Online Courses Draw Growing Numbers Of Students

According to new research conducted by Eduventures, online education has come to represent a considerable portion of continuing and professional education students at nonprofit institutions. For-profit institutions are typically considered the leaders in online enrollments, but nonprofits now have about 20 percent of their continuing and professional students in such programs. The study, which covered 43 institutions, also found that online courses take more time and money to develop than in-class courses and that half of the institutions that offer online programs have outsourced at least some of the components. Eduventures also predicted that enrollments in online continuing education programs will grow by about 20 percent annually for the next several years.

Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 August 2006 (sub. req’d)