Offerings in online education are on the rise

Education is getting a boost from a world of mobility and anytime, anyplace broadband communications.

Several up- and- coming companies -- including Udemy, Udacity, Khan Academy, 2U and Coursera -- are offering ways for people to educate themselves online, with many courses geared toward practical knowledge and skills for a fast- changing and often forbidding economic landscape.

“This is all part of lifelong learning,” said Dennis Yang, president of San Franciscobased Udemy. “People feel they must train endlessly just to stay in the game.”

Courses at the online schools include basic algebra, computer science and physics, along with skills training for Web development and launching a startup company. Also available are courses on artificial intelligence and how to build a computer language.

“Online learning is not new, but what is new is what is possible now with the technology that is available to us,” said Clarissa Shen, a vice president with Mountain View- based Udacity. “There is a huge amount of scale and the experience is very rich.”

Students typically go to the websites and poke around until they find courses that interest them.

That’s what San Francisco resident Tyler Dylan Brown did when he connected with Udemy. While on a mission as a U. S. Army Airborne Ranger, Brown broke is ankle -- and then re- broke his leg in 2012 when he fell down a hill. His forced convalescence enabled him to explore the Internet, and he came across Udemy.

“Udemy gives you the information in a no- nonsense manner,” Brown said. “You can rapidly learn the skills, apply those skills, then train others in those skills.”

The online classes mirror a great strength of the Internet: While the Web has a vast reach, much like a broadcast, it also enables people to access information on a very narrow topic.