Online courses have proliferated in higher education, too. Nearly 4,200 online courses were offered on Connecticut college campuses in 2009, twice the number offered three years earlier, according to the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium. Enrollment in those courses also has nearly doubled since 2006, reaching about 65,000 last year.

The consortium also manages the Connecticut Virtual Learning Center offering online courses to high school students, but that program has not grown as fast as college level programs, said Diane Goldsmith, the consortium’s executive director.

“My prediction is, it’s going to grow,” she said. “I’m talking to superintendents. They’re laying off people. . . . I think increasingly schools have to look at online as a solution. It’s the cheapest solution. There’s not a building. You don’t have to hire staff. . . . You can have a computer lab [and] have 25 students taking 25 different courses.”

How well does online education work?

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