August 20, 2009

Kaplan University presented a new take on the traditional classroom setting on its first commercials in 2009, depicting new variations on the value of an online education.  Attempting to demonstrate the shift from the traditional classroom setting to the technologically-sound online classroom, the commercials depict students from all demographics earning online degrees for a multitude of different reasons.  This ad campaign has helped solidify the fact that online bachelors degrees are here to stay. 

From the humble roots of online education in the 90s, to the 4 million students who are now enrolled in classes across the country, online bachelors degrees have revolutionized the manner in which students can receive degrees.  No longer do we have to trek across the country to move into a tiny dorm; rather, we can now work from the comfort of our own home and remain in any city we wish to live in.  This type of opportunity was unprecedented only a decade ago. 

Ads like the kind Kaplan University has put out have helped inform many citizens of the need for online education in our growing economy.  Traditional education does not work for everyone, the ads contend, and online classes offer stay-at-home moms, full time workers, and late bloomers to enroll in classes and earn an online bachelors degree where they otherwise would not have been able to.  These ads have helped influence a wide array of people to enroll in online classes and have furthermore instilled a new drive in many potential students who were unaware of the opportunities an online bachelors degree can deliver. 

Additionally, these ads strive to break free of the gloom the economy has pushed on all of us, and instead presents a more hopeful outlook for the future.  Online universities present the student with options for the future, perhaps even options they never knew they had.  Additionally, with our educational standards falling drastically behind that of the rest of the world, the fact that we have an alternative method of reaching out to students who could not enroll in traditional classes will only boost our economy and foster a growth of a higher education population.  Regardless of which ad you watch or which school you attend, the fact that online bachelors degrees are now readily offered is enough to cause many in the educational community to breathe a sigh of relief that every student will not have a better opportunity to succeed in school.