Statistics of Distance Learning Programs

Advanced technologies are continually shaping our society and the opportunities available to us. In this day and age the internet has a huge impact on how we operate. Businesses have become more efficient, people have the ability to work completely from home, and education is now available to anyone with a computer, internet access and the drive to succeed.

A distance learning program is a formal education where the professor and student are not in the same location. While this may have seemed unusual only a decade ago, distance education has gone mainstream with 66 percent of 4,160 2-year and 4-year Title IV degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the nation offered college-level distance education courses in their 2006-2007 terms.

Not only has online learning become more influential, it is becoming a very popular way to pursue your entire education. Many schools now offer not only graduate and undergraduate degree programs but even doctoral programs that can be completed entirely through distance learning.

Distance Program attendees are rapidly increasing as well. According to the Sloan Foundation 3.9 million students took an online class in the fall of 2007. Now compare that to their 2009 report, with almost 4.6 million students enrolled in at least one online class in the fall of 2008. Those 4.6 million distance students accounted for more than 25 percent of all higher education students in the United States. More shockingly, that number has almost tripled in six years, from the 1.6 million distance students in 2002. This 16.9 percent growth rate far surpasses the 1.2 percent growth rate of all higher education enrollments.

What’s more interesting is that recent studies show “Students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction,” according to a 2009 study from the Department of Education.

Another interesting finding from the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics 2008 is that 97 percent of public 2-year universities offered web based learning programs, followed by public 4-year institutions at 89 percent. Private institutions offered much less at 53 percent for not-for-profit 4-year schools and only 18 percent at a private for-profit 2-year.

The internet has certainly made distance learning a possibility and 77 percent of all higher education courses are now delivered online, according to a 2007 study by the National Center for Education Statistics. Most schools will have a highly advanced learning management system in place, where students can interact with peers and professors and have access to study materials, exam scores and final grades.

About the Author: Logan Smith is a Marketing Associate at SimplyDigi.com, a leading learning management system provider. The LMS is a secure, web-based training and e-learning solution that employs a simple user interface. For more information please visit http://www.simplydigi.com.