Women Students Are Ruling The Online Learning World

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Online education has become the need of the hour for many aspiring learners and professional who want to earn a higher education qualification and gain relevant skills for career development. Today, you can find a wide range online programmes and courses offered by various universities and online platforms. By expanding the reach of education, online learning has increased the accessibility of education and enabled millions across the world to build their careers by gaining required skills. However, experts have observed that globally there are more female online learners as compared to men.

Why do women dominate the Online Learning Scene?

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Amanda Tutlewski wanted to finish her master's degree in nursing, but as she has 2 small kids and regularly travels a long distance for work, pursuing a traditional course simply did not seem feasible to her. Hence, she decided to study online and began looking for suitable courses offered by online platforms and universities. Eventually, she opted for the online master's programme offered by Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. After Amanda moved to Key West, Florida from Indiana with her family after a few months for her husband's career commitments, the move seemed smooth and seamless. After completing more than half of her programme, she claims that she would opt for an online course again without a second thought.

Amanda said “It's convenient and it's flexible.”

The fact is, female learners like Amanda Tutlewski are currently dominating the online learning sphere on a global scale. In spring 2015, more than 70 per cent of online undergraduate level learners were women as per a recent study. At the graduate level, over 72 per cent of learners were women.

Growing volume of Female Online Students

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Latest data from the U.S. News reveals that some online courses at bachelor's level comprise of almost only women. During 2013-14, many online institutions across the US like D'Youville College, Sacred Heart University, @stephenscollege , Dakota Wesleyan University, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, University of Missouri-St. Louis, saw the highest percentages of undergraduate students who were women. This was observed from the 224 ranked courses from which data were collected, excluding programmes that are female-only. Academic experts believe that there are a number of probable reasons for this evident gender inequality in online education. One of the most feasible reasons is that more women are now keen on earning higher education qualifications in general. A new report released by the National Center for Education Statistics in May 2015 reveled that girls comprised around 56 per cent of undergraduate students and over 59 per cent of graduate learners in fall 2013.

Empowering Women Professionals

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Carol Aslanian, senior vice president of Aslanian Market Research and author of the new research of online learners, believes that another probable reason for the growing number of women in online learning courses may be related to the type of career they have.

She said “Women tend to enter professions where continuous education is needed and degrees and certificates are valued and even required. Education, the social services, the health professions - all have requirements for further education to move up the career ladder.”

Linda L. Strong, associate professor of nursing at Sacred Heart University, Connecticut, supports this claim and believes it is one of the primary reasons why 94 per cent of online undergraduates at the institute are women. Another prominent reason for this trend is the fact that online education allows women to effectively balance their jobs, studies and family commitments, irrespective of their career type.

Even the education consultants agree with this fact. 

Women’s Domination In Online Education. More Women In Virtual Education! http://t.co/jaPJ3XfBLW

— Mark William (@UKMarkWilliam) August 14, 2015

What do you think? Feel free to share your own thoughts, opinions and experiences with us by commenting below.

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Grants To Loans: How You Can Earn An Affordable Degree ?

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Are you concerned about the chancellor George Osborne’s 2015 budget for higher education? Numerous students and experts across the UK have criticised the decision that grants are to be discarded and replaced with loans for poorer students from September 2016 as aspiring learners are now having doubts whether they will be able to accomplish their academic goals.

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 The Osborne budget

Osborne remained firm on his decision and claimed that the move will fetch enhanced “fairness” to the funding system in higher education. He also said that this decision will result in saving £2.5bn even before the commencement of the next general election. However, if you want to know how you can deal with the new budget plans and still pursue higher education, then we have exactly what you are looking for.

Here are a few tips from the editor-in-chief of money.co.uk and renowned personal finance expert, Hannah Maundrell, on how you can pursue a university degree from the UK after September 2016 without running into excessive student debts....

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What does the budget mean for students?

The most important thing we need to realise that the onus is primarily on the universities to help learners from impoverished backgrounds. If you are a student from a low income family and searching for better options, then you must consider financial support as an highly important factor.

Do not let this transition from grant to loan discourage you and avoid higher education. You will only feel the financial burden when you start earning sufficiently and when you will be unable to repay your loan before the 30 year limit is over.

So much doublespeak in Osborne's budget. Slashing student maintenance grants increasing access to education?! #budget2015

— Stephen Gaskell (@stvgskll) July 9, 2015

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What should students do?

It is not mandatory that you will need to pursue a university degree. There are various other options available for you that can offer you world-class learning experience without feeling any financial burden. I believe one of the most feasible and beneficial options is to pursue an online degree.

there is a great demand for online learning courses from both students and employers worldwide. You will not only receive quality education, but you will have excellent networking opportunities and become eligible for high paying jobs in leading companies. Moreover, by studying an affordable UK university degree, you will be able to avoid the the financial burden created by Osborne's budget plans and earn a recognised degree without taking out student loans. You can also do an internship or apprenticeship while pursuing an online course and gain relevant work experience to boost your employability.

Here are few reaction of the young students

Degrees 'will cost £6,000 more' after George Osborne freezes the threshold for student loan repayment in #Budget2015 http://t.co/wQom02oB2A

— Unite the union (@unitetheunion) July 21, 2015

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How will the budget affect the future of education?

It is simply make higher education more expensive. It seems that tuition fees are set to increase further and in future, government can instruct graduates to repay their student loans faster, with more interest and in full amount. The UK government has hinted plans to pressurize new graduates even more by making the repayment threshold freeze for 5 years at £21,000.

In this scenario, online learning programmes simply seem better and more feasible for most students now, especially for poorer students.

What do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts and views with us by commenting below.

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Students Selecting Online Classes For A Promising Future!

Observing the surging popularity of online education among the new age learners, a number of universities are coming forward to add an online module to their usual curriculum. With a record of enrolling hundreds of students every year, online classes are striving hard to cater to the learners all over the world. Moreover, countries from developing regions are also showing their eagerness to join the revolution of e-learning to remove the educational issues from their societies with the help of technological advancement.

Learning online is a special and rational way of obtaining knowledge. The three prime reasons for it being preferred over traditional education system are:

No further hassles - Online classes allow people to enhance knowledge who are unable to attend universities because of either residing miles away from a reputed institution or have a too busy schedule to attend classes. Online classes commonly allow their students to take classes at their convenience. People with professional commitments or familial obligations fail to pursue an academic career through regular classes. But today you may attend classes on weekends, during evenings and even at late night hours. An internet connection is now at your disposal to let you enjoy learning when you feel like.  

No added costs- Monetary predicament has always been there as one of most serious issues that kept a large section away from pursuing further education. Learning via internet subtracts commuting costs, boarding charges, food spending and many additional expenses, that are unavoidable in regular courses. Apart from that, distance learning’s mission to reach out more to educate compels constant innovation. Their effort to enlighten more people results in more affordable courses for the learners from different class.

Career enhancer- Learners from different classes, sectors and countries are taking up online courses to boost their professional career as it hardly requires any compromise with job or family. Although varied courses are being offered and chosen, demand for professional and employer-based courses has elevated to a great extent. 

Demand for trained workers is on the rise and obtaining certified knowledge without career break has never been so easy; now everybody wants an impressive credential to achieve a better position in the company through a degree online. This is why a lot of students are opting for MBA courses online. Now you can hone up your managements and administrative skills through world-class institutions and that too without any career break. 

Especially since UK considered one of the most reputed places to obtain an international qualification, Online MBA courses in UK are getting response from billions of students across the world as it is giving them an opportunity to achieve a dream career and enhancing the leadership skills. Now anyone hoping to achieve a UK qualification from an online international business school can do so in an affordable way. Moreover, these online courses in business studies are giving huge confidence to the experienced workers who are deciding to start up something of their own after pursuing those degrees.

So, is it the end of campus learning?

Although the reasons are good enough to turn you away from regular learning courses, it would be really unintelligent to think that campus learning will cease. Audio-visual lessons are great tools for effective education but it cannot replace campus learning system. The importance of live or face-to-face instruction will always be there. Computers cannot replace tutors; experts think it’s funny to think that way. A section feels it would be much rational if it is considered as a supplementary system rather than treating it as an alternative medium. They think blended learning is the future and the option combining the best features of online and offline classes will be admired by the most in future.

Well, if face-to-face instruction will exist or students will be more attracted toward the blended learning remains a question; but growing popularity of online education is the present. And whether or not it will be able to remove the traditional learning form is not important now. It is getting more students eager to complete their courses and its winning strategies are gaining remarkable response is the fact. So, if traditional education system don’t mould themselves according to the situation and emerge as a more adaptable system, chances are there that the dearth in popularity will grow severe and online may appear as the principal system of acquiring knowledge very soon.