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With the ever-changing job market and increasing competition, more and more adults are seeking additional education to help them in their current professions or to prepare them for a career change.

Leaving work for two years to go into a full-time program isn't an option for many adults. For them, online learning can be their best choice. Taking courses online enables adults -- who want to pursue an advanced degree but don't want to sacrifice the time they spend with their family or the momentum they have in a career track -- to further their education without sacrificing other priorities. Online programs allow learners to take courses when it's convenient for them. Without set classroom time, learners can work on assignments from home, the office, or on the road -- as long as they have access to email and the Internet.

Growth of the industry
The U.S. Department of Education reported last summer that more than 3 million people tapped online classes in 2001 and projected that by 2006, that number would be up to 6 million. According to the 2003 Sloan Survey of Online Learning, besides the online-only programs, 81 percent of site-based schools offer some sort of online program; so there's a program to cover just about every discipline or subject area.

Online learning first made waves in the early 1990s when the Internet was starting to make its way into mainstream daily life. A milestone was reached in 1999 when Jones International University, Ltd. (JIU), became the first fully online university to receive regional accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission. The accreditation JIU received is the same accreditation that is awarded to site-based institutions and is regarded as the standard in accreditation practices in this country.

Challenge of online learning
It's a common misnomer that online classes are easier than classes taken face-to-face or less interactive. In fact, online classes can offer more of a challenge to students because no one can hide in the back of the classroom. Everyone in an online class is required to participate in the discussion, and often assignments are posted on the class website so that others can make comments and provide feedback. This interaction also means that students and faculty are very accessible. No longer do students have to wait for office hours, they can just send an email.

Anita Gilkey who recently graduated from JIU with an MBA in Project Management says she was surprised by how much work was required. "I thought online learning would be easy. Having been through it myself, I have every bit of respect for individuals with online degrees as those who achieved through more traditional methods," she says.

Fellow classmate William Hall agrees. "I was most surprised at how intense an online education was. You really had to put in time and effort to be successful."

Building your network online
Not only are students surprised by the amount of work and dedication that online programs take, they are impressed by the relationships that develop between classmates who are located across the country and around the world. Building a network is often one of the top reasons adults want to go to graduate school and this aspect isn't lost online.

Loren Bonds, another classmate of Gilkey's and Hall's came to admire and respect his classmates so much that when he created his own software business in January, he was comfortable filling key roles with classmates he had never met face-to-face.

"I knew I could count on them to work collaboratively despite our differences in time and space," Bonds says. "By far the greatest highlight of my JIU experience was the people. As an online university, we are forced to communicate. We can't have preconceived notions, rather we learn each other's strengths and weaknesses based upon our individual contributions."

There are many benefits to online learning programs. The biggest benefit is that these programs are allowing adults who thought they couldn't go back to school another opportunity to pursue their educational goals.

To learn more about Jones International University, visit www.jonesinternational.edu or call (800) 811-5663.

Courtesy ARA Content

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