The shrinking global village and rapid pace of technological development has made it possible for anyone to acquire college degrees without even being face to face with their mentor.
Varsities, the world over have started promotion of the online versions of their undergraduate courses to reach out to more and more students.
Education has in fact, never been easier.
You can now work full time and still complete your education in the spare time that you have.
A quick 'Googling' of the term 'online education' or 'e-learning' will fetch you thousands of results.
If you are new to the Internet then it will take you some time to get used to the technology.
However, it is easy to learn and can picked up with the help of manuals.
You can even opt for temporary professional guidance till you get the hang of the process.
The major benefit of online college degrees is that they are as credible and recognized as any other degree and there is no need to attend classes or travel long distances if you are a full time employee.
On-campus education means you have to be physically present in the real world environment of your preferred University.
However, in virtual world, you can complete your bachelor degrees, postgraduate courses, and masters' degree and still maintain your job which is essential to your livelihood.
Universities around the world are now working on their existing curriculum to include comprehensive online degrees for students who cannot do a full time course due to unavoidable circumstances.
It could also be a professional who missed the higher education opportunity and would like to continue studying after he has retired from active work life.
One can be assured that all the subjects on offer are at par with their on-campus degree courses which includes the cost.
There are several leading universities in Australia who have started their online courses from the year 2000 onwards to reach out to global and national students.
While some have the simple online unit others have some supplemented units with face-to-face interaction with students.
Flexibility is a major factor and both undergraduate and postgraduate students are decidedly benefited from this flexibility and pre-assured interactivity with their online tutors.
Students can access the online teaching material any time that comes in the form of a Learning Management System (LMS).
It is usually an interactive site where every student has a unique ID and Password to get into.
It is often supplemented with a CD version for leisure revisions.
Due to the widespread reach of the World Wide Web location of online admission is also not an issue any more.
Postgraduate as well as undergraduate courses are not limited to Arts and sciences only.
Education, nursing, health sciences, religious education, theology, and educational leadership are also available for the distant learners.
Distance learning is more difficult than it sounds.
While it gives one the ease and flexibility of studying from home and in leisure, the lack of a classroom discipline can affect your own routine negatively.
Online students often find themselves not performing well when they are trying to juggle their education with their job and family obligations.
The online colleges and institutions are trying hard to make their bachelor degrees, postgraduate courses [http://www.
acu.
edu.
au/qualify/our_courses/postgraduate_coursework], and masters' degree more user-friendly by trying to work on the problems that students usually face.
Online courses also have a large number of dropouts.
Building a proper Learning Management System is the easy part.
The challenge is to maintain the program with constant innovations and interactions to keep the students interested in the course and continue with the program.
But these issues are easily managed as online universities have paved the way for new age education which is here to stay.