| ALISO VIEJO, CA., Jun. 22, 2005 - In an interview, Tom Mitchell, the COO of RealtyU® -
the largest network of real estate schools in American - said that "At this
point in time there is no indication that distance learning is going to replace
classroom training in the foreseeable future. "It is however clear that
online real estate education has been accepted by the industry and is growing
rapidly," he added.
"We believe that there is room and a harmonious balance for both forms
of training in the marketplace and that there are certain real estate professionals
who would prefer an either or choice. Real estate classes that require workshops,
think-tanks, discussion and interaction are clearly the more suitable for a
classroom environment while more mechanical structured type course such as
say calculator courses and mortgage lending courses may be ideal for e-learning
through the Internet," Mitchell said.
"There is however another major driving force that is fueling the growth
of online real estate education" said Mitchell, and "that is the
convenience of time and location." Based on research from RealtyU®,
online learning has not eroded classroom teaching but allowed existing professionals
to maybe squeeze in an extra learning opportunity that they may previously
have let slip through due to time constraints. According to RealtyU® research
some of the typical barriers to entry to the real estate industry, namely cost
and time, seem to be removed through online real estate education and is allowing
a new entrant to explore real estate as a career.
"To serve the needs of this growing market segment we have created a
national real estate learning portal (www.realtyuonline.com) with over 1,900
real estate courses - real estate education is thus now available to anyone,
from everywhere and at any time," he concluded.
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