Education officials and industry experts are debating the future of online learning. The discussion is important because recently hundreds of universities in the United States have moved classes online because of the spread of the new coronavirus. For Asha Choksi, the rise of internet-based or online study programs has led to major improvements in higher education. “What it’s done is, it’s actually given a lot more power to students in terms of how, when and where they learn,” the head of research for Pearson Education told VOA. Her company supervises online learning programs. Colleges and universities worldwide have been looking for ways to provide high quality education off campus and outside of normal business hours. The decision by many schools in the U.S. to suspend in-person classes during the recent coronavirus crisis has shown how important online teaching can be. And demand for such programs is increasing. The financial advising company Tyton Partners valued the online program management industry at over $1.5 billion in 2015.