Aug 17, 2016 10:01 AM EDT By Emily Marks, UniversityHerald Reporter

Online education is a new approach to teaching and learning that pushes the boundaries on traditional classes. It has helped several working adults finish their degrees, whether graduate or post-graduate, and continue with their respective careers at the same time.

Moreover, there are free online courses that anyone can enroll in. This may be one of the best solutions to the ever-growing worry over college debt.
It was previously reported that low-income students are the ones most affected with the increasing tuition fees. Wealthy universities have gained backlash for expecting students from low-income families to shell out more than 60 percent of their income to cover the cost of attendance and enjoy tax breaks for being a nonprofit organization.

Tracy Lippincott, an online student, described her experience with these free online courses. She studies online and works at a San Francisco bar at the same time.

"This class has these really short, little lectures which is great because you can kind of watch one [video] and then think about it and react," she said. "You don't have to watch in a whole hour like you would in class."

Lippincott enrolled in free online courses from Duke University, via Coursera. It is an online education platform that works with top universities and organizations worldwide to bring courses online for anyone to enroll in.

Online education is fast gaining popularity for the convenience and flexibility that it provides students. Coursera offers short video lectures, interactive quizzes and peer graded assignments, among others, which is perfect for working adults.

Coursera has about 170,000 students around the world that have signed up for it. While online education has been around for a long time, with top universities offering courses for a high fee, classes, called MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses, are expected to revolutionize higher education. These online courses are different because they use new technology, feature well-known professors and they don't cost anything.

Educational institutions that have partnered with Coursera are: the University of Chicago, University of Washington, Duke University, Stanford University, Princeton University and University of California, among others.

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