Benefits Of Distance Learning Reaching Rural Students
It's a tale that's almost as old as time itself. Many rural neighborhoods lose their young because they simply can't offer the same employment opportunities as city life. This trend took root after the Civil War with the Industrial Revolution, and it's still being felt today. Unless they are lucky enough to have a career in agriculture, most country kids must leave the homestead to find jobs. Even the schools they need to attend to get post-secondary educations are located in urban settings. So they leave, causing what some experts call out-migration.
But that was a whole different millennium. A solution is starting to establish itself since the start of the 21st Century: online education. Rural students are earning bachelor's degree online through virtual colleges. The solution even comes with a side advantage - graduates improve their recruiting desirability in the comfort of their home.
There innumerable studies proving online degrees give any graduates a leg up in the employment world. A number of corporate recruiters will testify online graduates have a matching skill set for a profitable worker, including good time management abilities, strong self-motivation skills, and technological know how.
A part of the problem is that a lot of rural areas just don't have access to high speed Internet. The essential communications infrastructure hasn't moved beyond dial-up modems. Online education requires at least DSL, T-Line or similar to work effectively. Broadband also allows students to hookup from anywhere within district limits, whether it's home, the library or a laundromat. Going broadband also allows students real-time communications with their teachers and fellow classmates. If that isn't enough, many companies who need personnel in these areas want personnel who can stay in their district, but report through telecommuting.
There is one other factor that makes this an attractive consideration: cost. Virtual schools, on the average, cost much less than their on campus counterparts, even if advanced education is still expensive. This can be tough for rural areas, which are more likely to be economically challenged than the suburban and urban students.
Going to an online college is a way to drive that cost down, since these students also have financial difficulties that force them to choose between work and school. Many online students can continue to work at their jobs by day and take classes over computers at night.
That leaves only one last obstacle. Many new applicants, especially rural ones, may not have the right tools for online education. They are not accustomed to communicating with fellow students and professors they haven't studied with face to face. That problem should be temporary. Social networks such as Facebook have become a fact of life. Further, millions of children are already taking either fully online or blended online/in person distance learning degrees.
As it stands, e-learning opens the doors to find greater opportunities once they get past school and enter the working world. Many will go on in their education into a distance learning phd program, allowing them basically global employment. Whether associate or phd degree, online education is a large part of the future.
