Alabama Education Online
Do employers in Alabama respect an education earned online?
A 2006 study by Vault Inc. suggested that 81% of employers see degrees earned online as more credible than they had been five years earlier. But better than that, 86% said that they would hire someone who had earned a degree online. How's that for respect!
Online education is really a case of "something old is new again": an Internet Age form of distance education. When it was invented in the 18th Century, distance education was what became known as a "correspondence course." While the British took it to a whole new level in the 19th Century, the first correspondence course dates back to America in 1728 before there even was a United States. After that, with a national mail delivery system that spanned the colonies and then the newly formed states, correspondence colleges exploded onto the scene.
Another name for online education is remote learning, and it has gained such respectability that most universities offer degrees which can be earned through online studies programs.
Distance Education in the 20th Century
The true architect of distance education was Charles Wedemeyer of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With funding from the Carnegie Foundation from 1964-1968, Wedemeyer's work Articulated Instructional Media Project (AIM) recommended a number of communications technologies to provide off-campus to a rural populace. As mentioned before, it was the English who first exploited distance learning for full effect with what they called the Open University, now known as the United Kingdom Open University. They picked up on Wedemeyer's recommendations, using TV and radio to reach those for whom location and social position prevented them from enhancing their educations. Initially, the greatest hindrance to the quality of distance learning was the lack of feedback between students and educators. Their question and answers could only be exchanged through snail-mail or by phone.
Online Education & the Internet
With the rise of the Internet in the U.S. - including Alabama - the phrase distance education has all but been replaced by the phrase "online learning" because of this emerging technology's place in the lives of the majority of Americans.
Due to computers in virtually every home and high-speed Internet providers, online distance learning has never been easier or faster. One of the largest universities in America, Phoenix University, is almost exclusively an online. It counts its student body at 200,000 and projects an enrollment of 500,000 by 2010.
But Phoenix University isn't the only institution to see the benefits of courses and degrees offered to an online populace. In 2006, an organization called The Sloan Consortium initiated a study that showed more than 96% of the largest colleges and universities in the U.S had online courses. It also claimed over three million people were taking at least one online course during the 2005 fall term. Remarkable given that most people hadn't even heard of the Internet until about ten years earlier.
Thanks to the Internet's power and flexibility, online learning seems to be the wave of the future, especially when you consider the astronomical costs of traditional higher education. And better than the lower cost of online education: courses of study are the same as in traditional universities! Even serious students intent on a superior education are turning to online education. And it isn't limited to college level studies: K-12 students can get a moderated education at home, or in groups, considered by many to be superior to traditional public schooling - but supported by tax dollars!
From teaching certificates to advanced degrees, online education holds the promise of a brighter tomorrow for America and her citizens. With the virtual collapse of geographical distance and financial restrictions, online education is quickly becoming the playground of educational opportunity. Imagine living in a remote parish of Alabama, but thanks to the Internet getting a bachelor degree, then a masters degree from any university in the state, or the country! And with the college diploma that was out of reach for so many before, finally no one has to see that dream dashed when they can receive an education on line.
