In my last post, I mentioned a presentation by Julie Evans in which she shared the voices of today's K-12 students about technology and learning. Here's an interesting tidbit from her presentation: Among students who have NOT taken an online class, 40% of high school students, 35% of middle school students, and 15% of students in grades 3-5 say they are interested in taking an online course. Can anyone else hear the enrollment tsunami coming?
And why do all these students want to take online classes? The reasons differ a bit by age group. High school students are most interested in order to earn college credit, to work at their own pace, and to take classes not offered at their high schools. For middle schoolers, the top reason is to get extra help in a subject (interesting!), followed by earning college credit and working at their own pace. For the youngsters, again, getting extra help in a subject is the top reason for being interested in an online class, followed by working at their own pace and taking a class not offered at their school.
I can tell you that we are already seeing more interest from dual enrollment students seeking ELI courses. It will be interesting to see how these survey data play out in real enrollment trends in the coming years!