What Will Online Education Look Like in 2011 and Beyond? Hear What Top Industry Experts Say

Will online training and e-learning solutions put traditional colleges and universities out of business?

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Feb 22, 2011, 08:30 ET

CLEVELAND, Feb. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Educators love the idea of online courses, but traditional colleges and in-person training programs see it as a threat to their billion-dollar enterprises, according to the findings in a new report, The 2011 Future of Online Education from Prfessor.com. The report brings together the opinions of top online educators. The report can be accessed for review at Prfessor.com/future.

Distance education removes the traditional in-person barriers of learning, therefore allowing millions of young and old to teach or learn what means the most to them, all within the confines of their living room or favorite coffee shop.

"Education is taking a rapid shift toward online services. Business and government entities are using online education to get out information fast and effectively," said John Evans, LE Tech Consulting LLC. "The future of online education is promising for those who want to reach a large number of people in a shorter period of time. It is effective for people with time limitations, and those who have access to the technology required for receiving it. Businesses are always looking for ways to make shortcuts and save money. Online training will save the costs of training staff in conferences or lectures and sending them out of state to receive education. I foresee that this will be a marketing tool used by many instructors in the future."

For example, The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department uses online education to provide legal updates, annual training, mandatory training issues and any update needed to their nearly 5,000-person staff. This allows for all individuals to receive the information in a short period of time, allows verification that the training was received, and provides a record for accountability that they received the training. Once the student completes the course they are checking and stating that they have retained and received the information.

Here's what the report quoted some of the experts about online schools.

Julie Braun from SuperInterns.com says, "Every subject can be covered online, which potentially makes going to a physical college or university obsolete."

Caitlin Muir of CollegePlus.org says, "As Millennials and the upcoming generations become more digital, online education is going to skyrocket. In a world of individualism and personalization, online education offers the ultimate of both for students. College on your time, on your terms."

Luke Macias of SpeedyPrep.com says, "The future of online higher education will see an emphasis on ACE accredited courses as well as standardized testing such as CLEP, DSST, AP, etc. Students are realizing more and more that the first two years of college are simply a review of high school. They are becoming more interested in using dual credit or credit by exam to bypass the general education classes that eat up 2 years of their time and tens of thousands of dollars."

Larry Lawton from Lawton911.com says, "Online education will fade to a degree because interaction with people is the most important part of education. As a man who sees thousands of parents with children who are addicted to the computer they are getting more and more frustrated with online issues."

Download the entire report about distance education at Prfessor.com/future.

About Prfessor.com

Prfessor.com is based in the Cleveland, Ohio area, and is owned and operated by University HQ LLC.

Prfessor lets you build yourself your very own university, academy or training center in minutes, with no tech skills needed. It's 100% completely turnkey, which means that anyone regardless of Web or tech skills can be up and running and profiting in no time. For information, go to http://www.Prfessor.com