How online education is shaping the workforce of tomorrow
With postsecondary qualifications becoming the new norm, being a college or university graduate is no longer a one way ticket to a high paying, stable job. The recent evolution of technology and its integration into the workplace has created a growing mismatch between what companies need from their employees and what they have been prepared to do in school.
Innovations in technology and the speed at which they are unfolding have created the need for hyper-specialization and continued learning and development within the workforce. Today’s leading companies want savvy, self-starters with niche expertise, proven abilities, and an understanding of key disciplines, like digital marketing and social media using up-to-date technologies. Since these specializations often aren’t earned in an undergraduate education, today’s workers feel the pressure to enhance their skill set once they are part of the workforce.
The option of going back to school full-time to gain this expertise results in an individual being disconnected to the workplace for a prolonged period of time. Although they are learning in the classroom, they stop learning in the workplace, which can result in widening the skills gap instead of closing it. It’s become an expectation for today’s workforce to have access to flexible options for professional development allowing them to remain competitive, increase their marketability, and meet the increasing skills gap that exists in today’s workplace.
Increasingly, graduates, professionals, and employers want options for cost and time-efficient programs that train in-demand skills tailored to today’s cutting edge industries. Cue in online learning. Online learning provides a flexible, engaging learning environment. Allowing many working professionals to be employees by day and students by night.
There’s no shortage of online courses that promise to give students the skills they need to excel in today’s emerging industries. But many question whether learning online can provide the same quality experience as the traditional classroom or in-person workshop?
While online classrooms can lack the face to face interaction and perceived discipline of the traditional classroom, it’s flexibility makes learning more attainable to many working professionals. And while there are positives and negatives to both delivery methods, the growing sophistication of online learning is making gaining new skills easier than ever.
Advantages of Online Learning:
On demand access, available anywhere and anytime
One of the biggest advantages of online learning is it’s flexibility. Online courses offer students on demand access to learning materials, letting them move through courses at their own pace. This allows students to balance work and home life with their studies.
Digital Medium
Since 1995 there has been a drastic increase in Internet users, growing from 35 million users to around 2.8 billion users in 2015. The growing trend for digital information consumption illustrates how people prefer to go online for information. Elearning is the future of learning.
Various Delivery Methods
No two learners are alike! Everyone has a preferred learning style, this is where the traditional classroom learning can fail it’s students. A huge advantage of online learning is it’s ability to use various delivery methods and pedagogical design patterns. These help to make learning more engaging and can better support the needs of different learners.
The recent boom in online learning and professional development will have huge impacts on the workplace creating a higher demand for specialized, savvy employees. And with the growing number of companies incentivizing professional development, more and more people will opt into the double role of professional and student.
Learnkit has partnered with leading universities and top subject matter experts to create professional development courses to help companies and their employees brush up on their existing skills and gain new knowledge. We have courses in management and leadership development, healthcare, workplace harassment, and LGBT inclusion.
If you’re looking to brush up on existing knowledge or learn something new, browse our online course catalog.
