Who is the typical student of online courses?
Since the late 1990s, the number of students choosing online courses has grown steadily, especially between 2004 and 2016. But what are the characteristics of a typical online student and what do you study by choosing e-learning?
Who is the typical student of online courses?
Since the late 1990s, the number of students choosing online courses has grown steadily, especially between 2004 and 2016. But what are the characteristics of a typical online student and what do you study by choosing e-learning?
Not everyone has the physical to become an athlete, nor the manual skills and competences that a chef must have or the writing skills needed to become a writer. Personality, preferences, character, habits: these are all factors that affect and determine the success or failure of these activities.
The same rules apply to learning in e-learning mode. In principle, if you are willing to work hard, to manage your time in a constructive way, to be flexible, to apply self-discipline, to complete your commitments based on precise terms, self-managing your work and looking for an online training course, perhaps the time has come to try!
The online student profile in the world
Most of those who choose to undertake an e-learning training course are women living in the United States, Great Britain and Germany: according to some percentages, 12.1% of the female population chooses to attend a course in degree online, against 9.2% of men. Online learning allows mothers to study and, at the same time, take care of their children. In most cases they are black students (14.9% in the two-year period 2015 - 2016). Follow in percentage terms the Native Americans (12.2%), followed by the inhabitants of the Pacific islands, with a percentage of 12.0%, the Asians (7.8%) and the Hispanics (7.7%).
In fact, these are employees or mothers, on average 33 years old, who need to study part-time and who choose to undertake a three-year or master's degree online to advance in their professional career, most of the time these are degree courses in computer science, economics, health professions or social sciences of public universities. The great advantage that online learning offers them is the possibility of obtaining time flexibility and being able to study anywhere, at any time of the day.
The student's online profile in Italy
What about e-learning training in Italy? It seems that even today it is not very widespread, since it would have encountered some obstacles to its diffusion, first the aversion rooted in popular culture towards new technologies, the lack of adequate technological infrastructures and the high cost of courses. However, for some years now, our managers have also begun to invest in the sector, and we are witnessing a progressive abandonment of the production of traditional courses in favor of the new 2.0 standards. The future is on our side: the investments made in e-learning training have a higher profit margin and a high success rate.
According to some data, the percentage of learners who choose to follow their online degree course has grown from 4.9% in 2003-2004 to 10.1% in the 2015-2016 two-year period, or doubled about twelve years later. Thus, the growth of students attending an online degree course has occurred in recent years and further growth is expected over the next few decades, including in Italy, given the growing and rapid changes in the world of technology and work, which increasingly reflect a globalized and interconnected world.