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Daily life is moving increasingly into an online arena. Everything from work to entertainment, ordering food and reading the newspaper involves pressing the power button on a laptop or phone. It should come as no surprise, then, that education is also shifting online. 

Still, the rise of online learning is noteworthy not only for its rapid ascension but also for the impact it has had on students. Admittedly, online learning is not for every student, but those students who feel more comfortable in the virtual experience have benefited in manifold ways. 

In this article, let's investigate the rise of online learning: the statistics that attest to its staying power, the potential advantages it offers students, and the external factors influencing its popularity. 

By the Numbers

According to a Cengage study of nearly 1,500 students, around 73% - or roughly three quarters - expressed a preference for online learning post-pandemic. Considering that most students had not heard of online learning two decades ago, the majority response demonstrates a swift and decisive paradigm shift in how students view their education. 

It isn't just attitudes that have changed, either. You can also track the rising popularity of online learning by its market share: Research and Markets predicts that online education will reach a valuation of $350 billion by 2025 (up from $101 billion in 2019), and Statista predicts that the market will grow exponentially in the coming years.  

Credit: Alena Darmel Via Pexels

The Value Propositions

Facts and figures help detail online education's ascension, but they don't answer the why. Why this sudden and emphatic move toward online learning? 

The answer is multi-pronged. To start, an accredited online high school offers the same credits toward the same diplomas as a traditional brick-and-mortar school, so the end result is materially no different. But online high schools boast value propositions traditional classrooms cannot. 

Online schools are flexible and self-paced; students can start and complete courses on a personalized timeline, allowing them to tailor their academic experience to their abilities, existing schedule and personal educational timeline. Online classrooms are convenient, cutting out the lengthy morning and afternoon commutes, and they remove many of the social pressures (like bullying and peer pressure) associated with in-classroom learning. 

Other Factors Behind the Rise 

No investigation into the rise of online learning is complete without looking at external factors. 

A chief external factor (and this should come as no surprise) has been the pandemic. When experts cautioned parents about the risks of in-person gatherings, many parents saw online learning as a safe and convenient alternative. 

Another concurrent external factor has been the rise in international students to post-secondary institutions here in North America; these students need a way to earn local high school diplomas to help their enrollment, and online high schools are a convenient solution. Finally, you can point to more mature students heading back to the classroom as another reason online learning is growing; often, mature students prefer the self-paced, remote learning experience over an in-classroom education. 

The statistics, benefits and external factors have spoken: Online learning is here to stay. It will be interesting to see how the concept evolves in the future as new technologies emerge and even more students enroll.