Global Online Learning Part 1 – Internet Trends
This is part one of
a six part series on online learning. It examines Internet trends and its
growth as the medium for online learning.
International Internet Use
The use of the
Internet for purposes of communication and information has experienced rapid
growth during the past two decades. The 2013 Pew Internet Use Survey results show that over 86% of all adults
(18+ years of age) in the United States are connected to the Internet, whereas
in 1995 it was 14%. The Miniwatts Marketing Group maintains global Internet usage statistics, which indicated in June 2012
that over 34% of the global population were connected to the Internet and that
this indicated a 566% increase since 2000.
What This Means
The point made by
this Internet usage information is that the path is for the broad use of the Internet
as an education conduit for online learning is widening. In a 2012 global
Internet user survey by the Internet Society, 98% of the participants agreed that the
Internet is essential for access to education and knowledge.
Internet for Education
Evidence indicates
that the use of the Internet for education is steadily increasing and has seen
the fastest growth in higher education. An August 2011 Pew Research Center survey,
The Digital Revolution and Higher Education, found that 77% of colleges and 89% of four-year universities of offer
online courses. Also reflecting this growth in online courses is a Sloan
Consortium / Babson Survey Research Group report, Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the United States,
2013, which found that over
7.1 million higher education students (33.5%) took at least one online course
in the Fall 2013 term. In terms of fully online higher education institutions,
the Online Education Database
organization currently contains reviews of over 1847 higher education schools
in the US that offer online courses.
In the K-12 setting,
there has also been a rapid increase in the use of online courses and
resources. There is an increasing emphasis on online and blended courses and online
learning systems, such as found in the National Education Technology Plan, released by the
U.S. Department of Education in 2010. A Project Tomorrow survey report, Learning in the 21st Century: 2011 Trends Update, found that three times as many high school
students and twice as many middle school students are learning online as
compared to the original 2007 report. It was also noted that in 2011, 27% of
all high school students took at least on class online. In Project Tomorrow’s 2013 Trends in Online Learning Virtual, Blended and Flipped Classrooms, it is reported that 43% of US school
districts offer access to online courses. In iNACOL’s 2013 Fast Facts About Online Learning states that five states – Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Virginia, and
Michigan – require online learning for students in the public schools.
According to the Evergreen Education Group’s 2013 Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning Report, 26 states have state-led virtual schools,
24 states have blended schools, 30 states have fully online schools, and the
number of private online learning options is increasing.
Reflection Point - “The next big killer application on
the Internet is going to be education.” ~John Chambers
