Maryland Online Education

Online Education Options

Thanks to the technological power of the Internet, it is possible for anyone, from the working professional to the grandparent, to seek after and achieve a higher education without relying on the traditional classroom setting in order to facilitate it. The U.S. Department of Education reports that more than 60% of college graduates in 2010 will have participated in online education in some form or another. This number is large and growing, largely due to the ease, convenience and power of technologies that make an online education possible. In an online education students can:

• Communicate publically or privately with the instructor: Using various technologies, students in online classes can receive private podcasts from their instructor which comments on their work, e-mails, documents, or post information to a message board.
• Communicate publically or privately with classmates: Through various features such as chat rooms or e-mail, students can set up study groups, exchange ideas, critique each others' work or just manage a friendship.
• View their grade progress at any time: Instructors who use the online tools available to them can post grades from tests, quizzes, and assignments online in a private, secured area that only the student can access at any time to see how they are doing in the class.
• Receive & submit work from the comfort of home: When the instructor submits an assignment, the student can receive it in several formats including an online posting or in an e-mail, complete the work, then upload the assignment to the instructor's inbox or e-mail them back.