Online students praise their educational experience in new study

A new study of online colleges and universities has found that the current generation of students is far more comfortable with web and internet applications than their predecessors.

In large part, this accounts for the enormous growth in online classes offered by traditional colleges and universities, says Fred DiUlus, who conducted the study. DiUlus, CEO and founder of Global Academy Online, has been rating online colleges since 2002.

The study - entitled Best and Worst in Online Degree Programs - found that almost all the newly rated online degree providers have been offering complete programs for less than five years. DiUlus said that he sees many of these newer online education providers as primarily traditional brick and mortar institutions who have only recently decided to go the online route.

However, he adds, some have rushed too quickly to put online programs in place and, consequently, have had erratic results. Nonetheless, DiUlus is bullish on the future of distance education.

"The hype that a degree from an online university somehow doesn’t measure up to a degree acquired by sitting in a traditional classroom for years, just doesn’t add up,” said DiUlus.

The survey results show students who have experienced both traditional and online types of learning rate the online education equal to or better than that of a traditional experience 70 percent of the time - and by a margin of three-to-one, they prefer online learning to the classroom.

By Mark Danson