It seems that as the economy gets worse, online enrollment for continuing education gets better. This may be because more people are planning ahead and either advancing their current degree or going back to school to help transition into a new career.

A recent report released by the Sloan Consortium found that online enrollment at universities nationwide increased more than 12% in 2007 compared to the previous year. Additionally, a little more than 20% of the total student population in higher education (almost 4 million students) enrolled in at least one online course in 2007.

So how does this increase in online enrollment coincide with the failing economy? I have a couple of ideas.

For starters, the unemployment rate in December was around 6.7% and there was a grand total of approximately 1.9 million layoffs in 2008. This means that a lot of people are without jobs and are looking for new venues of employment or spending their unemployment earning an advanced degree.

Terrence Thomas, the chief marketing officer at EducationDynamics, says that the increase in online enrollment is a result of people planning ahead in anticipation of difficult economic times and preparing for a new career move.

So why do they choose online education?

This brings up my second reason why online enrollment has spiked – affordability. With higher heating and transportation costs it makes more sense to learn from the comfort of home. Additionally, online learning allows for parents to be with their kids and learn on their own time, rather than hiring a babysitter or paying for daycare while they attend classes.

The third reason for the increase in enrollment is probably due to the increased trust in online degrees and the overall quality of online programs.

There are many fully accredited online colleges and universities offering high quality degree programs and many of them are even offered at an accelerated pace. More and more campus-based universities are seeing the benefit of online learning and have begun offering more courses and are competing more for online students.

My advice to those affected by the lay-offs of our ill economy – which may be all of us – is to spend your money on education and career advancement moves. An advanced degree, or any degree at all, will help your chances in competing for open jobs or can make you a more valuable employee in your current position.

If you are looking to get into a new career field with ample employment opportunities, I suggest checking out such recession-proof industries as education or nursing and health care.

I spent the better part of my morning searching for online edcuation blogs.  I’ve had little success in finding any really good resources.  There is the occasional good article but I have yet to find a great online educational resource.  I am quite certain it is out there, but I have not spent enough time looking.  I have come up with a list of about 140 Educational topic blogs, but have not had time to narrow the search for the really good ones.  I hope to have a list of my favorites later in the month.  Perhaps I will use a numeric rating system to rank them.

In my search this morning I did see a very good article about the difference between online and traditional degrees and how they are viewed by employers.  Another post calling for some of the more prestigious universities to throw more resources at online education.

I am still new to this field and will continue to learn and try to pass it on…

If I am going to be contributing to this blog in the future, I should probably become more familiar with the world of online colleges.  Now, I graduated from college over 15 years and was lucky enough to take one course that had some online nuances.  I don’t recall the course but I do remember that the course work was posted online as well as some assignments.  It’s a far cry from how it’s done today, but it was a glimpse.

I started off by searching for other articles and blog posts on the increase in enrollment of online schools and found it to be about what I expected but interesting nonetheless.  There is a good NY Times article about online schools representing the “work from home” and “learn from home” reasons for the need for  online programs.  The article discusses the benefit to the student as well as the benefit to the instructor for online teaching.

An article from Buzzle.com explains that many people just don’t have the time to get advanced degrees unless they can do it on their own time.  The article also discusses the online students may be better than traditional students.

A WFMZ-TV article blames high gas prices as part of the reason online degree programs are on the rise.

Online graduate level courses are rising quicker than undergraduate degrees based on the need for working adults to advance their career without having to take time off work.  George Washington University has seen it’s Online college enrollment double over the last year.

I was hoping to find some information supporting the rise in enrollment due to the economy, but have yet to find any solid evidence.  Perhaps I will do some more research and post again.

OCG would like to extend a round of applause to Lorri MacDonald, who has officially been named the first Online Teacher of the Year. Lorri is an online high school teacher and offers introductory to advanced courses in forensic science.

Lorri teaches part-time for Michigan Virtual School, a division of Michigan Virtual University and developed the forensic science courses three years. She also teaches in the traditional classroom as well, where she has more than 20 years of experience at the middle school and high school levels.

Here is what Lorri has to say about the online learning environment:

“Online learning has changed my teaching practice in my face-to-face classroom…I have become more creative and constructivist by encouraging students to build on their own prior knowledge rather than relying on ‘pearls of wisdom’ dropped during lectures.”

She went on to say that “online learning is the way of the future, the way to reach more students in remote places and more students with up-to-date information.”

Well said, Lorri, I couldn’t agree more.

Additionally, I would say that online instructors must also deal with the challenge of connecting and developing a positive rapport with students in which they will never meet. This simply emphasizes the level of commitment of online instructors who must work to be available, communicate effectively, remain organized and implement creative ways to engage their students.

With that being said, I invite online students of all ages to leave a comment about one of their favorite online instructors so that we can recognize them here on OCG.

Online education provides individuals with the ability to open doors that were once closed. It allows for a single mom to earn her degree while saving money on child care or a working professional is provided to advance their career with a college degree while maintaining their current job.

This is exciting stuff and one of the main reasons we are here. Oh, and by we, I mean Online College Guru.

AT OCG we are passionate about helping others better their careers, education and ultimately, their lives through online learning. We also know that there are a lot of choices out there when it comes to education, and we feel that earning the degree should require the work and finding the school should be the easy part.

That’s the other reason we are here, to make your life easier.

We have compiled data for more than 100 colleges, including degree programs, tuition, credit requirements and college overviews. Then, we make it even easier by connecting you straight to an admissions counselor.

How? Simply submit a request for more information on the college of your choice and there you have it, you have completed the first step toward earning your degree.

And this is just the start. Our goal is to be your one-stop-shop for all things online education and to provide you with up-to-date information, online learning tip of the week alerts and news on the latest trends in e-learning.

The literal translation of guru is a trusted counselor and adviser, or mentor, which is exactly what we strive to be in the field of online education.