Futureproofing Online Learning in Higher Education

Online learning has its origins in distance education, which now dates back over 150 years to early correspondence courses. Since then, with the advent of personal computers and the internet, the potential to reach students, regardless of location, has increased greatly.

Today, online learning offers a wealth of educational resources in various formats and enables both real-time and asynchronous communication between educators and students, as well as among students. While higher education institutions started adopting online learning in the late 20th century, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated its growth as physical distancing measures made face-to-face instruction unfeasible, leading to a significant increase in enrolment in online learning courses. This trend is likely to continue in the coming years.