Online Colleges in Coworking Spaces?

The future of earning college degrees may resemble coworking spaces where students take online classes and meet up with fellow students and employees at tech firms.  This offers students the flexibility to listen to lectures and engage with fellow students in a social atmosphere.  They can also meet future employers by mingling with company reps in these open-space rooms.

Colleges are looking at new ways to offer 4-year degrees to larger numbers of students that is more in line with students’ lifestyles.  Today, students want to pick and choose what they study, when they’ll do their work, and with whom they’ll socialize.  By designing college courses to give the specific skill sets that students – and employers – seek, colleges will be able to enroll more students in what is becoming a competitive market.

These coworking spaces will become available across the country as well as on or near the brick and mortar campuses.  Georgia Tech and Northeastern are creating these programs now. Georgia Tech is calling these coworking spaces “Atriums,” and they’re expected to pop up in offices, retails spaces, and possibly shopping malls.

It’s exciting to see how higher education is evolving to align with what students want and what they can afford.