Online Learning & Scalable Career Services

Technology changes everything – and it has been especially true in education. Online learning in the US at the college level has been steadily increasing year over year for the last 14 years and shows no signs of slowing down. The latest data shows that over 30% of people enrolled in secondary education in the US are enrolled in some online programs. That means about 6.2 million college students every year are studying something online, and that figure is rising. Source: US News Article, 2018

Further:

“99% of (college) administrators found that demand for online education has increased or stayed the same over the past few years. Almost 40% … plan to increase their online program budgets in the next year.” Source: Online Learning Survey Report 2018

The reason that people are signing up for these online programs is clear:

“73% of online students report job and employment goals as a reason for enrolling. These include students planning to transition to a new career field (35%) and those who want to earn academic credentials to bolster their standing in their current line of work (30%).”
Source: Online Learning Survey Report 2018

All of this is great. Considering that online learning is on the rise, and the purpose is to enhance employment opportunities, it might go to reason that career services might be part of this equation as well. And that seems to be the case:

“Career services in online programs play an integral role in shaping students’ overall experiences, experts say, especially as career prep continues to be the primary motivator for turning to distance learning in the first place.”
Source: US News Article, 2016

Online learning models, however, can present significant challenges to career services departments. The biggest challenges are:

• Even though the volume of online students is increasing, career advisor staff stays the same or decreases due to reductions in staffing budgets so not all students will get to work directly with a career advisor.
• Location is a challenge because online students can be anywhere and are not likely on or near campus to meet with a career advisor in person.
• Tracking and measuring performance and successes using measurable, real-time data.

This is where Project Me Pro can help.

Project Me Pro is an online learning system designed to teach job seekers (and online learners!) how to find and land a position in the job market. The solution combines self-paced e-learning modules, templates and worksheets for job search materials, a collaboration platform for career advisors to work with students, plus plenty of data and analytics features to track success. We partner with colleges & universities, workforce development organizations, non-profits, career coaching communities and more.

Are you responsible for helping a large number of online students plan for entering the job market? Are you looking for ways to streamline that process?

Take a look to see if Project Me Pro will work for your organization and set up your site today.