11 Online Learning Trends to Know Now | Online Colleges

While hastily planned remote instruction differs from fully planned online college programs, education experts say recent cultural shifts and a desire for flexibility accelerated the growth of online learning.

Colleges are now poised to offer more choices in distance learning, but it takes time, expertise and resources to develop quality online degree programs, says Lisa Templeton, vice provost for Oregon State University’s Ecampus and division of educational ventures.

“Many of our faculty and students that would’ve never wanted to teach online or take an online course had to during the (coronavirus) pandemic,” she says. “I think they learned that you can connect in meaningful and transformative ways.”

Here’s a look at the future of distance learning as predicted by those who work in online education.

After a test run for many schools over the last few years, colleges are emboldened to offer more degree programs virtually – especially expanding their undergraduate options, experts say.

Schools may also see a chance to boost enrollment in programs with declining numbers. Shifting programs to online allows colleges to cast a broader net and not rely on local or regional students to boost their headcount, says Ray Schroeder, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois—Springfield and senior fellow at UPCEA: The Online and Professional Education Association.

Arthur Thomas, executive director of the office of professional acceleration and microcredentials in the College of Professional Studies at Syracuse University in New York, predicts that skill/competency-based professional fields, such as health care and cyber security, will rise in popularity among online offerings.

Open educational resources, commonly referred to as OER, are free education tools that are in the public domain or licensed for no-cost use. These can include textbooks, online learning materials and streaming videos.

Experts expect the growth of OER to accompany the momentum in online education.

“We are a public institution, and I think other publics as well really care about the affordability of education, and OER helps make education more accessible,” Templeton says, adding that Oregon State has saved students more than $18 million in course material costs since 2019 by incorporating no- and low-cost course materials, including OER, into their courses.

Some classes and programs are more difficult to offer online than others. For example, the demands of an English course can be more easily fulfilled online than a biology course that requires a lab.

But Schroeder and other experts say virtual reality will break down such barriers and make hands-on courses more accessible online. Others point to interactive videos, online skill demonstrations and similar practices.

The construction management program at the University of North Carolina—Charlotte, for instance, uses interactive walkthrough videos of building inspections, rather than have students read about it or discuss it over Zoom, says Asher Haines, the school’s associate provost in the School of Professional Studies.

Because online education has grown in popularity in recent years, course providers can collect more data to measure and predict how online students will perform, experts say.

Tracking how students are or aren’t engaging with course materials can help pinpoint why some students struggle, or how to improve learning outcomes.

The rise in artificial intelligence will mean more individualized learning, Thomas says. “The ultimate goal of education for years, as long as I’ve been in the field, has been to do what you can so that every student in the class has their own customized form of prompts and assignments and moving at their own pace.”

AI is best suited to do that, he adds, but “we need, I think, more universally developed platforms and tools that are ready to go for education. We can certainly use tools that are out there now to do some things like that, but I think it’s going to need a few more years of product development so that you’ll have platforms that integrate those types of things and then faculty can customize their own courses to be able to be more individualized.”

More than ever, classes are taught both in person and online through a blended learning model, which experts say is likely to become more common.

The digital divide became a glaring issue during the pandemic. Students without computers or access to high-speed internet were at a disadvantage as they attempted to complete courses online. Some colleges deployed Wi-Fi hot spots and set up broadband in public spaces on campus, but not all students who needed such service were so fortunate. Some students flocked to coffee shops and the parking lots of fast-food restaurants to access free internet.

Experts suggest that courses designed to be equally accessible across devices – whether a laptop or cellphone – can help improve the online experience.

But actions to close the digital divide are not limited to colleges. States also play a role.

In California’s 2021-2022 budget, for instance, $6 billion was allocated to expand broadband infrastructure by connecting homes in remote areas to stronger internet service in nearby networks. An additional $550 million was put toward the project, and construction on the first leg of the 10,000-mile broadband network began in October 2022.

Students taking classes on campus can expect to run into classmates in common areas such as the library, the student union and the dining hall. That hasn’t typically been the case for online students, but “even as an online learner, you should feel a sense of belonging and social connectedness to that community that you are in,” Haines says.

Watret expects colleges to offer more experiential virtual programming, like virtual student unions and group activities, as part of the online experience.

“We’ve created a nonacademic component for the students to help them be engaged and get the whole student experience,” Watret says.

Universities and companies for years have offered smaller credentials such as graduate certificates, digital badges and nanodegrees as alternatives to traditional college degrees. Often, these credentials focus on teaching industry-specific skills and, Schroeder notes, appeal to adult learners who may need to add new skills as they switch jobs.

“We’ll continue to see the trend of more and more alternative credentials, that I don’t believe will ever replace the degree, but will certainly scaffold around the degree program and give people the skills, leadership tools and things that they need to learn as they progress through their career,” Haines says. “With technology changing everyone’s jobs so quickly, people have to be lifelong learners if they want to be lifelong workers.”

Many corporate businesses have long offered tuition assistance programs in which employees are reimbursed after completing a semester or class. More corporations are partnering with higher education institutions and are partially or fully paying for online degree programs or microcredentials, Templeton says.

“There’s a lot of collaboration in this space,” she says. “And we are seeing a significant increase in what we are calling that corporate student who’s pursuing some kind of a credential or degree to upskill. And they are doing it on their employer’s dime. So that’s something that’s exciting because the employer is supporting them and then they also have the support of an educational provider.”

In some cases, an employer may also pay off part or all of an employee’s student loans.

Not all college degree programs are of equal quality, whether online or in person. With more online options emerging, students should weigh their choices carefully.

Students should be aware of warning signs such as a lack of program accreditation, degree paths that seem too fast and easy, and an absence of student services.

“I think that we’ve never lived in a world where there was so much flexibility and so much access,” says Ryan Lufkin, vice president of global strategy at Instructure, which publishes the online learning management system Canvas. “Really take the time and explore what options are available, meet with counselors from colleges and universities, and do the exploration to move beyond who has the best marketing to what programs really will lead me to the best jobs.”

Many older students and graduate students find online education liberating, Schroeder says.

But they are not the only ones. Some students of traditional college age – 18 to 22 – are also choosing online programs, experts say.

“Prior to COVID, I think online learning was looked at as somehow less than,” Lufkin says. “And much in the same way that working from home is (now) much more acceptable and viewed as highly productive, online learning is being viewed as on par with in-person classrooms.”