When realizing you have a choice between taking a mandatory elective online or in class, most reactions will be to choose online. If you don’t want to listen to a professor rant about pre-Confederation Canada for 3 hours- surprise, surprise, you’re not the only one. As of now, 50% of students enrolled in higher education take courses online, and schools cannot keep up with the demand. But online learning has become more than an escape from long commutes or lengthy lectures.  For many who balance work, school and a typical student social life, learning at your own pace is not only preferred, but necessary. Displayed below in the infographic -Internet Revolutionizing Education, 75% of higher learning institutes offer online learning and it is estimated in the next 8 years half of all classes will be delivered online. The demand for this transition is greater then what is estimated here, but change can be tedious. When considering the way education has changed, and will continue to change, you might be surprised it’s not based around profitable universities. What’s striking is how many don’t realize the amount of free learning available. Right now anyone with an Internet connection and a little motivation can educate themselves at home. The best example of free education is Khan Academy. In 2004, founder Salman Khan posted his first instructional video on YouTube to help his cousins with math.  These videos were so popular Salman quit his job working for a large Hedge-fund, than began the non-profit Khan Academy, with support from the Gates Foundation and Google.   Khan now has over 2,400 instructional videos viewed 63 million times! The education system has finally taken notice; early adapters have integrated Khans videos and website into their curriculum. In a TED presentation, Salman explains how his videos have the ability to “flip the classroom.” He quotes a letter sent by a teacher; “I now assign the lectures for homework and what used to be homework, I now have the students doing in the classroom.” This statement alone shows us the effect online learning can have on the education system. The Khan Academy has evolved and now offers over 125 online exercises to practice and master what you have watched and learned. Many University students have benefited from watching Salman Khan’s instructional videos on their weaker subjects. Because of the carefully structured layout, if there is something you are unsure of in his lecture, it is painless to reference a previous Khan video. Once finding Khan’s website, students no longer spend countless hours in Math centers awkwardly asking for help with something they’ve already been taught and have forgotten. The Khan Academy’s content will never grow old, but the infrastructure of the system will continue to grow and help people self educate for years to come. Check out the Infographic below on how the Internet is revolutionizing education. Nicholas Giffen nicholas@wishpond.com Source: http://www.khanacademy.org/ http://www.onlineeducation.net/internet-revolutionizing-education http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html   Check out https://www.wishpond.com/ to find local product in nearby stores