions per student. This is a significant saving. This means that educational institutions and individuals can gain access to the education that they want, without worrying about the impact it has.

Time

Many would-be students love the idea of furthering their education but don’t have the time to commit. Not only that, but the initial barriers of entry exams, interviews, and enrolling face-to-face can pose an issue when needing to book time off from work. When you take much of that out of the equation, and you have to find the time to fill in forms online and perhaps submit and test or a written application – suddenly, a lot of what holds people back is gone. Learning online allows them to break up their time and organize it in a way that suits them best.

Distractions

When you go to a class, there are classmates, bells, chatter, tutor issues, the commute in and out. Not to mention the occasions you arrive, and you’ve forgotten your books. Home does have it’s own distractions too, but typically because you have created your own routine, you are more likely to give yourself a real space to study in the best way for you. You don’t need to block out half a day for one class, you can block out an hour or less.