The proliferation of high-speed internet connections has established distance education a feasible option to traditional colleges. More agrestic districts apply video conferencing than urbanized or suburban districts, which rely heavily on the Internet. Indeed, students at the college and university level also rely entirely on the Internet.
An increasing minority of distance educationstudents are working professionals, individuals who work by day and attend classes during the evening, often only two or three times a week. The flexibility of internet education is very appealing to these students as they can successful shuffle work, family, and homework. Many well-respected institutions offer degree levels that include associate, bachelor, and masters degrees. Indeed, the majority of these institutions offer vocational and trades courses also.
The Department of Education thinks online and distant education courses will grow 100% before 2020. The need to manage costly overhead, like campuses and cleaning staff, would become unnecessary, allowing funds to be funneled to the class and coursework level. The concern, as always, is the quality of the work. Distance students are encouraged to develop fruitful correspondences with fellow peers, tutors, and teachers. Ms. Patrick said determining the quality of instruction and coursework could be easier with electronic courses as many factors can be tracked, including the number of times students and teachers interact.