An interesting new study reported by Inside Higher Ed shows that students are not only open to learning online, but they actually prefer it.  According to the study, sponsored by the University of Wisonsin’s E-Business Institute, 82 percent of undergraduates are “willing to entertain an alternative to showing up to class and paying attention in real time.”  More than 47% of students participated in online courses and cited things like cost and convenience as two major benefits. 

Why Should Businesses Care? 

The implications of this study are significant not only to educators, but professionals in all industries.  Here are three reasons why:

1. Job Training – Today’s students are tomorrow’s workers.  If students sitting in classrooms prefer learning through virtual means, employers will need to start adopting these practices in order to meet the needs of their employees.  For the same reason students prefer using “lecture capture” (technology that allows educators to stream and record lectures for later viewing), employees benefit from tools like webinars and live event chats in the workplace.  They reduce the cost of travel for meetings, make information presented available for referencing, and offer a more convenient solution to often ineffective on-site job training workshops. 
2. Customer Support – Today’s students are your customers.  Businesses will increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs of customer support if they buy into the technologies that today’s students rely on.  In the same way professors can teach students about a lecture topic, businesses can use distance learning to educate customers about their products. 
3. Hiring in a Web 2.0 World – Today’s “digital natives” or members of “Generation Y” live, eat, breathe, social technology.  They entered highschool hallways at the same time they created their Facebook accounts.  They participate in forums and blog and live in a world where communication is not only necessary, it is expected.  If businesses truly understand the power of “WE”, they’ll recruit employees who understand social technologies innately. Companies like Taleo have used online recruitment to source some of the best talent and services like Twitter are being used to find jobs.  In fact, two recent hires here at Mzinga were found on Twitter – Susan Koutalakis, our in-house PR specialist, and my social media assistant, Alexa Scordato (You can read more about Hiring and Getting Hired in a Web 2.0 world in Aaron Strout’s blog post). 

In short, if businesses want to experience the long term benefits of “WE” today, they need to follow suit and mirror today’s cutting edge institutions of learning. By adopting technologies that help employees and customers learn virtually and collaboratively, we are anticipating the needs of tomorrow’s “WE” constituents.  And together, we'll move towards a more social, productive, profitable, and overall smarter society.