E-learning Market Size and Share 2021 and its Future
The ongoing pandemic has witnessed a substantial increase in online learning not just for children but for adults as well. Research worldwide says that there are more than 1.2 children and students across 186 countries affected by closures of academic institutions.
The education system has widely gone online, with professionals as well as students opting for distance learning. Owners of brick-and-mortar establishments are taking into consideration hybrid class options while involving online classes as a regular part of their curriculum.
Many professionals have extra time in their work-from-home schedule letting them try new skills like entrepreneurship, management skills, capital market courses, as well as courses on art and crafts like guitar, dance, and pottery making.
Many business owners turned to online education as a simple and convenient way to keep their businesses afloat. The e-learning industry in early 2019 was predicted to be worth $300 billion by 2025. The Covid-19 crisis has rapidly accelerated this timeline resulting in a more than 225% surge in new course creation since the pandemic began.
As a matter of fact, the global e-learning market size is expected to jump from $144 Billion in 2019 to a whopping $374.3 Billion by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.6% during the forecast period of 2020-2026.
An Overview of Global E-learning Market
E-learning involves several digital resources for a smooth process of knowledge share. The global market for e-learning is powered by economic development, technological advancement, internet penetration, continuous demand for skill, reskill, and upskill. All these resources have made online learning a popular method.
The global online education market has been contributed by language apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools, and online learning software to witness the surge since the pandemic. The easy availability and affordability of digital devices have also played an important role in strengthening the pull factor. The current online education industry has undergone a transition to the cloud resulting in improved functionality and reliability.
As Dr. Christine Greenhow, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Educational Technology, Michigan State University, says:
“Universal internet, computer access, and instructional technology supports are critical. Internet and social media access impact how schools and teachers respond and in turn, how students experience online learning, with many students having no interaction with their teachers once online education started.”
“Research has shown that through ubiquitous technologies like social media, teachers can enhance interactions between students, between students and teachers, and with people and resources outside the classroom. All are important for a student’s sense of belonging in an educational community.”
As per a survey from Babson Survey Research Group, over 30% of higher education students in the US are taking at least one distance course.
Resources contributing to the growth of e-learning:
Some of the important factors that have been helping in the rise of e-learning and its adoption rate in society are the telecommunication revolution, penetration of seamless internet, development of multimedia including images, videos, and graphics. Each of these has played important role in engaging learners, strengthening the pull factor, improving learning management solutions, and cloud reliability making e-learning a popular mode of education.
Points to note in the boom of e-learning
· The forecast of the boom in the long run.
· Skills people are learning online
· Future of online course creators and mentors
1. The forecast of the boom in the long run
In the initial days of the pandemic, there was a steep jump in new course creations. Entrepreneurs and businessmen with brick-and-mortar businesses diverted their services online at the onset of the pandemic. Educational institutes from school level to post-grad took their learning materials online supporting remote learning.
Several career-changers and solopreneurs leveraged their skills or talent into a new online course business as an extra source of income, especially when there were lay-offs on a large scale. Human resource professionals also created online training classes to connect to new employees remotely.
All these are here to stay for longer than initially expected. And there would be immense online course growth across the world in the near and remote future. As Dr. Greenhow says, “The ‘new normal” in education will likely be expanded technology infrastructure, flexibility, and mixed learning settings giving people more choices over how, when, where, and with whom they learn.”
2. Skills people are learning online
There were several industries that witnessed the spark in online learning. Among those, education, entertainment, and health and fitness topped the chart. Closely following were capital markets, human resources, digital marketing, and entrepreneurship courses.
Many countries saw a dramatic spike in new course creation which got steady soon in the following months. A total of 15 countries, including the US, Canada, Hungary, India, Mexico, and Spain significantly created courses ranging from 115% to 263% higher than pre-pandemic averages.
In other words, online courses seem to be a powerful tool for skills people are learning as the world settling into a new normal.
3. Future of online course creators and mentors
While online learning stands strong as a new industry altogether, student engagement is making the future of this industry concrete. Statistics reveal that more and more students are enrolling in online classes for software and technology, digital marketing, management courses, and art and entertainment.
Enrolments for technology grew 234% in the early weeks of lockdown and steadily went up with more than 1150% in the months that followed. Health and fitness, fashion, education, business and marketing, and career development were some of the classes students eagerly attended online.
This reveals that the future of course creators and mentors remains strong in the days ahead. While the mentioned domains and industries are gaining popularity, the demand for mentors and trainers for online training is also getting considerably higher as compared to that before the pandemic.
The long game that awaits
The online course industry is thriving and seems sustainable. While entrepreneurs are finding their way out with opportunities to market their skills online, the explosion of e-learning has paved the way for thousands of mentors and trainers to pick up their expertise for extra income.
As the world collectively stares down a landscape of social distancing, economic slides, a haphazard workforce, new opportunities for innovation and earning are becoming prominent simultaneously.
There are multiple online learning platforms that are building the bridge of knowledge sharing between the mentors and mentees. Mastry is a live learning platform where mentors decide what to teach, how much to charge, and how to schedule and create classes. Mastry helps the trainers get students, promote them within the community, and makes a simple platform to earn.
If you think you have the expertise to deliver, or a passion to pass on your experience, apply as a teacher on Mastry to get started with your first class. Apply as a teacher at https://www.mastry.io/.