What are the advantages of online education

Despite the fact that online informational melting pot is a rather entangled and intricate phenomenon delivered by the Internet, there are endless opportunities for online learning. Online media space is swarming with controversial news and disputable rumors about the economical and political future of our global society. People are desperately trying to adjust to new normals under the COVID-19 pandemic where the workforce and professional world are exponentially moving online, so does education.

Voluntary social distancing doesn’t mean that you have to distance yourself from the opportunities that are out including advantages of online training and online education. Studying online has already proved itself effective in gaining skills and knowledge vital for hanging in there in new circumstances. Today, going through the training online is part of the job requirements that some employers feel very strongly about.

Obviously, taking classes online is something that contributes to professional development and technical skills without a doubt. So, let’s go over some reasons why you should try online education and what are other advantages of studying online.

What are the advantages of online classes?

Traditional education is experiencing an unprecedented shift to the unlimited potential of online learning. What are the key advantages of taking classes online? There is definitely more than one. Let’s outline a couple of major advantages of online learning. Here is a short list of reasons why online educations is beneficial:

• Setting up your own scheduler gives more flexibility with other activities. Since most people don’t have the luxury of dedicating most of their time to studies because of work, online learning provides an option to study in a spare time. Typically, instructors will work around your scheduler, so you’ll be able to set your hours whenever is convenient for you.

As an example, Grinfer offers an option for 1-1 consultations (in addition to on-demand courses) with an instructor of your choice to customize your learning process pushing it to the maximum. Basically, in addition to digital classes, you can book individual consultations with instructors for a face-to-face interaction if you want an individual approach to the learning process. This should help to work in-depth on your specific goals or find answers to any questions you might have collected while taking virtual classes. 

The idea is simple – if you like the course you’ve taken but felt like you want to continue learning under the guidance of this particular teacher, you can set up your own scheduler and start taking individual lessons to dig deeper into the subject. An actual process of booking with an instructor is as easy as pie. After you’ve browsed around and picked an instructor you’d want to have a consultation with, all you have to do is to pick time slots and book a consultation! Once an instructor approves your request, you’ll jump on a face-to-face video session.

• Easy monitoring of everything that’s going on in class. No more taking notes in class, recording lectures becomes very simple.
• More hands–on experience with technology. Online learning assumes dealing with video files, software for voice recognition and automatic corrections, live exams, etc. You will be able to read along with the video, print the transcription with any annotations, search for specific terms, refer back to a question without watching the entire video again. All these will make you learn new tech skills and learn the troubleshooting of any common technical issues. This knowledge will be very helpful for your future (or present one) workplace and will help you to succeed.
• Getting timely feedback from instructors. Online education is not all about self-study, it is also about getting help and support from a teacher whenever is needed which makes it the best way to learn. Some common software will be used for communication (besides Skype):

Trello –  enables project management processes such as creation, assigning, tracking, and prioritizing tasks.

Dropbox – allows sharing docs and keeping everything needed for work and study at one place with the file hosting service.

Basecamp – a project management tool that is used for sharing messages and uploading files.

Slack – this is one of the most popular messaging platforms used for sharing instant messages in real-time and has the capability to break off into smaller groups to work on specific projects and share files.

Power Planner – this is an ultimate tool created for students for managing and planning homework assignments. This program features grade calculation, online synchronization, automatic reminders, capabilities for communication, and more helpful features.

Is online school expensive?

Online learning is even more affordable than you think. No secret, with COVID-19 pandemic and economic downfall we live in such times now when lots of us are trying to save every penny. However, the job market demands to acquire new skills or update existing ones. The relatively low cost of online learning provides people with endless opportunities to get access to quality education. Since traditional on-campus classes sometimes can cost an arm and a leg, taking classes on the same topic online for much less seems like a nice alternative.

Online learning is even more affordable than you think.

Another good thing about taking classes online is receiving all study materials in digital format which are already included in the cost of the course. No more heavy and expensive books, as well as costly tutorials. Imagine how many trees you’ll save! Plus, since you won’t have to worry about burning gas driving back and forth to campus, here you have a double bingo – you save money on gas and keep air cleaner, which is definitely good for the environment.

To save even more money on online courses, keep an eye on promotions and discounts that you can get with promo codes. Every online eLearning platform offers great deals once and awhile or some online courses with free access for a limited time.

Is online college a good idea?

The vast economic downshift caused by the coronavirus impacted the area of traditional education to a great extent. It is continuing to make a huge gap between people needing education and an amount of money they can actually spend on education.  But let’s go further and discuss obvious reasons why getting a college degree online is a good idea. Is it really a good idea? Absolutely! Keep on reading and find out why it is so.

According to the Strada educational network, over 55% of employees have either lost their jobs or are going through uncertain times being laid off by companies. And these statistics are only of the US. It has been reported that every third person is considering taking classes for additional certification or going back to school to get a diploma. The problem is that traditional education seems too far out of reach for many people for various obvious reasons. In this case, online education seems like a good solution that can bridge the gap.

According to the Strada educational network, over 55% of employees have either lost their jobs or are going through uncertain times being laid off by companies. And these statistics are only of the US.

MOOC stated that over 900 universities across the globe offer courses online providing graduates with digital certification to show legitimate proof of competency in acquired knowledge and skills. Today, more than 50 degrees with specific sets of skills are offered to students online for completion. Overall, enrollment in online courses on popular eLearning platforms has boosted up to 600% since last year. And this number is expected to grow even bigger during 2020. While tuition rates have soared 200% at the traditional universities to catch up with inflation, many online learning platforms have opened their virtual doors to learners offering courses for free. During the peak of pandemic and times of social isolation, Grinfer was no exception. You can still find plenty of courses on Grinfer with a 35% discount on the initial price, which you can get with a promo code.

Because of the COVID-19, the Ivy League was established. This free online course platform is made up of Brown University, Cornell University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University,  Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. Some students have already completed even their doctorate degrees entirely online while working full time. Obviously, if your education was disrupted by the pandemic or you are looking for ways to earn a degree without leaving your house, you can keep on learning and complete a program with MOOC and micro credentials. Experts say that showcasing your accomplishment of earning a degree online in your resume on LinkedIn is a good asset for getting a job. So, don’t let current circumstances put off your dream of getting a diploma and becoming a skilled certified specialist.

Can online courses get you a job?

No doubt, online learning revolutionized the way education can be approached. Receiving a degree online is a win-win situation for many job-seeking professionals, so it is for employers too. With online learning, it is possible to make a massive career shift and earn more money with nearly acquired degree-equivalent education, skills, and knowledge. This approach is especially effective if you’re after tech jobs in computer science, web development, or programming.

Many reliable online platforms like Udacity, Coursera, Skillshare, Grinfer, Lynda.com offer technology-focused online courses from certified instructors. For example, many students have already taken web development courses created by the world-known instructor Rob Percival. His tech courses are not only widely popular across eLearning platforms, but also Rob has his own successful online school Codestars. In case if you are interested in learning web development from scratch, take one of Rob’s most popular courses on Grinfer “The Complete Web Developer Course 2.0”. This course is most helpful for newbies who have zero experience in web development.

Here is a list of other areas where you can find job opportunities with distance education and online certification:

• Data analysis and statistics – these skills are in high demand by such fields as engineering, healthcare, military, and others. Typically, statisticians discover problems in a given system and seek solutions to improve performance and efficiency. This type of work can be carried out remotely or in office settings. However, this fast-growing area demands good math skills and passion for working with numbers.
• Personal financial advising – this job assumes working with lots of clients who are seeking professional advice with financial planning. However, everything can be carried out online now and you can get everything in order advising on investments, consulting on different types of insurance, mortgages, savings, taxes, estate planning, and retirement.
• Cartography – a well-paid job that is in demand by various businesses, military fields, and government offices. You will need to learn how to go about analyzing maps for scale, edit and adjust existing maps, ensuring accuracy and applicability, gather data for creating and updating maps, and employ computer software for map creating. You will also identify topographical and geological characteristics of aerial photos for the purposes of map-making.
• Cost estimation – with this skill you will be requested by many business fields (construction, business, manufacturing) since many industries need somebody with specific knowledge for determining the time, cost, labor, and resources needed to complete projects.
• Technical Writing – this is another lucrative skill that can be acquired with online education. Technical writers most often receive job offers from such industries as computer technology and engineering. In most cases, to succeed you’ll need good experience in computer science or engineering.

This is just a tiny portion of a long list of jobs that you can land with online education. All you need to do is to figure out which way you want to go and find a reliable source of online learning. Luckily, there is a good number of online platforms and programs to choose from. Everybody can find something that will work specifically for them. Anyway, with rapidly increasing opportunities for online education, preparing for career transition becomes more and more accessible, so take advantage of online educational resources and earn more money with new skills.