Are Executive Students really keen for Online Education?

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According to an “executive open program” survey, the results reflected a mixed reaction from the students , regarding the future of online education. No doubt digital learning has come a long way , since its existence, but the complete course going online is not quite acceptable for many.

The main aim of online learning is giving everyone an access to the world-class education. According to the survey, 1/5 of the management students believes that having 25 to 50% of the course delivered virtually was acceptable, and 15% should be a classroom interactive ones. But with the upgradation of technology, webinar and interactive one-to-one sections with the faculty members is not a big issue.

    The Benefitters:  

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Around 80% of the full time job pursuers believe that online education has been a boon for them as it allows flexibility of study time, study material and also cost effective. And the most important criteria to mention is , it educates them.

MOOC s :

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Massive Open Online Courses , which aim at unlimited access of open knowledges via web, have been a serious threat to the regular college courses. But due to some lack of networking opportunities only a handful of participants had heard of MOOCs and just 11% has utilised it.

Other Benefitters:

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Online education has encouraged learning for the college dropouts , who had to engage in full time work process to supoort family. It has also encouraged the zeal of higher education among the defense personals and also old age and veterans.

Career Growth:

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The growing demand of onjob skills and the better management of any business has encashed the idea of online learning to a certain extent. Now-a-days management degree has become a must to rise in your career graph. The current trend shows there has been a sharp increase in the enrollment for an online MBA degree or various other management diploma courses available online by the employees of the organisation.. This courses provide full guidance in terms of study materials and improve the skill sets of the en rollers. Besides it provides flexibility of study time.

The verdict:

Though there are various educational as well as vocational courses like.. cabin crew management, chief degree , nursing degree..that requires pratical training and inhand experience is to earn a degree. In those fields online learning courses can never compete. But still online earning has earned a generous popularity in terms of those education which can be sucessfully completed via web process.

Feel free to share your views with us.

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Online Education Allows Millions of African Learners To Study Higher Education

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If you want to earn a degree from a US or UK university, then you can do it in an affordable way without even leaving your home. How? All thanks to the facilities and benefits offered by online education.

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Better learning Opportunities : 

Zuhur Yasin owns a bachelor’s degree from a reputed US university although she has never visited America. Most of 29-year-old's education in Somaliland (located in Somalia) were completed in a unique classroom that consists of several computers connected with microphones and webcams. Yasin participated in live digital classes and watched videos offered by Indiana University while pursuing her journalism course from the University of Hargeisa. She said “We had discussions and shared any challenges or questions.”

Yasin was connected with the Indiana University through the African Virtual University (AVU), which is an inter-governmental establishment. According to the AVU, the institute has utilised digital learning to train and educate more than 43,000 learners since its establishment in 1997. The university declared 29 new distance learning centres last year. The educators use various apps and programmes like WhatsApp and Skype to interact with the learners. However, the classes are conducted by using particular software.

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Expanding reach of Education : 

The African Virtual University is also planning to offer lectures through smartphones and increasing their accessibility, so that it can be offered to the estimated 112m smartphone users in Africa. Many learners, like Yasin, in sub-Saharan Africa are searching for learning opportunities at recognised universities. The region saw the lowest university attendance worldwide back in 2008 with merely 6 per cent of secondary school graduates pursuing higher education. This figure was much below the global average of 26 oper cent, as per the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Recently, the African Union (AU) launched the eLearning Africa conference on ICT which aims at development, education and training and plans to close that gap and improve the human resources required for economic progress. It is believed that around 1,200 business representatives and government ministers attended the conference. Founder of eLearning Africa, Rebecca Stromeyer, says “Now is the time when technology can really help to entrench the progress many African countries have made in education. If the right decisions are taken now, they will help to sustain long-term economic growth.”

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eLearning is the Ideal Solution :

Education experts believe that online learning tools can help students in Africa to connect to MOOCs (massive open online courses), like Coursera which offers free online tuition from several leading universities worldwide. Earlier this year, the African Virtual University enrolled over 1,698 African learners in their first MOOC that explored different aspects of technology to enhance the learning experience. Mark West, a mobile learning expert at UNESCO, says, “[Online learning] is a portal into educational opportunities that, frankly, hadn’t existed before, and some of those opportunities, if you can afford the broadband connection and the hardware to use that connection, are free. For really self-motivated learners, it’s remarkable.”

But the fact remains that online universities are still facing the challenge of high dropout rates. West believes it will be best if we could combine online education with practical learning and assessment. He says “A lot of people start but they never finish – they don’t finish individual courses and they definitely don’t finish entire areas of study.” Yasin, who worked hard for her online degree, says “In a regular class you have a teacher who is in front of you who makes you concentrate. With the online environment, you have to have discipline, make your own timetable to listen to the lectures, and submit the assignments online.

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The bottom line :

Virtual learning is undoubtedly the ideal solution to the difficulties of students in Africa in pursuing university education. Online courses help to address the bigger issues related to learning in Africa.

What do you think? Share your thoughts with us by commenting below.

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