The advantages of online degrees can be traced back as far as 1728 from Boston Massachusetts; students were offered the opportunity to learn shorthand via a postal correspondence course. With the evolution of more regular and widely available postal services, the choice of training subjects increased and also the number of countries where they were available expanded.
The first recorded distance learning degree was offered as far back as 1858 by the University of London under its External Programme, the creators of this program would have immediately recognized the benefits of being able to offer online degrees if the technology existed at that time.
By 1873, the Society to Encourage Studies at Home was founded in Boston Massachusetts and similar University level remote learning programs were launched in New Zealand and Australia. Universities pushed on using new communications mediums from radio to television and naturally on to the internet.
Online degree benefits for the universities
Do you know some quick research on the internet will yield amazing results? Have you ever imagined a university that has over 3 million students? It actually exists; try to imagine a university with a bigger population than Chicago, the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India has this number of students on its roll. While it may be possible to assume this is only a phenomenon in emerging economies, this is not true.
In the United States where distance learning is born, there are strong players including the University of Chicago where William Rainey Harper perfected the program for extended education and is considered by many as the father of extended learning opportunities with particular appeal to overseas students.
Charles Wedemeyer can be considered as the catalyst that brought the benefits of online degrees into the internet age. Working from the University of Wisconsin- Madison, his challenge was to the University management board with the maxim “goes global or goes nowhere”.
As many potential international students would struggle to find out where Wisconsin actually is and even if they would be able to find it, could they get any benefit from holding a degree in this University’s name? The key breakthrough was when the esteemed Carnegie Foundation threw its weight and approval behind the project in 1964.This support led directly to the opening and continuing success of the British Open University program in 1971.
Online degree advantages for students
The key advantages can be summed up as “anywhere, anytime and anyhow”. The great advantage is that the only passing criteria is that you are up to the mark and able to qualify given that you will submit work consistently, you will not need to relocate or spend hours finding out how to live and study in the university home town. For your tutors and the university professors who are responsible for you, it couldn’t be easier.
In a nutshell, your education process starts with the first step you take to submit an online degree application leading up to your successful graduation, their work is to focus on good prep material, regular course work checking and providing advice to help you improve. The good thing is that all these can be done at a time and place that works for you and for them. So in summary, the online degree benefits are clear to see – will you take the first step?
