Online education has been around for more than 10 years, but it’s only recently gained the attention of many students, teachers, and universities alike. With new and innovative ways to study and learn on the internet, people are seeing the benefits of online education over traditional classroom learning or studying on your own at home. Here’s how online education is changing the way students learn today.
Online education has risen to prominence in recent years. Proponents have been quick to tout its effectiveness, and detractors have suggested that it can’t compare to real-world classroom experiences. However, a closer look at online learning vs. brick-and-mortar might help you determine what works best for your personal goals and your business.
The benefits of online education
Online education can change the way students learn in many positive ways. Here are a few of them. Students no longer have to miss class for an illness or late-night study session, because they can view lecture material on their own time and access course materials from anywhere. Instead of talking to a substitute teacher, they can watch video lectures by professional educators. Instructors post additional resources online, like study guides and writing assignments, so students don’t waste time trying to figure out how to write a proposal or make PowerPoint slides that showcase their research findings.
Why parents should encourage online learning?
Today’s students are growing up in a world where online learning is becoming more and more commonplace. Unlike previous generations, they may not see anything unusual about doing homework while simultaneously streaming a movie or FaceTiming with friends. As a result, children and teens could be coming to college better equipped to manage their time and multitask than their predecessors were just five years ago.
The future of online learning
While online education has only recently begun to make its mark on K-12 classrooms and universities alike, it’s been touted as a possibility for decades. Since 1997, more than 20 million students have studied online, and that number continues to grow. The advent of live video streaming services such as FaceTime and Hangouts are making these platforms accessible to more students across a wide variety of settings. In short, online learning is nothing new—but now it’s getting better.
In the last decade, liberalisation and the Internet revolution have been among the important global developments. Education has been one of the key spheres to benefit from this.
The Internet’s involvement in the growth of school and higher education cannot be underestimated. Though online education was in a nascent stage before COVID-19, the pandemic has seen it grow exponentially. If not for the digital sphere, the educational world would have come to a standstill.
Today, with the advent of video-sharing social media platforms, many education-related activities are streamed and news viewed digitally for the benefit of students and educators.
Government and private bodies alike have embarked on developing suitable dashboards, Learning Managing Systems (LMS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, thus making availability and accessibility of data in a dynamic form.
VDO.AI
Students, in particular, have benefited Internet-augmented education. Virtual practical classes are conducted wherever possible and young entrepreneurs are creating lucid and innovative virtual practical courses to supplement theoretical knowledge.
Research has gained a fillip, with online submission and publication of research papers, researcher-friendly apps, online conferences and webinars allowing experts from different fields to share their knowledge without being limited by geography.
E-learning has helped people learn anywhere, anytime. Those who wanted to upskill or reskill themselves have also benefited. Many people have been able to upgrade their qualifications and move up the corporate ladder thanks to completing online courses.
The flip side
However, there have also been some problem areas. Often, both teachers and students take online classes very casually. Punctuality and the formality have suffered. It is not uncommon for students to mark attendance and then disappear from class. Authenticating the veracity of assignments and project work has been a formidable task, as was dealing with malpractice during exams, despite remote proctoring being available. Hence many institutions are reverting to offline exams for the conduct of the final exams.
With the observance of Safer Internet Day tomorrow, we also need to understand the perils of Internet-mediated education.
Besides using the Internet for productive purposes, students also use it for entertainment purposes and to share things. However, this can lead to various problems, if they are not aware of safety measures. Scamsters lurk online to lure the unwary into trouble. Phishing, cyberbullying, fake news, exposure to inappropriate content, and scams are all issues that students must be made aware of, especially now when they are spending more time online.
While preparing for exams, students should be advised to turn off notifications or stay away from social media so that they can concentrate. Teachers and parents can set time limits on the use of the device to prevent addiction.
Another deficiency of e-learning is the lack of individual attention to learners’ issues. Lack of connectivity and access to devices among the economically weaker sections. and inadequate exposure to digital tools both among the students and teachers need to be addressed. Apart from teacher training, continuous feedback from students is vital for quality assurance.
The future
With both teachers and students being familiar with the online mode, it is now possible to take advantage of the learnings from the past couple of years. Inclusion of lectures by global experts, conduct of conferences/webinars and viva voce, administrative and other meetings can now be moved online, unless physical presence is absolutely essential.
The government too is encouraging and promoting online, open and distance learning modes, which has been supported by the introduction of MOOCs, cloud-based learning, and flipped classrooms. Visual learning is now enabling short video lessons that will keep students engaged, as will virtual field trips and walkthroughs.
However, what is required is high-speed and constant Internet services, especially in rural areas. This will ensure that youth in those areas are not left behind in this process. Ensuring digital equity to all is vital for a nation’s progress and to provide education for all, at any time, at any place and at any pace.
.
You must be logged in to post a comment.