By Staff Writer – Boonsri Dickinson (@boonspoon)

Welcome to the new wave of virtual learning. Buy what you want to learn, only when you crave it. Instantly. It’s not surprising that online learning has become a $2.3 billion-a-year industry.

Several companies such as Smart.fm, EduFire, and Student of Fortune, have tapped into the online educational market in ways traditional universities have not. Can learning really be as easy as ordering pizza?

While Smart.fm previously focused on teaching people languages, its new website and iPhone app can help you learn about anything you want to. It’s simple. Just upload data of a subject you’re interested in and Smart.fm will spit out questions based on that information.  You can start a goal and gauge your performance against other people in your social network. Also with Smart.fm’s iPhone app, you can learn facts about the periodic table, beef up your knowledge of the capitals of the world, or learn Chinese in your spare time. There’s even an app that will quiz you on your Facebook friends’ favorite entertainment choices.

We order music through iTunes and movies through Netflix, so why can’t education be ordered the same way? Well, now it can. Meet EduFire, a start-up company that offers piece meal classes. After signing up for free, you can pay-per-class or pay $29 a month for unlimited access. EduFire offers 200 classes daily for students and entrepreneurs. View the courses through video conferences and communicate through video and text chat. To attract good teachers, EnuFire pays their “experts” 85 percent of the revenues.

And when there’s learning involved, there’s homework. Have no fear, when parents aren’t around to actually do the homework, there’s a way to get help online. Enter Student of Fortune, a virtual place to get your homework questions answered. Basically, you pay to get your homework done, the same way you’d buy something on eBay. You can raise a bid, accept an offer, or simply purchase a tutorial on the subject you’re struggling with.

The business model seems to be working for the founders, software developer Sean McCleese and computer scientist Nikhil Sreenath. The company launched in 2006 and now has revenues in the millions. When the service first launched, people were worried Student of Fortune would help students cheat in college. While cheating is possible, the company has policies against it. Plus, the other ways of using the company have been more useful. For instance, students have made extra money by answering questions they know. One tutor earned more than $50,000 after selling thousands of tutorials online.

McCleesee wants Student of Fortune to become the Wikipedia for homework. Naturally, the idea came to McCleese when he was doing homework. The Occidental Weekly reports:

“I needed help with a single problem and did not need an hour of tutoring,” McCleese said. “I was surprised that there were no forums to discuss academic topics that would allow a person to monetize on their academic strengths to help a person in need.”

That wasn’t the first time McCleese tweaked the educational system. After finishing ninth grade, McCleese talked his way into getting admitted to Occidental when he was only 16 years old.

Online learning will continue to evolve. We’re so accustomed to consuming everything online, let’s not forget how important face-to-face interaction is too!

Image: flickr/ Happy via