Building your executive skill set can be an important inflection point in your career. By working with top instructors and institutions, you can develop abilities that are relevant to your industry and your position within the corporate structure.
Getting started on such a program can prove easier than it appears at first, largely because you have options around where and how you take courses. Today, many prestigious executive education institutions, such as MIT Sloan, offer numerous courses and programs in online learning formats.
Who are online courses best for?
Online courses are an option for learners seeking impact at any scale, because every imaginable kind of education is now available digitally. High-touch, expert-led courses from MIT Sloan Executive Education are increasingly being offered to distance learners as well as those able to meet in a traditional classroom setting.
If you're interested in pursuing any kind of additional learning as a busy executive or team leader, an online program can be an especially attractive option. The flexibility advantages of online learning can help you slot executive education into your schedule, while still working full-time within your current role. This is just one of several notable traits of studying online.
7 top benefits of online courses
Is online learning better than in-person learning? That's an impossible call to make, and, thankfully, you don't have to choose one best way to study. What's indisputable, however, is that there are differences between the two styles of education, and that they each have their own advantages.
When it comes to becoming an online learner, these benefits include:
1) Flexible scheduling
The logistics of logging into an online course from your own device are simple, which means you're free to place these courses into your schedule where they fit. Taking travel and lodging out of the equation helps you make plans, whether you're building credits to complete a multi-course certificate program or independently studying a specific concept that matters in your day-to-day work.
2) Variously paced learning options
When you're considering an online learning experience, it's worth remembering that not all courses follow the same model. Some involve synchronous sessions on a live online model in a virtual classroom, with full interaction between instructors and participants and the ability to network actively. Others are available as a self-paced online experience. Business Sprints, for example, take six hours total, spread out how the participant chooses over a 30-day period. This type of adaptable model truly lets you apply your available time to learning, studying from detailed interactive materials, even if your own schedule changes from week to week.
3) Access from anywhere, anytime
Online learning has the potential to build international connections, allowing participants from around the world to study with institutions and instructors of their choice without leaving home, and echoing the experience of taking an in-person course at a leading university. Collaborating and networking with these worldwide peers is one of the most exciting parts of enrolling in online executive education courses, as is getting to study from the world's best instructors from anywhere.
4) Different cost considerations
You don't have to travel to study online — this simple fact affects your planning in a few ways. Without the need to schedule travel time or pay for transport and lodging as you would to study in a traditional classroom setting, you may find it easier to commit to an online course. The price you or your employer pays to enroll in the course as an online learner is simply and solely the tuition.
5) Ability to study while employed full-time
The relative ease of slotting online courses into your schedule is especially important if you want to keep up a full executive work schedule while studying. Rather than blocking off time to travel to an in-person course, you can find a self-paced online option, such as an on-demand Business Sprint, that allows you to devote a few hours a week to studying without interrupting your current work priorities. Alternatively, if you do have a reliably free period of time, you can choose a live online experience that allows you to experience real-time lessons and network with peers
6) Upskilling capability when aiming for promotion
If you're hoping to move up within the executive ranks, how do you build the relevant skills and capabilities? Executive education can be a powerful catalyst for career advancement, helping you build skills that matter to your role, your organization, and your industry. Enrolling online allows you to pick up these courses as you go, building an impressive resume.
7) Access to world-class institutions
Studying with the best instructors from the most prestigious institutions can be a transformative experience. These are the people who have not just mastered the skills and concepts behind high-level executive strategies; in some cases, they've developed those ideas. Working with people on the cutting edge of subjects that matter to you, without traveling, is the promise of online education and distance learning in general.
Read more: Learn why flexible learning is so important to today's executives.
Why choose MIT Sloan Executive Education online courses?
MIT Sloan Executive Education offers a variety of flexible, non-degree courses and programs on some of the most in-demand topics for businesses today. You can study and network with ambitious and highly motivated peers from around the world, learning from industry-leading experts in a variety of fields.
The MIT Sloan Executive Education faculty is made up of Nobel Prize winners and published authorities who are setting the discussion in their respective areas. The lineup of courses taught by these well-connected professors is always changing to admit new additions as the state of the art changes. For instance, there are numerous options to help you build your knowledge in the fast-growing AI space.
The non-degree programs and courses developed by the MIT Sloan Executive Education faculty carry on the school's legacy, and online study allows you to become part of that legacy from anywhere.
Read more: Learn how non-degree programs can serve as alternatives to an MBA in professional development.
How online courses have helped professionals thrive
Studying online isn't just about adding a new line to your resume. The skills and real-world know-how conveyed by these courses have helped executives and leaders of all kinds stay agile and keep their knowledge up to date.
When participants talk about how studying with MIT Sloan Executive Education has helped them, they mention a variety of benefits. Some of the advantages come from networking with instructors and fellow participants, others from taking on a lifelong learning mindset, and still others from using class time to address specific business scenarios.
For one example, Best Buy Associate Vice President Jose "EZ" Gonzales specifically names the flexibility of online learning as a major factor in his ability to keep developing his knowledge. Live online courses from MIT Sloan Executive Education fit into his busy, full-time schedule, which has helped him upskill consistently.
See more: Watch three Executive Certificate holders discuss their perspectives on their career advancement.
Get serious about online learning
What you take out of distance learning is related to what you're looking for. Whether you're planning to complete a short, self-paced business sprint or set aside time to build credits for an Executive Certificate, you have options.
In terms of timing, for example, you can take the various courses that make up an Executive Certificate over the course of four years, or assemble them in a matter of months. The determining factor is you: how much time you have available to study in a virtual classroom or participate in an interactive asynchronous learning experience, and what subjects interest you most.
Whether live online or self-paced, taken on their own or combined with in-person learning, MIT Sloan Executive Education's online offerings give you countless ways to deepen your knowledge and advance your career.
Learn why you should choose MIT Sloan Executive Education when building your resume and deepening your executive skill set.