Since the development of the internet to the biggest interactive platform, we’ve come a long way. It was due to the pandemic that we had to start attending classes online. Initially, the idea of online education was exciting for all the students. It was much much later that we as a group realised, that it was worse.
The students made the decision to learn the subjects on their own. This allowed the teachers to be creative with how they taught. This started causing traffic in several websites which would allow the user to be certified on a topic.
What is Online Education?
It is when the education is imparted via a computer screen. This is when, a student learns everything through the internet in his own time. The flexibility with online education is unbelievable. You can attend any lecture you want and learn when you are completely free. You can learn when you feel like you are the most attentive.
With it, multiple universities were starting to offer their courses to students worldwide. For example, you want to learn a programming language – you can now do it from University of Michigan.
Online education was allowing the teachers of all degrees to get creative with their ways of teaching. Since, they couldn’t teach them in ways they were using before.
It is very difficult to keep the structure and quality of online courses same as its offline counterpart. Online education still requires the same amount of efforts and patience, if not more. There are few types in online education provided as well –
100% Online Education
In this type, everything from the start of the course, the assignments, quizzes, and the certification is done online. This allows students to be flexible with their schedule. They don’t have to go to their campus to learn, at all.
Which means you can get international grade education without even stepping out of your country – home even!
Hybrid courses
As the name suggests, it is a mix between the two. You can learn online and go to your campus as well.
Which means that a certain campus can offer both online courses and on-campus courses.
Online courses
These can also be a part of the degree program, like online education. It can also be taken individually, as a course to increase your skillset.
You can take these courses to increase your skill set and impress your employers.
MOOCs
Massive Online Open Courses are the type where a class of nearly 10,000 is taken all at once, live. In here a class of around 10,000 is taken with live doubt solving sessions.
Therefore, you not only learn from the teacher but also the students who might’ve doubts.
Online education is not easy, it has the same difficulty level as that of offline education. One can easily plagiarise or copy the quiz’s answers from the internet. The online universities have formed a way to find out the plagiarised answer and punish them accordingly.
Advantages of Online Education
Online education was a godsend for the students during the lockdown. Let’s look at some advantages of online education –
Efficiency
Online education has offered the teachers more efficient ways to teach their students. They can use the features of the app to make the learning more effective.
They could send pdfs, notes, videos, or use the conventional writing methods.
By doing this they can teach the students by not just being bound by the textbooks.
Accessibility of Time and Place
With online education, students can access these courses from anywhere and at any time.
Online education is comprised of online downloadable pdfs, recorded lectures, and ai based quizzes. That’s why it can be easily accessed by all age groups and all time zones.
Affordable
Essentially, these online universities are a business that works towards attracting more and more customers/students to its websites. Therefore, these online universities make sure there are seasonal offers i.e., discounts on courses.
The courses are very cheap when you compare to the tuition fees we pay for a university, regardless of discounts.
Greater student attendance
Since these are easily accessible, there is much much lower chances of students not being able to attend their lectures.
Disadvantages of Online Education
Even though there are many advantages of online education, there are equally annoying disadvantages of online education. Let’s discuss –
Attention span
Since the lectures are being attended online, students can easily be distracted by the social media sites.
The attention span of students becomes an issue since everyone tends to do things that require less effort.
Therefore, it is imperative that during the live sessions they make sure that there is constant interaction.
Network issues
You can’t predict the amount of network that would be utilised during a single sitting of a lecture.
You might start with great internet connection but that doesn’t mean it is going to remain constant.
Some students end up spending their entire data package for the day in a single class, which leaves the students no internet.
Teachers
For an online education, the teachers need to be adept at using the tools to make a good interactive class.
Most of these teachers are old and it takes them time to learn these tools. The younger teachers can’t give them the proper explanation for certain topics.
Not that they aren’t intellectual, they just don’t have enough experience at teaching. This becomes a problem for the students.
The prolonged screen time
Parents worry about their child spending a lot of time in front of their screens.
Though they are spending it for their own education, it isn’t viable for them to spend such prolonged hours at their desk in front of the screens.
Which is better? Online education or classroom education?
Both are successful in their own way. Online classes are easily accessible and negate the effects of travelling. Classroom education is a confirmed interactive class compared to online education.
All in all, online education, arguably, is better than classroom education.
We can get all the different types of courses compared to the high tuition fees of universities.
Whatever the mode of education you choose, you must work hard and stay motivated. Good luck!