E-Learning World 2013: Marking the Qualitative Changes Ahead

E-learning world is changing every day, almost always for the better. More students are showing interest in online studies, more organizations are incorporating e-learning technologies for conducting internal training and development programs and more prestigious colleges are jumping on the e-learning bandwagon. Software application architects are also coming up with innovative solutions for e-learning. 2013 will also see some qualitative changes developments in the online learning field. Here below are some predictions.

• Taking the center stage: Online learning, despite of its proven effective benefits, was not the mainstream in higher education until last year. But things are changing and it is expected that e-learning will soon become the predominant way of higher learning and will become a more widely accepted standard, hopefully by this year only.
• More flexible courses: Schools are increasingly looking for more flexible and more innovatively designed courses and there are many mentors who are knuckling down to come up with innovative solutions for meeting the requirements of scholars and schools alike. 2013 will certainly see the birth of some advanced learning technologies that would make higher learning more flexible.
• Outsourcing of resources: Many colleges in USA lack the infrastructure and the resources to meet the growing demands of the online students. Colleges continue to expand and large numbers of new students are expected to enroll in US online colleges. Many education market analysts think that the colleges will now source some of their resources from outside.
• India and Mexico as emerging e-learning nerve centers: USA is still the global leader in online learning. However, countries like India and Mexico are likely to become more prominent on the global elearning map. Mexico’s newly elected president, Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto is putting more emphasis on government funded and  managed online learning whereas Indian government is aiming at connecting major colleges via a high speed network.
• Rise of open learning resources: Open learning resources are on a rise and it is expected that 2013 will experience a steep increase in usage of Wiki tools and other open-source tools.

2013 is surely going to be an eventful year for elearning enthusiasts and researchers.